Dr. Adu Owusu Sarkodie
The Centre for Policy Scrutiny (CPS) has urged the government to intensify domestic revenue mobilisation as part of efforts to sustain the country’s economic recovery and maintain fiscal discipline.
Speaking at a presentation on the Centre’s assessment of the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review in Accra yesterday, the Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Scrutiny (CPS), Dr. Adu Owusu Sarkodie, said in order to achieve fiscal discipline, government should make the Tax Identification Number (TIN) mandatory for accessing public goods and services among others.
He said, “the government should redouble its efforts to implement the compliance measures included in its VAT reforms, implement the Modified Taxation Scheme as well as the AI solution for customs revenue mobilisation,” he stated.
He also urged the Ministry of Finance to improve budget execution by closing funding gaps in programme-critical expenditures to enhance public investment and improve service delivery across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
He also called for greater fiscal transparency by publishing budget execution reports throughout the fiscal year, including comparisons between approved budget allocations and actual expenditure at both ministerial and programme levels.
According to the Centre, strengthening tax administration by enforcing VAT compliance measures, fully implementing the Modified Taxation Scheme and deploying artificial intelligence solutions will also improve revenue mobilisation.
On employment, Labour Economist, Dr. Prince Adjei noted that although Ghana’s economy continues to record stronger growth, job creation has not kept pace given the statistics for economic growth and employment.
He said expanding agriculture, manufacturing and services while strengthening education and skills development would generate more employment opportunities, particularly for low- and medium-skilled workers.
He acknowledged provisional data from the Ghana Statistical Service which showed that the country’s economic recovery gathered momentum in 2025 and continued through the first half of 2026 with real GDP expanding by 6.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, driven mainly by growth in the industry and services sector.
He, however, observed that the first-quarter growth rate remained below the country’s record first-quarter growth of 13.3 per cent recorded in 2012.
On infrastructure financing, the Centre cautioned that Ghana’s financing framework remains exposed to external shocks, particularly fluctuations in commodity prices that could affect oil revenues and therefore urged the government to maintain fiscal buffers, diversify funding sources and adopt prudent expenditure controls while encouraging the use of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) for selected projects under favourable terms.
Reviewing the government’s 24-Hour Economy and Accelerated Export Development Programme (24H+), the Centre said the policy document focuses more on economic transformation than the widely publicised three-shift employment model.
It stated that while the programme projects the creation of 828,000 jobs by 2026, 1.76 million jobs by 2028 and 5.3 million jobs by 2034, the Centre said government should provide Ghanaians with a clear account of progress made so far though it commended government’s fiscal performance during the first half of 2026.
The economic think tank mentioned that although the Big Push infrastructure initiative has shown the strongest evidence of implementation, with 87 active projects, identified transport corridors and GH¢6.5 billion already disbursed comprehensive national employment figures under the programme were unavailable.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah