Are you a Ghanaian? If yes, then you might be wondering why you technically owe GH₵ 7,064.93 when you don’t recall ever borrowing or purchasing any product to that tune on credit terms. The finance Ministry, led by the Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta announced that Ghana’s total public debt currently stood at GH₵ 214.9 billion as of November, 2019.
According to UN data, Ghana’s 2019 population is estimated at 30,417,856 people at mid year. Dividing the public debt by the rough estimate of the population, we arrive at 7064.92923104, approximating this number to 2 decimal places gives us 7064.93. Meaning, if the total public debt is to be shared among Ghanaians to pay, each person would have to pay GH₵ 7,064.93.
A further breakdown of the debt revealed that GH₵111.9 billion constituted external debts ( debt that was borrowed from foreign lenders, including commercial banks, governments, or international financial institutions), while GH₵102.9 billion constituted domestic debts (debt owed to lenders within the country, like Commercial banks, other financial institutions etc.)
