Govt Isn’t Exercising Fiscal Discipline- Minority

The Minority in Parliament has kicked against claims by the government that the recent economic gains are a result of fiscal discipline.

At a briefing, the former Finance Minister, Mohammed Amin Adam, said the government was only making reactive responses.

“Ghana’s 2025 fiscal outturn as evidence of prudence and consolidation. Yet behind this narrative lies a deeper problem: the systematic under-execution of growth-enhancing public investment.”

“In reality, the Minister’s approach to fiscal management is not disciplined; it is reactive, relying on short-term cuts to maintain the appearance of order, and this is very dangerous for our medium-to-long-term development.”

He said this while citing Ghana’s macroeconomic parameters and IMF-consistent multipliers.

He said after Parliament approved capital spending equivalent to 1.5% of GDP, the government implemented only about 0.5% year-to-date.

“Even this, we can challenge it as it may have been inflated. But for a government that seems to want to shift the fortunes of Ghanaians with its so-called “Big Push”, this is heartbreaking.

“This 1-percentage-point gap, nearly US$1.1 billion in foregone public investment, was not a product of efficiency savings. It reflected cash rationing, auction shortfalls, and mounting debt service pressures (in levels).”

As a consequence, he said every 1 percentage-point cut in public investment translated into thousands of construction and supply-chain job cuts, uncompleted roads and schools, and accumulation of arrears of private contractors.

“Short-term fiscal savings’ thus translate into higher unemployment, weaker SMEs, and slower future tax growth.”

Story by Hajara Fuseini

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