Update, 14 November 2026: This article has been amended to show that the GH¢84.96 billion of planned net domestic financing covers the GH¢65.80 billion cash deficit, a GH¢17.72 billion net foreign-debt repayment, and net transfers of GH¢1.17 billion to the Ghana Petroleum Funds and GH¢0.27 billion to the Sinking Fund, and to give the 2025 and 2026 figures as a share of GDP as well as in cedis.
The government plans to borrow a net GH¢84.96 billion from the domestic market in 2027, the Budget's own financing table shows. That is 4.7% of projected GDP. It is 2.2 times the GH¢38.55 billion of net domestic financing recorded in 2025, and 21.1% more than the GH¢70.14 billion projected for 2026. All three figures are in nominal cedis. As a share of GDP the rise is smaller: from 2.75% in 2025 to 4.4% in the 2026 projection and 4.7% in the 2027 plan. The 2027 figure is a plan. The 2025 figure is the provisional outturn in the Ministry of Finance's fiscal data.
The number is at the centre of a row on X. "Is borrowing called borrowing only when it comes from external sources?" Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, the Minority's ranking member on finance, asked at a press conference on Friday 13 November, according to Modern Ghana and Ghana Guardian.
A @Citi973 post of the remark has about 29,000 impressions. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah asked on Friday how the minister could "put GH¢85 billion on paper... and tell the people that we are not going to borrow for this", AtinkaOnline reported.
What the Budget says
Appendix 3A, the Summary of Central Government Operations, projects a 2027 cash deficit of GH¢65.80 billion. Net domestic financing is larger than the deficit, at 129% of it. Most of the extra covers a planned net repayment of GH¢17.72 billion of foreign debt.
The rest is net transfers of GH¢1.17 billion to the Ghana Petroleum Funds and GH¢0.27 billion to the Sinking Fund. Those items together reconcile the table: 65.80 + 17.72 + 1.17 + 0.27 = 84.96. The government expects GH¢14.24 billion of new foreign loans, mostly project loans and a World Bank operation, against GH¢31.95 billion of amortisation.
The Eurobond line is zero. Paragraph 831 says the domestic money "will be sourced from the issuance of long- and short-term government securities".
Commercial banks are pencilled in for GH¢59.04 billion, or 69.5% of the domestic total. Non-bank investors make up the rest.
2027–30 are Budget plans or indicative years, not outturns. 2025 is the provisional outturn. 2026 is the Budget projection. Source: Ministry of Finance Fiscal Data 2025 (Jan–Dec, v2); 2027 Budget Appendix 2A and 3A.
We found no general pledge not to borrow in the published Speech and Statement. They say the Western Corridor railway will be built without borrowing (Statement para 933). They fund the New Economy partly by cutting the primary-surplus target by one percentage point of GDP "over the period" (para 247).
One point of projected 2027 GDP is about GH¢18.1 billion. A smaller primary surplus leaves more to finance.
We could not find the exact remark Dr Amin Adam referred to. The Ministry of Finance was not asked for comment for this piece.
Context
Borrowing at home has run below plan. In January to October 2026 the government raised GH¢43.18 billion net, 53.4% of the GH¢80.88 billion programmed.
Reaching the 2026 projection would mean about GH¢26.96 billion in November and December. Our T-bill story found Friday's auction 38% short of its target.
Analyst Francis Timore Boi told Channel One TV on Saturday that borrowing "GH¢85 billion on the local market" could be seen as "competing with the private sector", Citi Newsroom reported. He also said domestic borrowing eases pressure on the cedi.
The plan rises to GH¢135.03 billion by 2030 in the Budget's indicative years. The 2027 Fiscal Strategy, reported by 3News, rules out Eurobonds to 2030 and leaves domestic borrowing as the source that fills any remaining gap.
What it means
The Budget does borrow on the domestic market. Most of the amount above the cash deficit is a planned net repayment of foreign debt, which shifts more of the debt into cedis.
That lowers currency risk but puts more pressure on local lenders. Related: our capex story and the DDEP early redemption.
Limitations
All figures are nominal cedis. "Net" financing is new borrowing minus domestic debt repaid; gross issuance is much larger and is not given in the tables. The 2025 outturn is from the February 2026 workbook and was not checked for later revision.
Earlier years' workbooks use changing layouts and were not used. The 2025 GDP share uses the nominal GDP figure in that workbook (GH¢1,400.01 billion), which is the same in the Budget and Outturn columns and may later be revised.
Sources: Ministry of Finance, 2027 Budget Statement and Speech (paras 246-249, 621-626, 828-832, 931-934; Appendix 2A and 3A), 12 Nov 2026. Ministry of Finance, Fiscal Data 2025 (Jan-Dec, v2). Modern Ghana, 14 Nov 2026. Ghana Guardian. Graphic Online. AtinkaOnline. Citi Newsroom, 14 Nov 2026. 3News, 6 Nov 2026. @Citi973 on X, 13 Nov 2026. StatsGH, T-bill tender. StatsGH, capex story. StatsGH, DDEP early redemption.