Ghana’s public debt numbers are once again under scrutiny, with former Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam challenging the government’s claim of a major reduction in the public debt stock.
The former Minister for Finance under the erstwhile President Akufo-Addo’s administration is arguing that Ghana’s public debt stock has rather increased significantly, instead of the claim of reduction by the current Minister for Finance.
Justifying his claim, Dr. Amin Adam explained that in the Mid-Year Budget Review presented to Parliament, the government reported that the country’s total public debt had fallen sharply from GHS726.7 billion at the end of December 2024 to GHS613 billion by June 2025.
This, according to the Mid-Year review’s paragraphs 188 and 189, represented a GHS113.7 billion drop. Current Minister for Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, in his address to parliament, largely attributed the purported decline to the appreciation of the cedi against the US dollar in the first half of the year.
But Dr. Amin Adam argues that when the same numbers are examined in dollar terms, the reality paints a very different picture, which is one of rising debt rather than falling obligations.
Citing figures from the 2025 Budget and the Bank of Ghana, the former Finance Minister explains that Ghana’s total public debt stood at US$49.4 billion at the end of December 2024, as stated in paragraph 143 of the 2025 Budget Statement. By the end of June 2025, however, the Mid-Year Review pegged the debt stock at GHS613 billion.
Using the Bank of Ghana’s reported exchange rate of USD/GHS 10.3153 as of June 30, 2025, this translates into US$59.43 billion in dollar terms.
This, the former Minister insists, means that rather than declining, Ghana’s debt actually increased by over US$10 billion within just six months.
“In the Mid-Year Review, the Debt Stock reported was GHS613 Billion as at June 2025 (See Paragraph 188 of the Mid-Year Review Statement). The prevailing exchange rate as at 30th June 2025, as reported by the Bank of Ghana, was USD/GHS10.3153. If you divide the end of June stock of GHS613 billion by the exchange rate as at 30th June, you will get, in dollar terms, public debt stock of US$59.43 billion. This is an increase in the debt stock by US$10 billion,” Dr. Amin Adam claimed.
Dr. Amin Adam’s intervention raises critical questions about how the government presents fiscal data to the public. At a time when Ghana is under an IMF programme and is restructuring its debt, clarity and consistency in reporting are vital for investor confidence, policy credibility, and citizen understanding.
For a country like Ghana, where a significant share of borrowing is dollar-denominated, improvements in the cedi’s exchange rate may make the numbers look better at home, but the external burden could still be swelling.
But one question is still lingering amid the contrasting figures: what is the true public debt position of Ghana?
