An economist and governance expert, Professor Isaac Boadi, has raised concerns over the government’s midyear budget review, warning that proposed cuts to public expenditure could derail critical development projects.
Speaking in an interview, Prof Boadi questioned the sustainability of Ghana’s fiscal path, following Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson’s announcement that government plans to revise its expenditure downward by GHC1.4 billion due to missed revenue targets.
“What this means is that some major projects will not be undertaken,” he said. “Already, we’ve failed to raise the needed revenue, and now you want to reduce expenditure by GHC1.4 billion — what happens to other projects?”
The midyear review, presented to Parliament last week, revealed that Ghana was unable to meet its revenue targets for the first half of 2025. While the Finance Minister assured that measures were being put in place to boost revenue in the second half of the year, Boadi said key economic risks had not been addressed in the document.
“If you’re depending heavily on gold exports to raise revenue, what happens when global prices fall?” he asked. “There’s no clear plan in the budget to guard against such external shocks.”
Prof Boadi also suggested that the recent appreciation of the cedi may be more a result of reduced government spending than strong economic fundamentals.
“This cements our position that major expenditures have not been catered for — that’s why we’re seeing the cedi strengthen,” he added.
He called for more transparency in outlining how revenue shortfalls will be managed and urged the government to clearly communicate which programmes may be affected by the budget revision.
