• The COVID-19 pandemic has burdened Ghana with some GH¢21 billion, says former deputy finance minister

• About GH¢18 billion of it was funded through borrowing

• The rest were raised through grants and money from the Stabilisation Fund

The coronavirus pandemic has cost Ghana GH¢21 billion, the nominee for Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen, has disclosed.

He made this statement when he was being vetted by the Appointments Committee of Parliament today, Wednesday, June 2, 2021.

The nominee stated that GH¢18 billion of the total amount was funded through borrowing as the rest were raised through grants and the Stabilisation Fund.

“COVID-19 cost us [Ghana] about GHS21 billion. Of that amount, about GH¢18 billion of it was funded through borrowing, and the rest came to us as grants, [along with] some monies from the Stabilisation Fund.”

Mr. Adu Boahene further indicated that the GH¢21 billion COVID-19 cost represented 13% of Ghana’s GPD.

Ghana’s public debt stock is now GH¢304.6 billion.

According to the latest Bank of Ghana (BoG) summary of Economic and Financial Data, it is a rise from GH¢3 billion in March 2021.

It is equivalent to 70.2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), lower than the 76.1% registered in December 2020.
The US$3 billion Eurobond raised by the country in March 2021 also accounted for this jump in the debt.

A breakdown of the debt numbers shows that the component of the debt secured outside the country remained relatively stable in the first quarter even dropping marginally to GH¢141 billion in March, from the GHS142.5 billion recorded in January and February of this year.

The external debt component as of the end of March 2021 made up 32.5 % of the total value of the economy which is projected to be about GH¢434 billion for 2021.