Ghana’s Minority in Parliament has said every Ghanaian owes GHS7,000 as a result of the country’s ballooning public debt stock which is now US$38.9 billion (GHS198 billion), GHS2 billion shy of GHS200 billion as of March 2019.

According to the Bank of Ghana’s Summary of Economic and Financial Data – May 2019, the debt stock represents 57.5 per cent of Ghana’s GDP as of March 2019.

In January this year, the total public debt was GHS176.6 billion (US$35.7 billion) and GHS180.7 billion (US$35 billion) for February.

The figure for January and February represented 51.3 per cent and 52.5 per cent of GDP.

A total of GHS21.4 billion was added to the public debt in the first three months of 2019.

The current debt is inclusive of the US$3 billion Eurobond issued by the government in March this year.

Speaking at a press conference in parliament on Thursday, 6 June 2019, the Ranking Member of the Finance Committee, Mr Cassiel Ato Forson, accused the Akufo-Addo government of reckless borrowing contrary to their campaign mantra of no borrowing ahead of the 2016 general elections.