Deputy Finance Minister, Thomas Nyarko Ampem, has corrected a deceptive declare made by former Minister of State on the Finance Ministry, Abena Osei Asare, relating to Ghana’s exterior curiosity funds.
Throughout the closing assertion on the 2025 Mid-Yr Funds Overview debate in Parliament, Deputy Minister Nyarko Ampem addressed assertions made by the previous Minister of State, who had claimed that Ghana’s exterior curiosity funds had elevated by GH¢1 billion regardless of the appreciation of the Ghana Cedi.
“If the cedi has appreciated in opposition to the US greenback, exterior curiosity cost ought to come down. It has reasonably elevated by GH¢1 billion,” MP Abena Osei Asare had argued.
However the Asuogyaman MP, talking on behalf of the Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, described the declare as “completely incorrect” and proceeded to right the document utilizing knowledge from the Mid-Yr Fiscal Coverage Overview.
“Appendix 2C of the Mid-Yr Assertion indicated below exterior curiosity cost that out of the GH¢3,972,429,055 that was programmed to be paid throughout the first half of the 12 months, GH¢3,793,095,347 was paid, leading to a financial savings of GH¢179,333,708 because of the cedi appreciation,” the Deputy Minister acknowledged.
He burdened that these financial savings are vital, including that it is sufficient to construct about 200 six-unit classroom blocks throughout the nation, together with in Atiwa East, the constituency of Abena Osei Asare.
To additional make clear the misunderstanding, Nyarko Ampem defined that the upward revision in exterior curiosity funds, by GH¢795 million, as acknowledged in Paragraph 428 of the Mid-Yr Overview, was not attributable to change charge pressures.
As a substitute, it was to account for “extra debt service due on post-cut-off date disbursements on bilateral loans that the earlier administration made in 2023.”
The Deputy Minister additionally responded to a different assertion by Osei Asare, wherein she advised that the Mid-Yr Overview was filled with technical jargon and did not mirror actual impacts on the lives of Ghanaians.
Rejecting that assertion, Mr Nyarko Ampem acknowledged that the presentation by Finance Minister Dr. Ato Forson was among the many most simplified for the typical Ghanaian to know.
He outlined actual and measurable enhancements within the economic system over the previous six months, together with:
• A discount in inflation from 23.8% to 13.7%;
• A lower in petrol costs from GH¢14.72 to GH₵12.23 per litre;
• A lift in month-to-month allowances for meeting members, together with these in Atiwa East;
• Improved and well timed funds to LEAP beneficiaries;
• And vital cuts in import duties.
“These and plenty of extra are the actual occurrences within the economic system that the Ghanaian folks can really feel,” the Deputy Minister concluded.
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