Debt servicing drops below 20% of revenue as Ghana secures €163m Belgium deal — Ato Forson

Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has announced that Ghana now spends less than 20 percent of its national revenue on debt servicing, a dramatic decline from the roughly 50 percent recorded at the peak of the country’s fiscal crisis.

The Minister made the disclosure at the signing ceremony of a €163 million debt restructuring agreement between Ghana and Belgium, covering debt owed to Belgium’s export credit agency.

From Crisis to Stability

Dr Forson recounted that at its worst, Ghana was using about 55 percent of national revenue to service debt, leaving minimal resources for schools, hospitals, roads and other critical infrastructure. “At its peak, we were spending about 50 per cent of our revenue on debt servicing. This meant less money for schools, hospitals, roads and other infrastructure. That was unsustainable,” he said.

“Today, I am proud to say that we have made considerable progress. We are now spending less than 20 per cent of our revenue on servicing debt”.

Debt Restructuring Progress

The Belgium agreement brings Ghana closer to completing its external debt restructuring programme under the G20 Common Framework. Agreements have been signed with more than half of bilateral creditors, with debt-to-GDP ratio falling from 61.8 percent at end-2024 to 44.7 percent at end-2025, before edging to 45 percent by June 2026. The debt service-to-domestic revenue ratio declined from 55.7 percent in 2022 to 28.8 percent in 2025.

Fiscal Rules to Be Entrenched in Law

Dr Forson stressed that the government is working to enshrine fiscal rules in law to prevent a return to unsustainable debt levels, regardless of which administration is in power.

The reduced debt-service burden has created greater fiscal space for investment in public infrastructure and social services. “For the people of Ghana, it means less pressure on the national budget,” the Minister said.