Akufo-Addo's government will not leave a difficult situation for the next one – MoF

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has stated that President Akufo-Addo's administration is determined not to leave a difficult situation for the next government in January 2025.

Speaking on Morning Starr with Francis Abban, Dr. Abudu Abdulganiyu, the Technical Adviser at the Ministry of Finance, stated that the government aims to manage the 2024 budget in such a way as to avoid leaving a challenging situation for the next administration.

"We have decided that we should not leave a very difficult situation for the next government, so our expenditure has to be within the limits of the 2024 budget.

So, whichever government takes over in January 2025 will not have to suffer; it is simple. We met a huge budget deficit in 2017 and are determined to ensure that by the end of this year, we are leaving a surplus. We are not going to run into a deficit but rather aim to record a primary balance of about 0.5 percent positive," Dr. Abdulganiyu disclosed.

He also mentioned that the government will not request additional funds in the mid-year budget expected to be presented in July 2024.

"In 2023, we recorded a balance of about 3.9 percent, which was against a target of about 5.7 percent. This demonstrates that we are capable of reducing our deficit because we recorded a lower primary balance than projected by the end of 2023.

As I speak to you, we are on course to achieve the 0.5 percent surplus based on our review of the mid-year figures. In July, the Finance Minister will go to parliament to conduct the mid-year budget review, and one of the things we have indicated is that we are not going to ask for a supplementary budget," Dr. Abdulganiyu revealed.