The rate of debt accumulation has seen a significant decline from 47.4 percent in 2013 to 13.5 percent in November 2017.
According to the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, the debt mix has changed from short term dominance to medium and long term while the cost of debt has reduced creating fiscal space for government.
He noted all these prudent management of the Ghanaian economy has resulted in “improving our ability to meet our debt service obligations.”
In 2017, short-term domestic debt financing was 18 percent compared with 38 percent in 2016 whilst long term domestic debt financing was 19 percent compared with 24 percent in 2016. Medium term domestic debt financing amounted to 63 percent in 2017 as against 38 percent in 2016.
According to Mr. Ofori-Atta, there is renewed investor confidence evident by tightening of sovereign spreads since 2016, adding “investing in Ghana bonds is less risky today than the last two years.”
Head of Department of Finance at the University of Ghana Business School, Professor Godfred Bokpin commenting said the real economy has seen significant improvement but will take a while before it is translated into the micro-economy.
He however advised the government to pay more attention to the agriculture and the manufacturing sectors which have tendencies of creating significant jobs.
As at February 2018, the government had cleared GH¢600 million arrears.
The Finance Minister emphasized that “Our strategy going forward is to clear the validated stock of arrears in accordance with our 2018 Budget programme. We were current on transfers to Statutory Fund for 2017.”
On some projected macroeconomic indicators, the Finance Ministry projected 8.9 percent inflation and a budget deficit of 4.5 percent of GDP and a wage bill of 42 percent of tax revenue. We have cleared about GHs3 billion in arrears compared with GHs3.7 billion budgeted in 2017.
Source: The Finder
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
oba nyansafuo mo ne adwuma. Oboadie nto wo nkwa nda mu daa na Wo nam nimdie ne adom a Wo de adom wo so nsesa oman yi ema yen. Wo nkwa so!!!!
Please go and educate yourself about the advantages of converting short term bonds to long term bonds before commenting. This strategy is used globally and it is an extremely effective means of improving the cash-flow of a nation. For the short term bond holders to go along with it is an indication of the confidence they have in the Ghanaian economy. By all means make comments but make comments that will help your country move forward and stop the spewing out of hateful venom.
And who are you accumulating these long term debts for??!! Please stop saddling our grandchildren with these unproductive loans!!! Are the loans building schools or roads???!!