The country’s Gross International Reserves (GIR) saw some positive improvements in 2011. From a level of USD4.72 billion in December 2010, the GIR grew steadily and peaked around USD5.38 billion as at December 2011. The developments in the Net International Reserves (NIR) followed a similar pattern as it increased from USD3.92 billion in 2010 to USD4.43 billion in December 2011. The improved developments translated into 3.3 months of imports in 2011 down from 3.7 months in 2010 (Table 4.4). Table 4.4: External Sector Developments (USD millions) Net International Reserves Gross International Reserves Months of imports of goods and services 2008 1,300.59 2,032.16 1.8 2009 2,459.37 3,164.81 3.2 2010 3,924.87 4,724.89 3.7 2011 4,438.97 5,382.82 3.3 Source: Bank of Ghana, 2011 3.6.4 External Debt The country’s gross external debt continued to increase from USD6,254 million (20.9% of GDP) in 2010 to USD7,589.45 million (20.8% of GDP) in 2011 representing a 21.3 percent growth in year-on-year terms between 2010 and 2011 (Table 4.5). Table 4.5: External Debt Stock by Creditor Category (in millions of USD) 2008 4,035.07 16.2 2,028.31 163.07 1,168.22 2009 5,007.88 19.1 2,461.77 269.98 1,687.24 Total External Debt External debt/GDP (%) Multilateral Creditors of which IMF Bilateral Creditors Of which: Paris Club 774.95 1,138.83 Non-Paris Club 393.27 548.41 838.54 858.87 Commercial Creditors Of which: International Capital 750.00 750.00 Market Source: MOFEP, 2011 (* provisional estimate) Sixth Annual APRM Progress Report: January – December 2011 2010 6,254.55 20.9 3,057.69 388.02 2,169.19 2011* 7,589.45 20.8 3,891.78 481.71 2,712.32 1,363.03 806.16 1.027.67 1,830.49 881.83 985.35 750.00 750.00 54