Ghana’s Finance Minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, PhD has announced that the Finance Ministry has put measures in place to restore trust in public finances, ensure credibility in the budgeting process, and lay a solid foundation for growth.
The measures put in place, as enumerated by the Finance Minister, include:
• We have commissioned the Auditor-General and other oversight bodies to audit all outstanding payables and commitments. This process will help us determine their legitimacy and recommend the necessary corrective actions. The audit will be completed in eight weeks.
• We are amending the Procurement Act to ensure that no central government procurement takes place without prior authorisation from the Minister for Finance. This is to bring discipline and transparency to public spending.
• We are also introducing amendments to the Public Financial Management Act. This will include a debt rule to reduce our debt-to-GDP ratio to 45 percent by 2035 and a requirement to maintain a primary surplus of at least 1.5 percent of GDP annually. We are also legislating the establishment of an Independent Fiscal Council to oversee adherence to these fiscal rules.
• We have operationalised a Compliance Desk at the Ministry of Finance. This will closely monitor how MDAs are complying with their fiscal commitments under the PFM Act.
• Soon, we will begin publishing a Public Financial Management Commitment Control Compliance League Table to rank MDAs based on their level of compliance with financial controls.
He explains that these measures are not implemented just because they want to meet IMF targets indicating that it is proof of the urgency with which government wants to reset the Ghanaian economy.
