Ranking Member on Parliament’s Finance Committee, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, has said Ghana’s economy is in a more dire state than official figures show.
In a Facebook comment, the former Deputy Finance Minister said while the official figure of Ghana’s debt-to-GDP ratio has been given as 78.4% the actual figure exceeds 80%.
“Folks, for the avoidance of doubt, the public debt of Ghana for November 2021 which has been reported as ¢344.5bn representing 78.4% of GDP does Not include:
- ESLA: ¢9.3bn
- Daakye: ¢2.4bn
- Sinohydro: ¢630m
"Ghana's Actual total public debt as of November 2021 was 357 billion which is some 81% of GDP. I project that our public debt at Dec 2021 will be 365 billion cedis that is some 83% plus of GDP! Ghana is officially in a mess!” he wrote on the social media platform.
READ ALSO: GH¢2.7bn new loans escalate Ghana’s total debt to GH¢344.5bn
Many economists believe that a higher debt-GDP ratio – especially if it crosses the 70% mark – spells doom for Third World economies.
The comment by the MP for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam in the Central Region follows the January 2022 Bank of Ghana Summary of Economic and Financial Data, which reveals that Ghana’s public debt stock now stands at GH¢344.5 billion in November 2021, after GH¢2.7 billion new loans.
The BoG report also revealed that the GH¢2.7 billion fresh loans are largely domestic debts.
Ghana’s economy has been scoring dangerously low marks for performance in some critical areas.
The economy has been downgraded by several International rating agencies, with the latest being Fitch, which downgraded the country’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘B-‘ from ‘B’ with a negative outlook.
The downgrade of Ghana’s IDRs and Negative Outlook, according to Fitch, reflects the sovereign’s loss of access to international capital markets in the second half of 2021, following a pandemic-related surge in government debt.
Many say the dire the precarious economic situation is the reason the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta seems hell-bent on passing the unpopular and widely-criticised 1,75% E-Levy on mobile money and other electronic transactions.