\n
\n<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanamma.com\/2019\/03\/glauc-new.jpg\"\/)
\n<\/div>\nGovernment ended 2018 with a total debt stock of \u00a2173.2 billion as captured in Bank of Ghana\u2019s (BoG) Summary of Economic and Financial data released on Friday.<\/p>\n
The data showed that from the last time (September 2018) that the Central Bank\u2019s data\u00a0put\u00a0the November debt at \u00a2172.9\u00a0billion, the stock of debts has gone up by\u00a0some \u00a2300 million\u00a0to \u00a2173.2 billion.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Government sources had argued that this\u00a0might not necessarily be a result of fresh borrowings but rather interest calculations on the borrowing as well as the cedi’s depreciation during\u00a0that period.<\/span><\/p>\n Breakdown of the debt numbers<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The country\u2019s external debts stood at $17.9 billion, which were funds that government borrowed from abroad with \u00a286 billion secured locally.<\/span><\/p>\n Year on Year growth in the\u00a0Total Debt Stock\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n As at the end of December 2018 the total debt stock stood at \u00a2173.2 billion this represents 58 percent of the total value of the economy expressed in percentage terms.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2017 it was \u00a2142.6 billion, representing 55.6 percent of the GDP. In cedi nominal terms, in just a year the debt stock went up \u00a230 billion.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In dollar terms, it went up from $32.3 billion in 2017\u00a0to $35.9 billion in 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n Government had argued that the debt numbers going up does not necessarily mean that it is taken on fresh debts, as exchange rate risk and some debt commitment which indirectly impacted the numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n However, the growth in the debt numbers still raises some questions about its debt management policy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n On domestic borrowings,\u00a0the Bank of Ghana was able to provide the debt numbers as at March ending which stood at \u00a292.5 billion. Now compared to the same period in 2017, it was \u00a266.8 billion.<\/span><\/p>\n 2018 borrowings through bonds and Treasury bills<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n According to the borrowing calendar for 2018, government ended the year taking about \u00a245 billion through bonds and treasury bills.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Data from the Finance ministry shows that it has already taken \u00a222.4 billion in the first half of this year.<\/span><\/p>\n From the first quarter numbers, only \u00a24.6 billion can be classified as fresh borrowings which were used to meet the government\u2019s financing needs.<\/span><\/p>\n The remaining \u00a217.8 billion was used to finance debts that were maturing. Also, \u00a211.3 billion was taken in the third quarter of this year.<\/span><\/p>\n The calendar which captures government\u2019s operations for October to December shows that the Finance Ministry would be borrowing \u00a212.8 billion through bonds and treasury bills for the last quarter of this year.<\/span><\/p>\n Developments in the Banking and other sectors of the Economy<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n The Bank of Ghana data revealed some interesting development, especially in the banking sector.<\/span><\/p>\n This is because it showed that deposits and credit extension for the first quarter of the year have indeed picked.<\/span><\/p>\n This is coming on the back of\u00a0the recent challenges that hit the Banking sector,\u00a0which affected credit growth and deposits. These developments mean that confidence in the banking sector could be picking up.<\/span><\/p>\n This is because from the data banking sector deposits have picked in the first three months of this year according to the Economic and Financial Data from Bank of Ghana showed some increases in deposits and credit.<\/span><\/p>\n Private sector credit for the first two months of this year went up by 21 percent to reach \u00a238 billion ending February 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n Now compared to the same period in 2017 the credit to the private sector stood in nominal terms was \u00a231.5 billion, while growth was\u00a0just 2.4 percent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Total Deposits also jump from \u00a260 billion in February 2018 to \u00a272 billion ending February 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n Financial Soundness indications, in terms of the capital adequacy ratio, have also gone up.\u00a0However, Non-Performing Loans remains their biggest\u00a0challenge, with the nominal number reaching\u00a0\u00a26.6 million\u00a0ending last year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Cedis depreciation<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n The Bank of Ghana has put the depreciation of the cedi ending March 2019 at around 5.18 percent, and a quote\u00a0\u00a25.08.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The report also showed that growth in Foreign currency deposits increases significantly by more than 25 percent, in the first two months of this year compared to the same period for 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n A recent Central Bank data puts the total foreign currency deposits at around 4 billion dollars ending December 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n Total Earnings from Exports<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Total earnings from exports ending February 2019 stood at $2.6 billion, compared to $2.9 billion\u00a0in the same period last year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Gold brought in $944 million, Cocoa contributed $565 million with oil contributing $721 million.<\/p>\n The report showed the earnings gotten for the first two months of this year was slightly lower than what the country secured in the same period in 2018.<\/p>\n On imports, the country spent $2.1 billion\u00a0to finance the importation of\u00a0oil and other essential commodities and items for the country. Oil imports stood at $380 million, while non-oil imports was at $1.8 billion.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n