The central bank's figures showed the increase in the country’s public debt stock in terms of Gross Domestic Product represents 80.1 percent.
The data further revealed that Ghana added about GH¢730 million in fresh loans to the total public debt stock in December 2021.
Per the figures, the increase can partially be attributed to the depreciation of the cedi in the last two months of 2021 – a move that has further increased the external debt component.
The Bank of Ghana, touching on the external component of Ghana's total public debt, said the figure increased in December 2021 to US$28.3 billion (GH¢170.0 billion) from US$27.9 billion in November 2021.
This, in terms of the debt-to-GDP ratio, was equivalent to 38.7 percent.
On the domestic debt front, the Bank of Ghana's figures showed a rise to GH¢181.8 billion in December 2021 from an earlier GH¢179.4 billion recorded in November 2021.
This was however equivalent to 41.4 percent of Gross Domestic Product.
Meanwhile, the latest figures for the country's public debt stock could force government to stick to more homegrown solutions by borrowing from the domestic market due to high-interest costs on the external market.
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta
