Interest payments (% of revenue) in Ghana
Ghana: Interest payments (% of revenue) was 21.6% in 2023. ▲ Rising
Interest payments in Ghana, 1990–2023
Source: Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF). Measured in % of revenue.
Analysis
Ghana recorded 21.6% for interest payments in 2023.
That represents a change of down 54.4% on the previous year and down 9.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, interest payments in Ghana peaked at 47.8% in 2021 and was at its lowest, 9.6%, in 2007.
Ghana ranks 13th of 155 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 27 years of available data.
Interest payments (% of revenue) in Ghana, year by year
| Year | % of revenue | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 10.2% | — |
| 1991 | 11.0% | +7.3% |
| 1992 | 16.7% | +51.9% |
| 1993 | 18.6% | +11.7% |
| 2001 | 29.3% | +57.3% |
| 2002 | 29.0% | -0.8% |
| 2003 | 22.1% | -23.8% |
| 2004 | 13.9% | -37.2% |
| 2005 | 12.1% | -13.3% |
| 2006 | 12.0% | -0.3% |
| 2007 | 9.6% | -20.1% |
| 2008 | 12.1% | +25.4% |
| 2009 | 15.2% | +25.9% |
| 2010 | 16.2% | +7.1% |
| 2011 | 12.5% | -23.3% |
| 2012 | 15.5% | +24.4% |
| 2013 | 23.8% | +53.9% |
| 2014 | 30.3% | +27.1% |
| 2015 | 30.9% | +2.0% |
| 2016 | 35.8% | +15.7% |
| 2017 | 34.2% | -4.4% |
| 2018 | 33.2% | -2.9% |
| 2019 | 37.0% | +11.5% |
| 2020 | 44.6% | +20.5% |
| 2021 | 47.8% | +7.2% |
| 2022 | 47.3% | -1.2% |
| 2023 | 21.6% | -54.4% |
Ghana compared with similar countries
- Ghana's 21.6% is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is 8.6%, 2.5× the median. (36 countries reporting)
- Ghana's 21.6% is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 11.6%, 1.9× the median. (36 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 14.1% | 10.2% | 18.6% | 4 |
| 2000s | 17.3% | 9.6% | 29.3% | 9 |
| 2010s | 26.9% | 12.5% | 37.0% | 10 |
| 2020s | 40.3% | 21.6% | 47.8% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Ghana
More public sector data for Ghana
- Democracy, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Chief executive of the government is elected, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Elected parliament, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Men's universal right to vote, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Universal right to vote, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Universal right to vote in practice, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Arms imports 5.00 million SIPRI trend indicator values (2025)
- Arms imports (SIPRI trend indicator values), per capita 0.3195 SIPRI trend indicator values per person (2024)
- Arms imports (SIPRI trend indicator values), per unit of GDP 0.0001 SIPRI trend indicator values per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Arms imports (SIPRI trend indicator values), annual growth rate 37.5 % change on previous year (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is interest payments in Ghana?
- Interest payments in Ghana was 21.6% in 2023, according to Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- What is the highest interest payments recorded in Ghana?
- The highest recorded value was 47.8% in 2021.
- What is the lowest interest payments recorded in Ghana?
- The lowest recorded value was 9.6% in 2007.
- How does Ghana rank for interest payments?
- Ghana ranks 13th out of 155 countries with data for 2023.
- Is interest payments rising or falling in Ghana?
- Over the last ten years it is down 9.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Ghana data come from?
- The figures come from Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF), published as part of Interest payments (% of revenue). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 27 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Interest payments include interest payments on government debt (including long-term bonds, long-term loans, and other debt instruments) to domestic and foreign residents. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of revenue which includes all transactions that add to the amount of economic value of a unit or sector.