The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected that Ghana will end the year with a Debt-to-GDP of 90.7 per cent.
This according to myjoyonline.com was captured in its Fiscal Outlook Report
released on the sidelines of the ongoing IMF/World Bank Annual meetings in
Washington DC, USA.
The report, also forecasts that the Debt–to-GDP could reduce to 87.8 per cent
in 2023.
According to the IMF, revenue expressed as a ratio of GDP could also hit 14.1
per cent at the end of 2022.
It will subsequently increase to 14.7 per cent in 2023 and 15.4 per cent in
2024”, the report said, classifying Ghana as a Low Income Developing Country.
Ghana is currently undergoing Debt Sustainability Analysis with the IMF and the
World Bank. This is expected to help the country ascertain the true levels of
the debt stock.
The country was recently classified as a High Risk of Debt Distress by the
World Bank and IMF in its Debt Sustainability Analysis.
The two Bretton Wood institutions are currently conducting a new Sustainability
Debt Analysis on Ghana – a situation that could influence the outcome of an
economic programme with Ghana by the end of 2022.
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has already indicated that government is
working hard to reach a programme with the IMF by November 2022.
The government is hoping to secure a programme with the IMF before the 2023
Budget presentation in parliament within the same period.
In October 2022, data from the Bank of Ghana pegged the country’s debt stock at
₵402 billion as of July 2022, representing 68 per cent of GDP.
Some financial observers have stated that with an expected expansion of the
economy and an IMF programme, the country’s debt stock may not reach
“unsustainable levels”.
The World Bank in its Africa Pulse Report released in October 2022 projected
that Ghana will end 2022 with a Debt –to –GDP ratio of 104 per cent.