Claim: Ghana’s debt-to-GDP hits 80%
Source: John Dramani Mahama
Verdict: False
Researched by Sani Abdul-Rahman
Ghana’s former President and the flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama in an interview with the BBC ahead of the December 7 polls lamented the hardships Ghanaians are enduring under the Nana Akufo-Addo government.
The NDC presidential candidate said the coronavirus pandemic has exposed “the concealed weakness in the country’s economy.”
Speaking in Pidgin English, one of the most widely spoken languages across West Africa, between minutes 22:15 and 22:35, Mr Mahama said: “This economy collapse, 80% debt-to-GDP be economy edey survive?
Fact-check
Ghana’s debt-to-GDP rose to 71 percent as at September 30, latest figures released in the Monetary Policy Report of the Bank of Ghana has showed.
Governor of the Central Bank Dr Ernest Addison attributed the surge in ratio to fiscal measures adopted by the government to cushion the world’s second top cocoa producer from the ravages of covid-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund has said Ghana is at high risk of debt distress in its Sub Saharan Africa Regional Economic Outlook report released on October 22 and forecasts the country’s debt-to-GDP to hit 76.7 percent by year-end.
Verdict
The claim is an exaggeration and false.
