Ghana debt interest bill to reach 61 billion cedis
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Starr FM
Ghanaian MP Kojo Oppong Nkrumah estimates that public debt interest will reach about 61 billion cedis in the 2027 budget. According to his analysis, this charge exceeds the combined 37.874 billion cedis allocated to agriculture, energy, infrastructure, youth, industry and tourism.
Ghana is expected to spend about 61 billion cedis paying interest on its public debt in 2027, according to an analysis by MP Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, a member of Parliament’s Economy and Development Committee. He presented the estimate during his review of the 2027 budget proposal presented on 12 November by Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson.
Debt interest would exceed the combined allocations planned for agriculture, energy, the Big Push infrastructure programme, youth development, industry and tourism, which total 37.874 billion cedis. The gap stands at 23.126 billion cedis, according to Kojo Oppong Nkrumah. The 61 billion cedi interest bill also exceeds the allocations planned for education, at 48 billion cedis, and health, at 40.3 billion cedis.
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah also said public debt had risen from 44.7% of GDP at the end of 2025 to 47.5% in October 2026 and that interest on domestic debt had reached about 51 billion cedis. He believes the fiscal space expected from debt restructuring may have been reduced by new borrowing and its interest costs.
The 61 billion cedi figure comes as the 2027 budget provides, among other things, 28 billion cedis for infrastructure and 11.3 billion cedis for roads, according to budget announcements published on 12 November. The government is also providing 1 billion cedis for 35 district hospitals, announced on 13 November, according to the infrastructure allocations and the allocation for district hospitals.
