Remaining external debt restructuring negotiations may create short term payment challenges – BoG

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The Bank of Ghana has stated that the completion of the remaining external debt restructuring negotiations may create potential short-term external payments challenges for the country.According to its May 2026 Monetary Policy Report (MPR), this may have implication for the domestic currency, thus more domestic savings would be needed to meet future external debt service obligation,It advised that a high reserves accumulation remains key to meeting high external debt service payments. “The risk to government fiscal performance is global uncertainties including commodity price fluctuations and geopolitical tensions”.Meanwhile, the Bank of Ghana says fiscal targets were met amid concerns about revenue performance as well as the pace of expenditure execution.“Revenue yields seem to be picking up in the month of April [2026] with the steady implementation of the new revenue measures outlined in the 2026 budget. This is on the back of infusing technology and AI [Artificial Intelligence], not only to plug revenue loopholes but also to enhance efficiency in collections”.It added that expenditure control and efficiency gains are expected with the scale up in the implementation of the commitment authorisation and the commencement of the operations of the value for money activity.The government budgetary operations in quarter one 2026 resulted in an overall budget surplus (commitment) of GH¢1.709 billion (0.1% of Gross Domestic Product) for the period compared to the expected target deficit of GH¢18.578 billion (1.2% of GDP).The corresponding primary balance (commitment) was a surplus of 1.2% of GDP, against a primary surplus target of 0.2% of GDP.On cash basis, the overall budget surplus was GH¢824.3 million compared with the target deficit of GH¢20.924 billion. This translates into 0.1% of GDP compared with a target of 1.3% of GDP respectively.