Ghana spent an additional GHC16.9 billion in the past quarter (January to March 2020), taking its total public debt to GHC236.1 billion (US$41.54 billion), representing 59.3% of gross domestic product. The debt-to-GDP ratio for the first quarter of last year was 56.7%.
The data is contained in the latest Summary of Economic and Financial Data, released by the Bank of Ghana on Thursday.
Out of the total debt of GHC236.1 billion, US$22.9 billion derives from external borrowing, while GHC111.3 billion was secured through domestic sources. The equivalents for December 2019 were $20.3 billion from external borrowing and GHC105.5 billion from sources within Ghana.
Exports down . . . and so are imports
The data also shows that total assets of banks in Ghana went up from GHC111.2 billion in March 2019 to GHC133.5 billion in March this year.
Total deposits in the sector however rose year on year from GHC73 billion in March 2019 to GHC84 billion this year.
The profile for non-performing loans improved from 18.8% of the total loan portfolio in March 2019 to 14.5% in March this year.
The data from the BoG also shows that total receipts from exports dipped $4 billion in March last year to $3.9 billion in March 2020. However, the value of imports also fell, from $3.38 billion to $3 billion over the same period.
Gold raked in $1.473 billion in the first quarter of this year, against $1.436 billion over the same period in 2019. In the first quarter of 2020, cocoa brought in $959.5 million (against $834 million for the same quarter in 2019). Income from oil exports dropped under pressure from developments on the global market, going from $1.1 billion in Q1 2019 to $874 million in 2020.
The total value of imports stood at just under $3 billion for the first quarter, against $3.375 billion over the same period last year. Oil imports were worth $511 million (against $636 for 2019) and non-oil imports $2.49 billion.
Fred Dzakpata
* Asaase Radio 99.5 FM. Coming to a dial near you.
* Twitter: @asaaseradio995
