We Are on the Right Trajectory Finance Minister

Ghana’s Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Ami Adam has revealed that the country is on the right trajectory to economic freedom.

During the reading of the Mid-year budget in parliament on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, Dr. Amin Adam reiterated government’s strategic implementations of policies which is seeing a revamp of the Ghanaian economy.   

The Finance Minister said, “Mr. Speaker, it is evident that we are on the right trajectory. The economy is rebounding stronger than anticipated. The choices we have made and the policies we are implementing are yielding results. We have reversed the negative trends, all the indicators are looking better. I want to assure you that we will stay on this path and persist to make the right choices. Our economic recovery is fast and strong.”

Dr. Amin Adam, then finance minister and Member of Parliament for Kalaga, revealed that the government has been able to bring some urgencies and speed to the implementation of some key government policies which is currently seeing a swift and viable results.

“Mr. Speaker, over the last six months, we have sought to bring some urgency and speed to the implementation of key government programmes and also swiftly provided the essential support for growth-enhancing initiatives. I am again happy to inform this August House that with the support of His Excellency the President, Cabinet and other Stakeholders, we have successfully concluded the second review of our Extended Credit Facility with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which led to the disbursement of the 3rd tranche of 360 million US Dollars, bringing total disbursement to about US$1.6 billion.”

He further stated that the government has completed the Debt Restructuring programme with the Official Creditor Committee (OCC), covering US$5.1 billion dollars resulting in approximately 2.8 billion US Dollars of debt relief. This, according to the minister, means that we will not service Ghana’s debt to her official creditors from 2023 to 2026.

“We have concluded negotiations with our Eurobond holders, covering 13.1 billion US Dollars, which will lead to a cancellation of 4.7 billion US Dollars of our debt and provide debt service relief of 4.4 billion US Dollars between
2023 and 2026. We have concluded our negotiations with five (5) of the seven (7) Independent Power Producers, which will lead to a saving of some of US$6.6 US Billion over the lifetime of the Purchasing Power Agreements (PPAs).”

We have reined in expenditures to ensure we are within 2024 Budget Appropriation and exceeded the midyear revenue target by 0.2 percent by end-June, 2024. In effect, Mr. Speaker, we are living within our means. Indeed,
consistent with our programme with the IMF, we are on course to achieving a primary surplus of 0.5 percent of GDP by end of the year.”

The minister further stated that the ministry of finance has cleared all exceptional Bank Transfer Advice (BTAs) up to 2022, and working hard to pay BTAs from 2023.

“We have embarked on major reforms of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), especially those in the Energy and Cocoa sectors, to be fiscally prudent and decrease their risk on the budget.

We have launched the SME GO programme to provide financial and technical support to SMEs. We have disbursed 5.4 billion Ghana Cedis to support LEAP, School Feeding programme, Capitation Grant and NHIS since January, 2024 to decrease the burden on the vulnerable in our country.”

“We have spent about 1.5 billion Ghana Cedis to support 1,488,575 students under the Free SHS programme between January and June this year. We have paid about 12 billion Ghana Cedis to bondholders under our Domestic Debt Exchange programme, since February, to demonstrate our commitment to the programme,” he concluded.

Kobina Darlington/