By Kebba AF Touray
Seedy Keita, the Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs, said the Gambia Government’s net borrowing stands at Forty-One Billion Dalasi.
Net borrowing is calculated by subtracting the amount of debt repaid in the year from the total debt borrowed during the year.
Net borrowing is a summary measure indicating the extent to which government is either putting financial resources at the disposal of other sectors in the economy or abroad. It is also utilising the financial resources generated by other sectors in the economy or from abroad.
Minister Keita appeared before the National Assembly during the recent concluded adjournment debate.
On debt sustainability, Minister Keita said the country is in the right trajectory because the debt ratio to GDP, which was as high as 100 percent in 2017, has now been reduced to a level of 75 percent.
“Based on the analysis they have carried out, net borrowing under the new dispensation is D41 billion. So the D110 billion that everybody is talking about is not from this loan dispensation alone. We have regularly conducted debt sustainability which is part of our annual reviews, and based on the latest annual reviews, this is within a sustainable limit even though it is high,” the Minister said.
The Minister said he has provided explanation about the evolution of debt to the National Assembly in the past – he stated that the way the debt has evolved is not as a result of the new borrowing.
“There has been a debt legacy that has been consolidated in the country as a result of maladministration, which hovered within the system and this brought the amount to D10.8 billion. These were debts that were with the commercial banks,” he said.
He said the Government has consolidated the debts and is servicing them under a 30-year government bond. He added that NAWEC’s loan amounts to D1.6 billion dalasi and the foreign exchange situation on external debt is D7.5 billion dalasi.
He informed the lawmakers that the current dispensation has gone to fund projects such as the Bertil Harding Highway, the OMVG, GAMTEL Broadband and University of the Gambia projects among others.
“This is how the debt stock has evolved,” he said.
On recapitalization of the GGC, the Minister said they have found other ways of funding GGC apart from recapitalization and said discussions are ongoing on this. On Foreign Exchange Management, the Minister said a new foreign currency regulation has been enacted and they will be working with the Central Bank on the issue.
