The Finance Ministry has expressed unhappiness about reports that there is inconsistency between the IMF and Government of Ghana position on debt computation.

In a statement, the Finance Ministry said budget and debt classifications are based on international classifications known as central government or general government classification.

Also, governments all over the world report at least at the central government level, which means the central government is involved in activities for all Ministries, Departments and Agencies but excludes Local government, State Owned Enterprises or other investment interests of government, apart from debts guaranteed by central government.

“When you add local governments and SOEs to the central government classification, then you are reporting on general government classification”, it added.

It further said Ghana, as a country, reports on central government budgeting and not general government budgeting.

Consequently, Ghana’s public debt stock is calculated as all the debt incurred by all Ministries, Departments and Agencies and any other debt that the central government guarantees for any local government or SOEs.

With this definition, it said the 2020 public debt stock as a percentage of GDP was 76.1%, up from 62.4% recorded in 2019. This corresponds at the same level to those from the IMF.

In other words, the 2019 Public Debt Stock as percent of GDP was 62.4% and 64% for the Ministry of Finance and IMF respectively, the statement noted.

Similarly, the end 2020 Public Debt stock was 76.1% and 78% for the Finance Ministry and the IMF respectively.

The statement further said that the IMF explained the variance indicated above by categorically stating in their press release that it included the Energy Sector Levy Act debt of GH¢7.63 billion, which relates to the debt of energy SOEs and are therefore excluded from the central government classification used by government.

In that regard, the IMF and government computation are not at cross purposes.

“We once again reiterate that the Ministry operates an open door policy and would therefore encourage the media to seek clarification of issues from us before publication”, it emphasized.

IMF concludes Article IV mission in Ghana

On 12th May 2021, the IMF issued a Press Release indicating the conclusion of the annual Article IV mission which took place virtually from 28th April to 12th May, 2021.

The mission according to the Finance Ministry was highly successful and considered the risks arising from the COVID 19 pandemic on Ghana Government’s containment interventions and the areas that need further attention due to the exacerbated nature of the interventions to combat the pandemic.