Government has money to spend - Finance Ministry

The Finance Ministry has reacted to a publication which suggested that government has no money to pay salaries,but in a press statement,the Ministry has strongly indicated that it has funds available to pay salary workers and also meet other salary obligations.

Reacting to a publication by in the Daily Guide of 14th September, 2016 issue No. 216/16 which created a wrong impression that Government does not have money to pay salaries of its workers for September, 2016.

The Ministry in a statement stressed that; the Ministry of Finance on the 24th August, 2016 through the Controller and Accountant Generals’ Department (CAGD) authorized the Bank of Ghana to transfer funds from the accounts of some selected MDAs/MMDAs under government’s Treasury Single Accounts (TSA) policy.

Furthermore, the statement also indicated that under the TSA and the Bank of Ghana zero financing policy of government business, the Ministry considers the consolidated bank balances of government to determine government cash position and through that identifies any idle funds to utilize before going to the market to borrow money at an interest cost.

It would have cost government about GCH 9.2 Million at Treasury bill rate of 22% for one month if the Ministry were to borrow GHS 500 million from the market while these cash are idle.