The Majority Leader and Member of Parliament for Suame Constituency, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu has intimated that the 2023 budget may not be read on 15th November because of the ongoing IMF negotiations.
The Leader of Government business in Parliament however claimed the possible delay is to ease the pressure on the negotiators in the IMF negotiations.
“Nothing should be done which will eventually become wishy-washy. They want to have the best to be able to uplift us from where we are as a country. And that being the case, if we want to do a thorough job, I think there will be too much pressure if it has to be done on the 15th.”
Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, Majority Leader
The Finance Minister is mandated by the Public Financial Management Act to present the budget latest by the 15th of November, of each financial year.
“The Minister shall on behalf of the President lay before Parliament not later than 15th November of each financial year, estimates of the revenues and expenditure of the Government, the annual budget for the ending financial year”
Public Financial Mgt Act
However, Kyei Mensah- Bonsu in an interaction with the Parliamentary Press Corps today, noted that the Constitution gives Government some allowances in terms of the date to present the budget.
Even though, it’s best read on or before 15th November, the Suame Legislator mentioned that, the constitution allows the Finance Minister to present the budget on a later date not after 30th November, each financial year.
So in his opinion, if for some reasons Government deems it fit to postpone the presentation of the budget to a date not later than 30th November, Government wouldn’t be bridging any law.
The 2023 Budget and the IMF Negotiations
During President Akufo-Addo’s latest address to the nation, he admitted that Ghana’s budget for the 2022 fiscal year “has been thrown out of gear.” According to him, not only did that disrupt Ghana’s balance of payments and debt sustainability, it also exposed “the structural weaknesses of our [Ghana’s] economy.”
President Akufo-Addo’s admission of the weak nature of Ghana’s economy came after many renowned economists had said so. Some had even claimed that, it would be next to impossible to secure an IMF programme before the presentation of the 2023 budget in November, 2022.
Professor Lord Mensah of the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) said, “I don’t think it is possible to get a deal with the IMF before the middle of November when we get ready to present the 2023 budget.”
He advised Government to rather prepare the budget, use “the budget to position [itself] for an IMF programme.”
Dr. Caseliel Ato Forson, Ranking Member of Parliament’s Finance committee said, “the earliest Ghana can have an IMF programme if we are committed to it is the first quarter of 2023.”
However, leading government officials have since been assuring Ghanaians that, Government will incorporate the IMF deal into the 2023 budget.
Second Deputy Majority Chief Whip and MP for Tolon Constituency, Habib Iddrisu claimed that by the time the 2023 budget is presented, “negotiations with IMF will be concluded by then and will be incorporated in the budget.”
The Minister of Finance who is the leader of Ghana’s negotiations team in the ongoing negotiations, has several occasions reiterated Government’s commitment to securing a programme from IMF before the presentation of the 2023 budget.
When the Ghana team traveled to Washington DC to continue discussions with the IMF in October, this year, for example, the Minister claimed the team’s strategy was to secure a deal to include in the 2023 budget.
“The discussions with the fund are going very well, what we intended to do is to get us [Ghana] close to a staff-level agreement as soon possible so that we can incorporate all of our decisions, most of them, into the budget so there will be no reversal and therefore by year-end, the board will approve.”
Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of Finance
