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The Minority in Parliament has described the 2025 Budget and Economic Policy of the government as one that lacked hope and inspiration, arguing that it fails to address the pressing needs of Ghanaians, particularly the youth.
Reacting to the Budget Statement presented on the floor of Parliament by the Minister of Finance yesterday, the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, criticised the government for failing to include key economic policies, notably the much-anticipated 24-hour Economy initiative, which had been promised by the government.
“The youth of this country have been waiting for this 24-hour Economy policy. The minister tells us the policy will be brought later,” he stated, adding that it was clear that all the jobs the party promised the youth were empty.
The Minority Leader further characterised the Budget Statement as an “Azaa budget”, to wit a deceitful budget, meant to deceive the masses.
He expressed disappointment in the economic projections outlined in the budget, arguing that they painted a grim picture of the country’s economic trajectory rather than offering solutions to the challenges confronting the nation.
For the Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu Constituency, in spite of the government’s continued criticism of the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration’s handling of the economy, the new government’s own performance had been underwhelming.
He pointed out that under the previous administration, the economy recorded a growth rate of 5.7 per cent whereas the current government is projecting a lower growth rate of around 4.0 per cent for 2025.
Additionally, he said that while the previous government left behind four months of import cover, the current administration was projecting only three months cover.
“These are the very people who managed the economy up to 2016 and left us with some independent power producer (IPP) debts. Today, they are telling us that they are coming to renegotiate the very disaster they left (for) us,” he added.
The Minority Leader further raised concerns about the government’s commitment to fiscal discipline, citing ongoing construction works on some roads, which, he said, were being executed without the necessary approvals.
He questioned the government’s stance on enforcing financial regulations, arguing that if sanctions were to be applied for violations of the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act, then “it must start with his own ministers”.
Mr Afenyo-Markin reiterated the Minority’s readiness to scrutinise and debate the Budget Statement, asserting that they would not allow the document to be shelved without exposing its shortcomings.
Adding his voice to the criticism in a follow-up news conference in Parliament, the immediate past Minister of Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, expressed disappointment in the government’s failure to address key concerns such as electricity and water bills, transport fares, and the cost of petroleum products.
He argued that despite campaigning on the rising cost of living, the government’s first budget did little to provide relief to struggling Ghanaians.
“They didn’t talk about how to reduce energy bills.
They didn’t talk about how to decrease water bills. All these bills will continue to increase, looking at the indicators that we are seeing,” Dr Amin Adam stated.
The MP for Karaga further accused the Finance Minister of misleading the public regarding tax reliefs, particularly on Value Added Tax (VAT) for motor insurance.
According to him, VAT on motor insurance was already exempted under the previous administration, meaning the government’s announcement of its abolition was misleading.
Instead, he pointed out that VAT had been reintroduced on non-life insurance policies, affecting an industry with a low penetration rate of just 1.1 per cent.
Dr Amin Adam further criticised the government for increasing the Growth and Sustainability Levy from one per cent to three per cent for the mining sector while extending its sunset period from 2025 to 2028, questioning the logic of taxing a sector that was a key driver of economic growth.
“The sector that is giving you growth is the sector you want to go and tax? This is not good for industry, this is not good for economic growth, and this is not good for the development of our people,” he remarked.
On the issue of betting tax, he dismissed the government’s claim of abolishing it, stating that it was never implemented in the first place.
On education, Dr Amin Adam refuted claims that there was no dedicated funding source for the free senior high school (SHS) programme, insisting that it was previously funded through the goods and services component of the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA).
He warned that the government’s decision to uncap the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to finance free SHS could undermine infrastructure development in the education sector.
“These are all attempts to come back and tell Ghanaians that it is difficult to fund free SHS and, therefore, parents should pay. But we will expose them any time they try to do this,” he declared.
Dr Amin Adam expressed scepticism over the government’s allocation of GH¢51 million towards establishing a Women’s Bank, arguing that the amount was woefully inadequate compared to the GH¢400 million capital requirement for setting up a bank.
He accused the government of misleading women with promises that lacked real financial backing.
He also took issue with the proposed financing of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) from the national budget, arguing that it would serve as an avenue for corruption.
“We have never funded the gold purchase programme or the gold-for-oil programme from the budget. The Bank of Ghana (BoG) was funding it from a revolving fund, so it did not affect the taxpayer. Now, you have a GoldBod that is going to rely on the taxpayer. We think this creates an opportunity to loot and share, and we will resist it,” he asserted.
Dr Amin Adam also accused the government of effectively defunding the Agenda 111 hospital projects by redirecting the allocated funds, thereby jeopardising the completion of critical healthcare infrastructure across the country.
In spite of the government’s announcement of funding for nursing and teacher trainee allowances, he insisted that credit should be given to the previous administration, which reinstated the allowances after they were initially abolished.
He suggested that the government’s decision to continue funding these programmes was due to pressure from the Minority and the public.
“This cannot happen. If you recall, the Minister for Education said teacher training allowance was no longer going to be viable. But the Ghanaian people, led by we the mighty Minority, opposed them. And this is why they have chickened out,” he said.
Dr Amin Adam announced that the Minority would hold a major news conference to provide a detailed response to the 2025 Budget Statement, promising to expose what he described as “deception” in the government’s economic policy.
