PFM regulations to limit budgetary borrowing – Deputy Minister

Deputy Finance Minister, Charles Adu Boahen, has disclosed that the Finance Ministry has put together the regulations to govern the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 and is ready to be laid before parliament in July.

The Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (PFM), after its amendment will cap the amount of borrowing done in any given budget year, he explained.

Ghana has suffered fiscal overruns for years and ought to find control mechanisms to manage debt overruns.

In an interview with Goldstreet Business at the Citi Business Festival Edition of the ‘’The Outlook’’ in Accra, Adu Boahen said ‘’with these regulations in place, we are going to have a limitation on how much the country’s deficit can contain,” adding that Ghana cannot exceed the five percent target.

The Akufo-Addo led government, in its 2016 Manifesto said it had planned to amend the PFM Act (2016) to allow for the establishment of a Fiscal Council.

The establishment of a Fiscal Council is to enhance fiscal discipline through the promotion of accountability, transparency and credibility in the implementation of fiscal policies.

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta also in his 2017 budget captured government’s intention to initiate processes for the establishment of the Fiscal Council.

If this is achieved, it will strengthen the country’s expenditure management, enhance revenue mobilisation and ensure effective debt management.

IMF Programme

Adu Boahen said Ghana entered the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme in order to get help with the macroeconomic balances that it faced in 2012.

He noted that ‘’we are on the path to exit the IMF programme at the end of 2018 and we believe that the aim to use it to solve our balance of payment problems has been so far achieved.”