Ghana adds GH¢4.7b to public debt in ten months as country spends GH¢3.3b on personal emoluments

Ghana added an amount of GH¢4.7 billion to its public debt stock between December 2010 and September 2011, figures from the Bank of Ghana show.

The country’s total public debt stock at end of September 2011 is GH¢22.2 billion, 41.7% of gross domestic product (GDP), according to the central bank.

“The total public debt stock at end September was GH¢22.2 billion, equivalent to 41.7% of GDP, up from GH¢17.5 billion or 37.8% of GDP in December 2010,” said the BoG.

Of the total debt, the figures indicated that the domestic component was GH¢11.4 billion while the external portion was GH¢10.8 billion ($7.1 billion).

On the country’s total expenditures, the BoG said it amounted to GH¢8.7 billion in the first three quarters of 2011, showing an increase of 37.1% over the corresponding period of 2010.  “The bulk of the expenditures were in respect of personal emoluments of GH¢3.3 billion and Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs) spending of GH¢1.8 billion.”

The Bank said provisional data on the execution of the budget shows that total revenue and grants for the first three quarters of 2011 amounted to GH¢7.4 billion, representing a growth of 46.5 per cent over the same period in 2010.

The receipts comprised GH¢6.1 billion of tax revenues and non-tax revenue (including grants) of GH¢1.4 billion, it adds.

“Tax revenue for the period was higher than the corresponding period by GH¢2 billion reflecting improved performance of import duty, import VAT, petroleum tax and domestic direct taxes,” it said.

The BoG noted that the budgetary operations of government resulted in a deficit of GH¢1.3billion, which was financed from domestic sources with the Net Domestic Financing (NDF) of GH¢1.3 billion within the target of GH¢1.5 billion.

By Ekow Quandzie