Minority Leader Punches Hole In 2023 Mid-Year Budget Review --Says Our Expectations Were Not Met

Cassiel Ato Forson, has punched a deed hole in the 2023  mid-year budget review presented in Parliament on Monday, July 31, 2023 by the Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, saying that their expectations were not met.

According to Dr Forson who doubles as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam Constituency in the Central Region, he has listened attentively to the Minister of Finance.

 

Dr Forson pointed out that the Finance Minister in his presentation says the performance so far shows that he has "turned the corner, and that the crisis is behind us", but in fact, the numbers simply do not support this assertion. 

He stated that the Finance Minister economic misleading report presented in Parliament has actually deepened our woes. 

The minority leader in parliament noted that even though he informed Parliament in November 2022 that he will not borrow from the domestic market in 2023, he has already borrowed GHC 5.5 billion, and he will borrow another GHC 41.3 billion from the T-bill market before the end of year.

He noted that Ghana's economic growth for 2023 has been revised downwards from 2.8%  to 1.5% of GDP. 

The so-called relative stability of the Cedi to the US dollar the Minister touted is largely  because Ghana defaulted in the payment of interest and principal on all our external loans owed to Euro bond lenders, foreign banks,  China ,India, UK, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia and all bilateral partners.

"What a missed opportunity! Let us brace ourselves for the tougher times ahead," he noted.