He said the government is focused on being more efficient and deliberate in its financial management.

“We are not seeking supplementary funds in this mid-year review. We are determined to be more efficient strategic and intentional to entrench fiscal consolidation and strongly promoting growth,” he said during the mid-year budget review in Parliament on Tuesday, July 23.

Dr Amin Adam further assured Ghanaians that the government is spending within its budget.

He indicated that, the government has reined in expenditures as part of efforts to ensure they are within 2024 Budget Appropriation.

He also said that they have exceeded the midyear revenue target by 0.2 percent by end-June, 2024.

“In effect, Mr. Speaker, we are living within our means. Indeed, consistent with our programme with the IMF, we are on course to achieving a primary surplus of 0.5 percent of GDP by end of the year.

“We have successfully concluded the second review of our Extended Credit Facility with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which led to the disbursement of the 3rd tranche of 360 million US Dollars, bringing total disbursement to about US$1.6 billion; We have completed the Debt Restructuring programme with the Official Creditor Committee (OCC), covering US$5.1 billion dollars resulting in approximately 2.8 billion US Dollars of debt relief. This means that we will not service our debt to our official creditors from 2023 to 2026;

“We have concluded negotiations with our Eurobond holders, covering 13.1 billion US Dollars, which will lead to a cancellation of 4.7 billion US Dollars of our debt and provide debt service relief of 4.4 billion US Dollars between 2023 and 2026.

“We have concluded our negotiations with five (5) of the seven (7) Independent Power Producers, which will lead to a saving of some of US$6.6 US Billion over the lifetime of the Purchasing Power Agreements (PPAs); We have cleared all outstanding Bank Transfer Advice (BTAs) up to 2022, and working hard to pay BTAs from 2023;

“We have embarked on major reforms of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), especially those in the Energy and Cocoa sectors, to be fiscally prudent and reduce their risk on the budget,” he said.

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Livestream: Finance Minister presents 2024 mid-year budget review

This is in accordance with Section 28 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921).

Under the Act, the Minister for Finance is expected to present the Mid-year Review to Parliament not later than 31st July of each financial year and this year’s presentation is being done today, Thursday 29th July 2021.

A statement issued by the Ministry said the presentation would provide the economic and fiscal performance of the economy for the first half of 2021 as well as provide an update on the implementation of key programmes, including, strategies by the government to create employment for Ghanaians in general and the youth in particular.

It said the Mid-year review would also highlight the status of the implementation of the Ghana CARES “Obaatanpå’ Programme that sought to revitalise and transform the economy to pre-pandemic times.

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“The review is also expected to focus on revenue, expenditure, and financing performance for the first half of 2021 and provide an overview of the implementation of the 2021 Budget,” it added.

It said the Mid-year review was also expected to touch on the assurance of the government on securing Covid-19 vaccines for vaccination and effective domestic revenue mobilisation initiatives.