'Do you want me to crash the country again?' Forson defends spending as debt hits GH¢759.3bn

Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson has defended his spending record, telling JoyNews' PM Express: 'Do you want me to crash the country again?' The Budget Statement says GH¢41.36 billion has been paid to DDEP bondholders since 2025, and puts provisional public debt at GH¢759.3 billion, or 47.5 percent of GDP, at end-October 2026, up from 44.7 percent at end-2025.

'People don't appreciate it'

Speaking on the programme on Thursday after presenting the 2027 Budget, Forson rejected claims that he was not spending enough. "I'm spending, but you see, people don't appreciate it," he said, according to MyJoyOnline.

"These are debts that we have inherited. Do you want me to crash the country again? Do you? I can't," he said. "These are not normal times. I need to take the country off crisis. I need to restore market confidence. I need to pay the debt that has fallen due."

What the Budget Statement says

The 2027 Budget Statement, published by the Ministry of Finance, says 56.4 percent of public debt is now domestic and 43.6 percent external. Graphic Online and Citi Newsroom also reported the GH¢759.3 billion figure from the speech.

The document says GH¢40.1 billion of DDEP bonds fall due on February 16, 2027: GH¢29 billion in principal and GH¢11.1 billion in interest. Forson has offered to redeem the GH¢29 billion early, saying the Cedi Sinking Fund already holds that amount.

Interest payments in 2027 are projected at GH¢61.0 billion, or 3.4 percent of GDP, according to the Budget Statement.

From 2027, the government says it will keep public debt consistent with 45 percent of GDP.

Minority reaction

Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin called the NDC a "sloganeering government" and said the Minority would give a full critique after its budget workshop, Citi Newsroom reported.

"Where is the Women's Bank? They did not even talk about it," Afenyo-Markin said, 3News reported.

Afenyo-Markin said the Minister did not mention the Women's Bank; the Budget Statement says the bank was capitalised with GH¢400m and will be fully operational in 2027.

The bank is still awaiting a licence from the Bank of Ghana, Citi Newsroom has reported.