Ken Ofori-Atta
Twenty per cent (20%) of the approved 2022 budget expenditure has been suspended.
The Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta said this during an engagement with the media last Wednesday.
The expenditure management by government, he said, is expected to continue from this year and beyond, in the midst of the global impact of COVID-19 on global economies.
Parliament, it will be recalled, has already approved government’s total expenditure for 2022. The government decision however, is informed by the need for a prudent fiscal consolidation.
Twenty per cent cut in the budget expenditure for the year under review is a whopping figure, observers have observed.
“To ensure that the government matches all expenditure to revenue inflows, all expenditure commitments in 2022 will be adjusted to match revenue collection,” the Finance Minister announced.
Continuing, he said that “in accordance with Section 25 of the Public Financial Management Act (PFMA) law, the quarterly expenditure ceilings of the approved budget will include up to a 20% downward adjustment, beginning in the first quarter of 2022, in commitments across board for all covered entities benefiting from the 2022 budget, subject to revenue performance.”
By this development therefore, he said Ghana’s fiscal consolidation agenda is going to be primarily driven by the expenditure side with support from additional revenue, adding that the projected revenues in the 2022 budget will only be spent when they materialise.
Following the impact of the pandemic on the economy, the latest bold step, he explained, adds to government’s announced fiscal consolidation strategies, which includes a focus on more internal revenue generation.
The projected expenditure for 2022, which has already been approved by Parliament, was GH¢135.6 billion.
By Ernest Kofi Adu