Parliament of Ghana will, from Monday, July 28, to Thursday, July 31, debate on the Mid-Year Review Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2025 financial year.

Majority Chief Whip, Hon. Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor, who is also the Member of Parliament for South Dayi, made this known to the House when he presented the explanatory memorandum on the Business Statement for the tenth week ending Friday, 1st August.

He explained that four ministers are expected to attend upon the House to respond to twenty-one (21) questions during the week. According to him, Ministers of State may be permitted to make statements on government policy.

He urged his colleagues in Parliament to devote themselves to the scheduled business as proposed. He hinted that the House is expected to adjourn sine die on 1st August.

Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson delivered to Parliament the 2025 Mid-Year Budget Review on Thursday, July 24.

This is in accordance with Section 28 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921), to inform the country on its economic performance and fiscal strategy halfway through the year.

In his delivery, the sector minister noted that in less than 200 days the incumbent government has brought back clarity, certainty, stability, and purpose to our economic policy direction.

"We have made significant progress. The signs of recovery are obvious, evident, noticeable, visible, tangible and being felt," Dr Ato Forson said.

Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson revealed that in the first six months of the year, the government’s expenditure stood at GH¢109.7 billion, equivalent to 7.8% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He noted that the current expenditure was 14.3% below the programmed amount of GH¢128.0 billion, equivalent to 9.1% of GDP. According to the sector minister, this reflects the government’s strong expenditure control.

During the presentation of the 2025 budget statement, the minister noted that total expenditures (commitment) for 2025 have been programmed at GH¢270.9 billion, down from GH¢279.2 billion in 2024. Primary expenditure on a commitment basis (expenditures net of interest payments)—is projected at GH¢206.8 billion in 2025 (14.8% of GDP), presenting a significant decline from 19.8% of GDP in 2024 and lower than the 2023 level of 15.6% of GDP.

Providing a breakdown of the total expenditure in six months in Parliament on Thursday, the minister said that primary expenditure, or non-interest expenditures on a commitment basis, amounted to GH¢84.3 billion, or 6.0% of GDP. This is an improvement of about GH¢13.3 billion over the target of GH¢97.5 billion, which is 7.0% of GDP.

Interest payments, on the other hand, amounted to GH¢25.4 billion, which is 1.8% of GDP. This is below the target of GH¢30.5 billion, which is 2.2% of GDP. Dr Cassiel Ato Forson explained that this was mainly due to lower domestic interest payments.

Domestic interest payments amounted to GH¢21.6 billion, against a target of GH¢26.5 billion, representing a reduction of GH¢4.9 billion, and this was mainly on account of lower than planned domestic borrowings and the decline in T-bill rates. External interest payments amounted to GH¢3.8 billion, against a target of GH¢4.0 billion. This stemmed from the appreciation of the Ghana cedi.

The cedi has recorded a remarkable turnaround in the first six months of 2025, appreciating by 42.6% against the US dollar. The cedi also gained 30.3% against the British pound and 25.6% against the euro during the same period.

Other expenditure, mainly comprising Energy Sector Levies (ESL), transfers, and Energy Sector Payment Shortfalls, amounted to GH¢11.4 billion, or 0.8% of GDP. This was 12.7% below the target of GH¢13.1 billion, or 0.9% of GDP for the period. Arrears clearance amounted to GH¢4.8 billion.

On a cash basis, the overall balance recorded a deficit of 1.1% of GDP. The deficit, according to Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, was largely financed from domestic sources with Net Domestic Financing (NDF) of GH¢13.1 billion, well below the GH¢18.7 billion target.

Net Foreign Financing was GH¢2.8 billion, mostly from the utilization of a GH¢4.5 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan disbursement from the 1st to the 6th of January 2025, before the Mahama administration took office. Project loan disbursement was GH¢2.4 billion.

The Finance Minister noted that although Ghana is relying on the domestic market for financing, “We have borrowed less than we planned, signifying strong expenditure control and fiscal discipline.”

Presently, the government is revising both revenue and expenditure projections to reflect the impact of the additional revenue from the Energy Sector Levies (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Act 1141).

Total expenditure on a commitment basis has been revised downward to GH¢269.5 billion from the original budget projection of GH¢270.9 billion. However, primary expenditure has been revised upwards to GH¢209.6 billion from the original budget projection of GH¢206.8 billion.

Total revenue and grants have been revised upwards from the 2025 budget target of GH¢227.1 billion to GH¢229.9 billion, or from 16.2% of GDP to 16.4% of GDP, representing a nominal increase of 1.3%.

“The additional revenue of GH¢2.9 billion will come from the increase in revenues from the amendment to the Energy Sector Levies Act,” the minister added.

Interest payments have been revised downwards by GH¢4.3 billion, from the original budget projection of GH¢64.1 billion to GH¢59.9 billion. Domestic interest, on the other hand, has been revised downward by GH¢5.1 billion, mainly on account of gains from the reduction in the treasury bill rates, as a result of the implementation of our prudent debt management policies.

However, external interest payments have been revised upward by GH¢795 million to make additional provision for debt service due on post cut-off date disbursements made by our bilateral creditors since 2023. Energy sector payments have also been revised upwards by GH¢2.9 billion to provision for fuel purchases for power generation.

Payroll audit

As part of the government’s fiscal consolidation strategy, the government has taken measures to sanitize public sector payroll and rid it of ghost names. The government engaged the Ghana Audit Service to undertake a nationwide payroll audit across all 16 regions of the country.

Providing an update on the audit, the Finance Minister revealed that the Ghana Audit Service has completed 91% of the payroll audit.

So far, the Audit Service has not been able to identify and verify over 14,000 workers. The Service has identified 53,311 separated staff—these are staff who are either retired, resigned, terminated, leave without pay, or deceased, and yet remain on government payroll.

According to the sector minister, the Audit Services expects to recovery GH¢150.4 million of unearned salaries from the separated staff over the 2023 and 2024 period.

“Mr. Speaker, going forward, we will enforce the monthly payroll validation process and strictly apply sanctions to all who validate “ghosts” for payment of salaries. Rt. Hon. Speaker, let me use this opportunity to strongly caution those who validate “ghosts” across the public service that they will be personally liable for the loss of public funds,” Dr Cassiel Ato Forson said.

He assured that the Ministry of Finance will continue to monitor the payroll and put in place measures to prevent “ghost names” on the payroll.

Audit on arrears, payables and commitments

The Ghana Audit Service partnered with EY and PWC to undertake the audit of arrears and payables as of end-2024. The Audit Service was tasked to audit and validate GH¢68.7 billion of arrears.

About 87 percent of the audit has been completed, according to the Minister for Finance and the preliminary results show that a total of GH¢28.3 billion has been validated for payment.

Also, an amount of GH¢3.6 billion has been rejected because of errors, duplications, and non-compliance with PFM and procurement rules. An amount of GH¢562.6 million is without adequate supporting documents, and GH¢27.3 billion is pending validation. The audit is expected to be completed by the end of August 2025.

Dr Cassiel Ato Forson stated that “once finalized, we will update the House on the findings and outcomes.”