{"id":107016,"date":"2025-12-15T19:52:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T19:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=107016"},"modified":"2025-12-15T19:52:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T19:52:07","slug":"gh%c2%a270bn-debt-jump-exposes-structural-weaknesses-in-economy-oppong-nkrumah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=107016","title":{"rendered":"GH\u00a270bn debt jump exposes structural weaknesses in economy \u2013 Oppong Nkrumah"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='booster-block booster-read-block'>\n                <div class=\"twp-read-time\">\n                \t<i class=\"booster-icon twp-clock\"><\/i> <span>Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 4 Second                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div><div>\n<p>Member of Parliament for Ofoase Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, says the recent surge in Ghana\u2019s public debt by more than GH\u00a270 billion in just three months is evidence that the country\u2019s economic fundamentals remain weak, despite earlier claims of improvement.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on Newsnite on Joy FM, the Ranking Member on Parliament\u2019s Economy and Development Committee cautioned against what he described as the government\u2019s earlier celebration of temporary declines in headline debt figures.<\/p>\n<p>He argued that those movements were driven largely by exchange rate effects and debt restructuring rather than meaningful fiscal or monetary reforms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou recall that we cautioned the government against celebrating temporary movements in headline numbers while ignoring the structural weaknesses that are still underneath the economy,\u201d he said on Monday.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Read also: Ghana\u2019s public debt balloons by over GH\u00a270bn in just three months<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>According to the former minister, the earlier slowdown in debt accumulation was not the result of changes in government spending patterns or revenue mobilisation, but rather two short-term factors, a sharp appreciation of the cedi and the impact of the domestic debt exchange programme.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut nothing significantly had changed both on the fiscal or on the monetary side,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Oppong Nkrumah argued that the recent 20 per cent depreciation of the cedi over the past three months has quickly reversed those gains, pushing the debt stock up by about GH\u00a270 billion.<\/p>\n<p>He explained that about GH\u00a250 billion of the increase could be attributed mainly to exchange rate movements, which inflate the cedi value of Ghana\u2019s foreign-denominated debt without any new borrowing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust a small depreciation in three months and the debt stock has gone back up by about GH\u00a270 billion because the structure and the fundamentals have not changed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond currency effects, Mr Oppong Nkrumah pointed to additional factors contributing to the debt increase, including a US$360 million facility from the World Bank, which he said government attempted to present as a financing arrangement rather than a loan when it was brought before Parliament.<\/p>\n<p>He also noted that about US$1 billion worth of restructured debt is now being capitalised and treated as new disbursements in the government\u2019s accounting, even though no fresh funds have entered the economy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven if you account for those two, you still have about a GH\u00a250 billion change in our debt stock, which is mostly because of the currency,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n        <div class=\"booster-block booster-reactions-block\">\n            <div class=\"twp-reactions-icons\">\n                \n                <div class=\"twp-reacts-wrap\">\n                    <a react-data=\"be-react-1\" post-id=\"107016\" class=\"be-face-icons un-reacted\" href=\"javascript:void(0)\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" 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   <\/div>\n\n    ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-1037-150x150.png\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"GH\u00a270bn debt jump exposes structural weaknesses in economy \u2013 Oppong Nkrumah\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"GH\u00a270bn debt jump exposes structural weaknesses in economy \u2013 Oppong Nkrumah\">Member of Parliament for Ofoase Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, says the recent surge in Ghana\u2019s public debt by more than GH\u00a270 billion in just three months is evidence that the country\u2019s economic fundamentals remain weak, despite earlier claims of improvement.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2652,3488,1883,10,9,1887],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-debt","category-kojo-oppong-nkrumah","category-national","category-politics","category-popular","category-top-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=107016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107016\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=107016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=107016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=107016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}