From Ghana Web

Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlook on Ghana’s Long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) from stable to negative, casting doubts over the country’s ability to service its debts in the future in time.

It has, however, affirmed the ratings at ‘B’.

The agency has also affirmed the Short-term foreign currency IDR at ‘B’ and Country Ceiling at ‘B’. The issue ratings on Ghana’s senior unsecured foreign and local currency bonds are also affirmed at ‘B’.

Key rating drivers

The Outlook revision reflects the following key rating drivers and their relative weights:

High: Ghana’s fiscal position has worsened further over the past six months. Revenue underperformance and intractable expenditure on wages and interest led to a budget deficit of 10.8 percent of GDP in 2013, wider than the government’s target of 9 percent. This, combined with a sharp 20 percent depreciation of the exchange rate, caused government debt to rise to 61.8 percent of GDP in 2013 from 48.9 percent in 2012.

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