Ghana's total debt stands at 25.6 bln USD: central bank

The total debt stock for Ghana stood at 25.6 billion U.S. dollars as of the end of December 2015, Bank of Ghana said here Monday in a release.

Summarizing the up-to-date economic and financial data of the country, the bank, said this figure was equivalent to 97.2 billion Ghana cedis.

The total debt stock as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 72.9 percent, with the external debt component accounting for 57.8 billion cedis or 43.3 percent of GDP.

The debt therefore grew by seven percent in U.S. dollar terms from 23.8 billion dollars in 2014 to 25.6 billion dollars last year.

It thus grew at 27.7 percent in cedi terms from 76.7 percent in December 2014 to 97.2 billion cedis last December, reflecting the effect of the depreciation of the local currency.

Wampah explained that while the debt had stood below 25 billion dollars in September, government's one billion dollars Eurobond last year increased it to current levels.

The country's foreign exchange reserves measuring its ability to finance imports totaled 5.4 billion dollars or 3.4 months import cover as of March 2015, compared with the 5.88 billion dollars or 3.5 months of imports cover as of December last year.

The data indicated a strong growth in imports compared with a declining export, leading to declining export earnings and a trade deficit of 940.7 million dollars, equivalent to 2.4 percent of GDP within the period. Endit