Parliament approves $360m to support 2025 budget
PARLIAMENT has approved a $360 million World Bank funding to support the 2025 budget.
The amount is the second tranche of the $900 million support the government is seeking from the International Development Association of the World Bank Group.
In the first tranche, the IDA released to Ghana $300 million and the third tranche-$400 million- is expected in October/November this year.
The facility, which is between the government of Ghana and the World Bank, comes with a 2.05 per cent interest, with a repayment period of 12 years. It was presented to the House on Tuesday, July 1, 2025 by the Deputy Minister of Finance, Thomas Nyarko Ampem, and it was referred to the Finance Committee for consideration and report.
Negotiation
Prior to the House approving the agreement, Mr Ampem told the House that the agreement was negotiated by the previous administration which accessed the first $300 million in March 2024.
He said in the under financing in the 2025 the budget, the total amount allocated to be financed from foreign sources was GH₵21 billion and World bank development policy operation was GH₵9.79 billion.
“The House approved it and it is that facility that today we are calling on you to approve a part of it-$360 million- for us to finance the budget,” he said.
Debunking the Minority’s assertion that the money would not be used for any projects, Mr Ampem said at the Finance Committee level, he made clear the intention and the use for the facility, which included the payment of arrears.
Payment to contractors
He recalled that when the Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, presented the 2025 budget, he told the House that the current administration inherited an arrears of about GH₵67 billion.
“We programmed to pay GH₵13 billion in this year’s budget and the decision of President Mahama’s government is that this $360 million is going to be used to pay part of the arrears this year.
“We are hoping that we will access another $400 million by October and November this year and that also will be committed to pay the arrears that we inherited from the past government,” he said.
Appearing excited about the House approving the $300 million facility, Mr Ampem assured that contractors that what the government owed would be paid.
According to him, the Auditor-General had just concluded the auditing of the arrears that the current government inherited, and that amount that had been cleared would be paid , starting from the “utilisation of this facility”.
“So, this facility and the one we will access-$400 million- in October/November will come to a total of about GH₵8 billion and the remaining will be financed from domestic source,” he said.
Double standards
Prior to the Mr Ampem explaining what the money would be used to finance, the Minority vehemently vented their anger at the failure of the government to disclose what projects would be financed with the money.
A member of the Finance Committee, Dr Abdul Kabiru Mahama, said the agreement was six months ago considered “unwholly and the worst crime of the government then” by the then Minority.
He said there was unanimous opposition to the agreement on the grounds that the then government was borrowing so much and “Parliament was not going to give blessing to such agreement which was thrown off”.
He said the same NDC Caucus that opposed the agreement in the past had today increased the loan by $160 million through renegotiation.
“Now, instead of $900 million, we are now going to contract $1.60 billion and we have to look at the sincerity of this politics that we are doing.
“Mr Speaker, this House would bear witness that $300 million was rejected but today $60 million has been added to it and that $60 million is in excess of the $300 million that this House was trying to approve,” he said.
The MP for Walewale said the debt stock of Ghana had ballooned by $160 million by the current “government that says we should not borrow”.
“The Minister of Finance came to this Parliament and told MPs that we would develop this country without borrowing but within six months they cannot pay contractors and they have to go and borrow $160 million in excess of the $900 million that was contracted,” he said.