Government's budget deficit figures have been altered – Issac Adongo alleges

Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo has accused the Akufo-Addo administration of deliberately altering Ghana’s true budget deficit figures.

According to the legislator, budget deficit figures presented in the 2021 budget before the Parliament have been "massaged" by some GH¢25 billion.

Making the submission before the House during a debate of the 2021 budget on March 17, Isaac Adongo said: “Mr. Speaker, the budget deficit and the manipulations over the years have always been my best subject when the budget comes to this floor and today, I intend to demonstrate that our budget deficit has been massaged by GH¢25 billion,”

“How can you look at our faces and do this to us? These are the monies you have spent. What it means is that expenditure totalling about GH¢25 billion has disappeared from our expenditure framework. Completely disappeared from our framework and these are expenditures relating to COVID-19 programme expenditure,” the MP added.

Isaac Adongo who is also a member of the Finance Committee in Parliament further described the move as “dangerous times for the people of Ghana” adding that on cash basis, the budget deficit value is about GH¢18.6 billion.”

“Mr Speaker, the whole world is worried about transparency in the utilisation of Coronavirus funds to fight COVID-19. Even accounting for the money you’re have spent you can’t and you are taxing to take more,” he lamented.

Further making his point during the debate, the Bolgatanga Central MP disclosed that program loans amounting to GH¢7.5 billion could not be accounted for in the budget deficit report presented by the Caretaker Finance Minister, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu.

“I was very sad to see a report in the budget that says that our program loans was only GH¢388 million,” he pointed.