Finance Minister to present mid-year budget in July

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, is expected to present the Mid-Year Budget Review and Supplementary estimates in Parliament in July this year.

This is in accordance with Section (28) of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (PFMA) Act 921 which requires that the Finance Minister presents a Mid-Year Review to parliament six months after the presentation of the main budget for that fiscal year.

A key feature of the upcoming review will be the presentation of two supplementary estimates. This has become necessary due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on government’s budget.

Mr. Ofori-Atta is also expected to use the opportunity to review some of the key macroeconomic targets announced in the 2020 budget read last year.

Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, shed some light on the upcoming presentation in an interview with Citi Business News.

“This meeting would also witness the Finance Minister submitting a mid-year review and of course, giving what is happening, I believe necessarily he will come with supplementary estimates. There are two supplementary estimates that he is required to submit. One relates to the budget performance and if he needs additional funding, he will be required to submit supplementary estimates after the mid-year review,” he said.

In the wake of the novel Coronavirus pandemic, government announced the need for a new fiscal policy to re-examine its expenditure to meet revenue target.

The 2020 budget, which has been disrupted due to the economic impact of the novel Coronavirus pandemic, was targeted at expanding infrastructure, particularly roads.

But the Finance Minister earlier this year announced that government will require some 9.5 billion cedis to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, a situation that may move the 2020 budget deficit to over 7 percent.

He also stated that this will be 2.5 percent of Ghana’s revised GDP, and there will be a “fiscal gap of GHS11.4 billion,” the Minister added.

COVID-19: July’s budget will reposition Ghana’s economy – Ken Ofori Atta

Earlier, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, said the new budget to be presented in Parliament in July, will reposition Ghana’s economy to meet the global effects of the novel Coronavirus pandemic.

According to him, since the 2020 budget has been disrupted due to the pandemic, there is the need for a new fiscal policy to re-examine government expenditure to meet revenue target