A breakdown of the country’s external debt stock by creditor group shows that debts owed to the International Capital Market constitute the highest share, reflecting the government’s active participation in the International Capital Market lately.

Available data from the Bank of Ghana show that as of End-March 2021, debts owed to the International Capital Market stood at US$10,215.45 million, representing 41.5 percent of the total external debt stock at the end of Q1 2021 compared with 44.4 percent in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

Meanwhile, debts owed to the International Capital Market as of the end of Q1 2021 was US$0.36 million above the level of US$10,215.09 million recorded in Q4 2020. However, it was US$15.63 million less than the stock position of US$10,231.08 million registered at the end of Q1 2020.

Debt Stock by Creditor Group

Aside debt owed to the International Capital Market, other external creditors holding the country’s debt include multilateral, bilateral, export credit, and other concessional debts.

According to the Bank of Ghana, the Export Credit Agencies component of the total external debt at the end of Q1 2021 was US$914.05million, representing 3.7 percent of the total external debt stock. This was US$52.08 million less than the level of US$966.12 million recorded in Q4 2020 and US$95.84 million less than the position of US$1,009.89 as at End-March 2020.

Furthermore, other Concessional Debts at the end of March 2021 stood at US$1,512.17 million and constituted 6.2percent of the total external debt stock. This indicates a decline of US$29.49 million (1.9%) compared to the previous quarter’s position of US$1,541.66 million. A further breakdown shows that between Q1 2020 and Q1 2021, other concessional debts fell by US$161.74 million (6.7%).

Additionally, Multilateral debts totaled US$8,122.88 million at the end of Q1 2021. This represents a fall of US$157.29 million (1.9%) from the position of US$8,280.17 million recorded at the end of Q4 2020. But, compared to the level of debt stock for Q1 2020, multilateral debts increased by US$1,452.82 million (21.78%). The Bank of Ghana indicated that Multilateral debt accounted for 33.0 percent of the total debt stock at the end of Q1 2021, more than the 28.9 percent recorded in Q1 2020.

Bilateral creditors

On the other hand, debt owed to Bilateral creditors was US$1,245.70, representing a share of 5.1 percent of the total external debt stock at the end of Q1 2021, compared with 5.2 percent for the same period in 2020. Also, this was US$51.66 million (4.0%) less than the stock position of US$1,297.36 million recorded at the end of Q4 2020 and US$42.23 above the level of US$1,203.47 million registered in Q1 2020, the BoG has said.

Similarly, Commercial debts at the end of Q1 2021 stood at US$2,588.57 million and represented 10.5 percent of the total external debt stock. This showed an increase of US$173.20 million (7.2%) from a stock position of US$2,415.37 million recorded at the end of Q4 2020. Likewise, it was US$315.06 million (13.9%) above the level of US$2,273.52 million recorded in Q1 2020.

Overall, the provisional stock of outstanding government and government-guaranteed external debt at End-March 2021 was US$24,598.81 million. This stock position registered a decline of US$116.96 million (0.47%) compared with the level of US$24,715.77 million recorded at the end of Q4 2020. The BoG attributed the decrease in the external debt stock at the end Q1 2021 to a decline in multilateral, bilateral, export credit, and other concessional debts.