Government has affirmed its commitment to fiscal prudence in the upcoming year, assuring that measures have been implemented to enforce financial discipline.

A key pledge is the government's determination to avoid overspending in the 2024 elections, countering predictions by the Minority in Parliament. The Minority anticipated that the government might exceed its budget to fulfill unplanned campaign promises during the election period.

However, Deputy Finance Minister Abena Osei Asare, in her debate on the budget presentation, stated that the government's strategy includes refraining from initiating new commercially loan-funded projects in 2024. This move aligns with their commitment to live within their financial means.

“In the past, governments have used election year as auctioning periods, engaging in all kinds of projects to win votes. But this government is committing itself to strong fiscal consolidation and efficient management of existing commitments, in order not to derail the hard-won stability that we are witnessing.”

“Government is not initiating new commercial loan funded projects. Government has also put in an amount of money in the budget to clear their arrears so that we can complete existing projects,” the Deputy Finance Minister assured.

However, the Minority in Parliament claims that records indicate that the government's 2020 budget deficit was 17% as a result of the elections.

John Jinapor, the Yapei-Kusawgu member of parliament, stated, “You said that you have a track record in election year expenditure. For the records, in 2016, go and read the updated data; the deficit was about 6 percent."

"Mr. Speaker, I refer to the IMF-Ghana decision May 2023 documents; I refer to page 36, table 2 (A). In 2020, under your regime, election year, your deficit was a whopping 17 percent. It has never happened; no country has that deficit of 17 percent.”