Dr. Ernest Addison – Governor of BoG
GOVERNMENT HAS announced it plans to issue a gross amount of GH¢21,960.00 million, of which GHȼ19,864.43 million is to rollover maturities.
The remaining GH¢2,095.57 million is fresh issuance to meet government’s financing requirements.
Government’s Issuance Calendar for June to August, 2021, which made this known, said government intends to update the Issuance Calendar on a monthly rolling basis, to reflect a full quarter financing programme.
It therefore assured stakeholders and the general public that it continues to strive for greater predictability and transparency in the domestic bond market.
Ghana’s stock of public debt shot to GH¢304.6 billion at the end of March 2021, compared with GH¢292.7 billion at the end of December 2020.
This was on account of the financing of the fiscal deficit in the first quarter done mainly from domestic sources.
Dr. Ernest Addison, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, who disclosed this to the media in Accra after the 100th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, said of the total debt stock, domestic debt was GH¢163.6 billion (37.7 per cent of GDP), while the external debt was GH¢141.0 billion (32.5 per cent of GDP).
In his assessment, the BoG Governor noted that “The gap in revenue performance viz-a-viz the budgeted target has been somewhat compensated for by expenditure containment measures.
“However, in the near-term, the committee noted risks in the fiscal outlook surrounding wage settlements, energy IPP payments, the potential for arrears build-up, potential for scaled-up expenditures associated with COVID-19 waves and mass vaccination efforts, and the implementation of the Ghana CARES programme, which would have to be carefully managed in a time consistent manner to minimise any deviation from the path of fiscal consolidation,” he added.
BY Samuel Boadi