Ghana’s Finance Minister, Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, on Tuesday said that the nation faced significant external debt service costs over the next four years.
Forson told parliament this in his first budget speech.
According to him, Ghana will have to pay $2.5 billion in 2027 and $2.4 billion in 2028.
“The next four years, we’ll be called upon to pay $8.7 billion, representing 10.9% of GDP, with heavy concentration in the years 2027 and 2028.
“In spite of all these upcoming domestic and external debt service obligations, no buffers were built to cushion this unprecedented debt service burden,” Forson said.
It was gathered that the West African nation is emerging from its deepest economic crisis in a generation, resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, higher global interest rates, and years of excessive borrowing.
Meanwhile, President John Dramani Mahama, who took office in January, has vowed to boost the economy and create jobs.
Mahama faces the fallout of a cost-of-living crisis, an ongoing bailout from the International Monetary Fund, and a sovereign debt default in the cocoa- and gold-producing nation.
