Press Release

According to the GSS, real GDP expanded by 7.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to the 4.3 percent growth recorded in the corresponding period of 2020. Similarly, non-oil real GDP in the fourth quarter of 2021 expanded by 7.6 percent compared to 5.7 percent for the same period in 2020.

If we look at the world today, there are two clear forces shaping global events: the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic and the crisis in Ukraine. With the virus, the records show that our decision to focus first on protecting lives and then livelihoods has paid off.

Reference is made to a publication by S&P Ratings from their New York Office, on 4th February 2022 that the Rating Agency has affirmed Ghana’s Long and short-term foreign and local currency ratings at B- and maintained the outlook at Stable

Reference is made to a publication by Moody’s Ratings, on 4th February 2022, that the Rating Agency has downgraded Ghana’s Long-Term Issuer and Senior unsecured bond Ratings to Caa1 from B3 and changed the outlook from negative to stable.

Ghana has been removed from the European Union’s (EU) list of high risk third countries with strategic deficiencies in their Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes. This was after Ghana had strengthened the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime by addressing related technical deficiencies including strengthening.........

On Thursday, 13th January 2022, the attention of the Ministry was drawn to a widely circulated Bloomberg article captioned – “Ghana Debt Moves Deeper into Distress as Investors lose Patience”. There are some serious factual errors in the article, which may give investors some cause for concern, if not corrected.

The attention of the Ministry of Finance has been drawn to social media publications claiming that government has dropped the allocation of GHC241,933,000 for the E-Transaction Levy Services in the 2022 Budget and it will, therefore, not appear in the Appropriations Bill.

As part of the feedback from the presentation, the Ministry has noted with concern that the overall fiscal balance (the budget deficit) as a percentage of GDP is being misrepresented.

The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta will, on behalf of the President lay before Parliament, the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government on Wednesday, 17th November, 2021.

Ghana initiated its 2021 International Capital Market Programme for the issuance of sovereign bonds in the last quarter of 2020. Subsequently, Parliament on 10th November 2020, granted Government approval to issue bonds amounting to US$3.00 billion, of which proceeds of up to US$1.5 billion was to be applied to support the 2021 budget and growth expenditures.