Ghana - national debt 2018-2028 | Statista (2024)

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What was the total national debt in 2018? ›

Highlights of Public Debt

Provisional gross public debt at end Q1-2023 stood at GH₵569.35 billion (US$51.67 billion), representing 71.1 percent of GDP, a slight decrease of 20 basis points from 71.3 percent recorded at the end of Q4-2022.

Two years ago, elevated fiscal deficits and public debt levels, together with the combined effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia's war in Ukraine, and global monetary policy tightening, triggered a drop in international investor confidence in Ghana, resulting in a loss of international market access.

The World Bank portfolio commitment is $4.6 billion covering 20 national projects (IDA), and 5 regional operations ($668 million). Cumulative disbursem*nt on the national IDA portfolio of $3.9 billion is $1.7 billion (43%) while the undisbursed balance is $2.2 billion as of March 18, 2024.

At the top is Japan, whose national debt has remained above 100% of its GDP for two decades, reaching 255% in 2023.

76% of Ghana's external debt is held by commercial lenders including bondholders such as BlackRock. Multilateral development banks also hold a significant portion of Ghana's debt, followed by the Paris Club and China.

Ghana's debt stock has increased signifi- cantly over the last couple of years with serious implications for effective fiscal management. Total public debt stood at GH₵35.1 billion, or 48.4% of GDP at end-2012 from GH₵9.8 billion in 2008. By end-2016, the debt stock had reached GH₵122.6 billion, or 73.3% of GDP.

Debt is already placing a significant burden on Ghana's economy and society, and the country is at risk of falling back into an extended debt trap, with an economic stagnation and possible increases in poverty rates and failure to implement the Sustainable Development Goals.

How old is Ghana now in 2024? ›

Google Doodle celebrates Ghana's Independence Day 2024 today, March 6, with a doodle depicting the country's flag. This doodle depicts the waving Ghanian national flag with 'Google' written at the bottom, marking its 67th Independence Day today.

This loan agreement marks the 17th time since independence that Ghana has gone to the IMF for a debt-induced economic recovery programme. Far from being an exception, Ghana is one of several African countries in debt distress.

Ghana has a higher standard of living and is generally cleaner and has lower levels of crime and unrest. it also has relatively better educational institutions. Nigeria on the other hand is more economically viable which means that more money can be made in Nigeria and businesses do better in terms of volume.

ACCRA, March 20 (Reuters) - Ghana's economy grew 3.8% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, the statistics agency said on Wednesday, bringing full-year growth to 2.9% in 2023, as the country recovers from its worst economic crisis in a generation due to spiralling public debt.

U.S. publicly held debt 2013-2024

In March 2024, the public debt of the United States was around 34.59 trillion U.S. dollars, almost two trillion more than in July when it was around 32.6 trillion U.S. dollars.

The buildup to World War II brought the debt up another order of magnitude from $51 billion in 1940 to $260 billion following the war. After this period, the debt's growth closely matched the rate of inflation until the 1980s, when it again began to increase rapidly.

Many people believe that much of the U.S. national debt is owed to foreign countries like China and Japan, but the truth is that most of it is owed to Social Security and pension funds right here in the U.S. This means that U.S. citizens own most of the national debt.