The 2025 Budget statement and economic policy of President John Dramani Mahama might have been received by supporters of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) and their allied forces with glee and jubilation but the Minority in Parliament has exposed what it described as hidden secrets in the document.
NDC apparatchiks and their associates are already having a jamboree over the budgets allocated to various sectors of the economy, which the minority has again referred to as “audio allocations.”
Minister for Finance Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson yesterday presented the budget statement to parliament, painting a gloomy picture of a mismanaged economy handed over to the Mahama administration by the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
However, making a quick response immediately after the budget presentation on behalf of the Minority caucus, former Minister for Finance Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, asserted that the figures used by the Finance Minister to described the inherited economy were “cooked”.
“The fiscal data was what the Minister tried to use to misinform Ghanaians about the economy we handed over to them.
“The minister was quoting fiscal deficit on commitment basis of about 8.3percent, primary balance of about 3.7 percent deficit.
“Ladies and gentlemen, these are cooked figures, they are cooked figures. They have manipulated the data and we know how they did it. They created a new line called unreleased claims amounting to GH¢49 billion and that is what they have put in the fiscal data to manipulate it to the levels of deficits they are complaining about.
“But I can tell you, we left a surplus primary balance. When we interrogate the data, every Ghanaian will know that we left primary balance of a surplus of 0.7 percent on commitment basis,” Dr. Amin Adam, who is also the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament disclosed.
Comparative analysis
Doing a comparative analysis of the economy the erstwhile NPP government inherited in 2017 and the economy left for the new government, Dr Amin Adam stated that real GDP growth for the last quarter of 2024 was 5.7%, as released by the Ghana Statistical Service.
This, he pointed out, was confirmed by the Finance Minister, against a growth rate of 3.4% in 2016 and a projected growth rate of 4% in 2025.
The former Minister for Finance wondered how an economy accused by President Mahama of having been criminally mismanaged could grow at 5.7% when a reset economy that is meant to correct the problems is projected to grow at 4%.
$8.9 billion gross reserves
Dr. Amin Adam who is also the Member of Parliament for Karaga added that the Nana Akufo-Addo government also left gross international reserves of $8.9 billion, equivalent to four months of import cover, as against 3.5 months of import cover inherited in 2017 and a projected cover of three months for 2025.
On debt-to-GDP, he stated that data suggests the NPP, as at the end of 2024, left a debt-to-GDP ratio of 61.8%, compared to the 73% it inherited, indicating that Ghana is no longer a heavily indebted country.
“The NDC has six percentage points to achieve IMF targets, but the way they have started borrowing, Ghana may not achieve its IMF target of 55% by 2028,” he stated.
Dr. Amin Adam added that on trade balance, the NPP left a primary balance surplus of 0.7%, stating that the NPP has left the economy stronger than it inherited.
“It is shocking that a Minister for Finance would claim a breach of the IMF programme even before the IMF conducts a review. The IMF is conducting the review in April, but the minister is claiming a breach—the first time in the history of Ghana that a Minister is happy for his country to breach when the IMF has not said so.
“That should tell Ghanaians the level of misinformation and lamentation they are engaging in. When the country breaches an IMF programme, it has serious implications for attracting investment into the country. This Minister for Finance is appealing to investors to come to Ghana while also telling them that the economy is bad when the evidence does not support what he says. Is he attracting or driving away investment? This is not the way to govern a country,” he decried.
NDC’s tax deception
Former Finance Minister Dr. Amin Adam also refuted claims that his administration implemented the controversial betting tax.
According to him, the tax policy was never enforced.
Dr. Amin Adam’s comments followed Finance Minister’s announcement of abolition some taxes, including the Betting Tax and the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy).
The Finance Minister said in the budget that, “we will abolish the 10% withholding tax on winnings from lottery, otherwise known as the ‘Betting Tax.’”
He described the claim as unconscionable, insisting that the betting tax was never collected under his watch.
“What the Minister said he is abolishing is the lottery wins which knowingly or unknowingly he called it ‘betting tax’. We have never collected the tax on lottery wins so it cannot be abolished,” the minority stated.
According to Dr. Amin Adam, emission tax was not implemented and so it cannot be abolished.
Ignoring cost of living crisis
The Minority caucus chastised the government for ignoring real issues affecting the cost of living in the country in its maiden budget.
Finance Minister Ato Forson announced the government’s intention to abolish the taxes in fulfilment of NDC’s manifesto ahead of the 2024 general election, such as the e-levy and the betting tax.
However, according to the Minority in Parliament, the budget stops short of addressing everyday cost of living crises such as rising transportation costs, energy, and water bills.
Dr. Amin Adam indicated that the Ghanaian people voted for the NDC due to the rising cost of living and wondered how the government could be so insensitive as to fail to even comment on, let alone initiate, any measures to address the situation.
“The budget did not address cost of living issues. Transport fares continue to increase. There was no mention of stabilising petroleum prices. It did not address energy bills, electricity bills, or water bills. Looking at all the indicators, these bills will continue to increase. We thought that, having campaigned on the cost of living crisis and come to power with the support of the Ghanaian people, the least the government could do was present a budget that would address the cost of living crisis in terms of transport fares, petroleum prices, and energy bills,” he stated.
$10 billion ‘Big Push’
The former Finance Minister also highlighted the NDC’s promise of a $10 billion ‘BIG PUSH,’ and yet allocated only $800 million in the budget for the programme.
He stated that even if it increases to $1 billion a year, that will not amount to $5 billion by the end of their term.
Dr. Amin Adam also criticised the allocation of a paltry GHC 51 million to set up a Women’s Bank when the minimum capital requirement for banks is GHC 400 million, questioning why the government is deceiving Ghanaian women when their Vice-President is the first female Vice-President. He described such promises as ‘sakawa’ promises.
Create, Loot, and Share Gold Board
The former Finance Minister also accused the government of establishing the Gold Board as an attempt to loot state resources and distribute them among its members.
“The Gold Board is to be financed from the budget. The minister is allocating $279 million to the Gold Board. We have never funded the gold purchase programme or the Gold for Oil programme from the budget. To fund the gold purchase programme from the budget is just to put money into the pockets of NDC cronies. It is create, loot, and share. The BoG was funding the gold purchase programme, and therefore, it did not affect the taxpayer. Now, there is a Gold Board which is going to rely on the taxpayer. This is create, loot, and share and shall be resisted,” he emphasised.
