The Minority in Parliament has criticized the government for attributing the country's current economic challenges to the COVID-19 pandemic, asserting that economic mismanagement predates the health crisis.

During a discussion on the 2024 Mid-Year Budget Review presented by the Finance Minister, Isaac Adongo, the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee, voiced the Minority's concerns.

He argued that the government should not use the pandemic as an excuse for its fiscal failures.

"Even before COVID-19, the government of the day had already plunged this country into serious fiscal quagmire. We were expected to record changes in our net international reserves. Mr. Speaker, we missed it in March and June and we’re looking at September 2024," Adongo stated.

He emphasized that the economic troubles were evident well before the pandemic.

"This government had been on our case that it is because of COVID-19 that is why we’re in this situation that we find ourselves. However, the Bank of Ghana issued a statement indicating that at the time that we exited the programme in May 2019, the government of Ghana five months later was struggling with major concerns within the fiscal environment.

Adongo firmly stated, "It is not true that our economic problems are solely due to COVID-19."

In response, Deputy Finance Minister Abena Osei Asare assured that the government remains committed to fiscal discipline, noting a 2.9% savings achieved in the first half of 2024.

“Mr Speaker, in an election year, we have been able to spend within our limits, we budgeted a GHC1, 48 billion to be spent from January to June 2024, but we have spent GHC1,1 billion, we have made some savings below GHC2.9, below what was actually budgeted for. We’re bent on living within our means, we’re bent on making sure that we don’t go over and above what has been proposed for us.”