Ghana breached DSA thresholds resulting in debt distress – IMF

The International Monetary Fund has said Ghana’s current position of debt distress was caused by a breach of the Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) thresholds by the country.

According to a country report released by the Fund on May 17, it noted that Ghana remains in debt distress with its debt levels reaching a unsustainable status.

“Given the ongoing debt restructuring and large and protracted breaches to the Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) thresholds, Ghana is in debt distress, and debt is assessed as unsustainable”.

The IMF further noted that Ghana’s public debt stock in GDP terms reached 88.1 percent at the end of 2022 which was almost equal between external (42.4%) and domestic (45.7%) of GDP.

The Bretton Wood institution stated that Ghana’s gross financing needs was pegged around 19 percent of GDP.

“Under the proposed programmes baseline projections, which do not consider the possible outcome of the ongoing debt restructuring, the ratios of present value of public and external debt to GDP, and the ratios of external debt service to revenues and exports are and would remain above their LIC-DSF thresholds over the medium and long term”, the IMF added.

MA