Claim: NDC has borrowed more money in a year than eight years the NPP was in government
Source: John Boadu, former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party
Verdict: False
Researched by Samuel Nii Adjetey
A former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Boadu, has claimed that the current National Democratic Congress (NDC) government has in a year borrowed more money than what the last the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government contracted in eight years.
“NDC has borrowed more money than all the eight years NPP was in government,” he said while speaking on a morning show on Lawson TV on March 30, 2026. When asked by the host which NDC administration he was referring to, he said, “The current administration.”
This fact-check seeks to verify the accuracy of the claim.
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Fact-check
To verify the claim, GhanaFact reviewed the total public debt data from the Financial and Economic Data reports published by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for three distinct periods.
- The end of the year 2016, when the NPP came into government
- End of 2024 when the NPP left office and
- The most current data at the time John Boadu made the claim.
The BoG reports public debt data in US dollar and Ghana cedi denominations. The data at the time the NDC came into office, showed that in dollar terms, Ghana’s total public debt stood at $29.2 billion in December 2016 and increased to $49.4 billion by December 2024, indicating that $20.2 billion was accumulated over the NPP’s eight-year period.
The most recent public debt data was released in March 2026 but it has public debt data till December 2025. As of the end of December 2025, the dollar component of the debt had risen to $61.3 billion (first year of the Mahama II government), meaning $11.9 billion was accumulated within the first year of the current NDC administration.
It means in eight years the NPP accumulated $20.2 billion in public debt against the $11.9 billion increase recorded by the current government. While the 2025 figure represents a sharp rise within a single year, it does not exceed the total debt accumulated across the two terms of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led government.
| Left behind | Inherited | Accumulation | |
| NPP-era debt | End of Dec. 2024 | End of Dec. 2016 | |
| (Billions US$)(2017 – 2024) | US$49.4 | US$29.2 | US$20.2 |
| (Billions GH¢)(2017 – 2024) | GH¢726.7 | GH¢122.3 | GH¢604.2 |
| NDC-era debt | End of Dec. 2025 | End of Dec. 2024 | |
| (Billions US$)(Dec. 2024 – Dec. 2025) | US$61.3 | US$49.4 | US$11.9 |
| (Billions GH¢)(Dec. 2024 – Dec. 2025) | GH¢641.0 | GH¢726.7 | GH¢-85.7 |
In cedi terms, however, there is a different story. Ghana’s total public debt stood at GH¢122.3 billion in December 2016 and rose to GH¢726.7 billion by December 2024, reflecting an accumulation of GH¢604.2 billion over the NPP’s eight-year period.
By December 2025, the total public debt stood at GH¢641.0 billion, which means it was GH¢85.7 billion less than the GH¢726.7 billion that the NDC inherited in December 2024.
According to the data from BoG, the GH¢85.7 billion in 2025 is substantially lower than the GH¢604.2 billion accumulated over the NPP’s eight years in office.
GhanaFact reached out to the former NPP General Secretary but has yet to receive a response, and this report will be updated with his response once it is received.
Verdict
The claim that the NDC has borrowed more in 2025 than the NPP did in eight years is false!
