Former Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam has slammed the 2026 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, accusing the Mahama-led administration of breaching key fiscal commitments, missing revenue targets, and relying on what he describes as unlawful financing by the Bank of Ghana.
Dr. Amin Adam alleged that the government has failed to meet critical benchmarks agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), particularly regarding fiscal discipline and government financing.
According to him, the IMF had reached an understanding with the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to halt direct government financing, yet the central bank continues to support the government’s operations, including payments to the wage bill, despite outstanding arrears.
Addressing journalists at a press conference in Parliament on Friday, November 14, he stated, “The Bank of Ghana is still financing the wage bill, and that is not supposed to happen. The IMF agreed with us that BoG must stop financing government, yet this government continues to rely on it. The IMF seems to be sleeping on this.”
Dr. Amin Adam also accused the government of failing to release planned budgetary allocations — notably the GH¢7 million earmarked for the wage bill under the digital payments system, forcing the central bank to cover the shortfall.
He dismissed the government’s claims of improved revenue performance, describing the 2026 budget as boastful but empty.
He revealed that the administration recorded a GH¢7.7 billion shortfall in oil revenue, a GH¢6.8 billion deficit in domestic revenue, and nearly GH¢9 billion in tax revenue underperformance, figures he said expose the budget’s structural weaknesses.
“They bragged about revenue performance, but the reality is that they failed. The numbers show massive shortfalls across oil, domestic revenue, and taxes,” he stated.
Dr. Amin Adam further disclosed that the government was unable to meet expenditure commitments, releasing far less than approved in the 2025 allocation.
He indicated that instead of releasing GH¢5.1 billion for goods and services, only GH¢3.8 billion was disbursed. Additionally, the government released GH¢23.11 billion for compensations instead of the budgeted GH¢26.6 billion for the first three quarters of the year.
He noted that although GH¢11 billion was allocated for capital expenditure (CAPEX), the government issued commitments worth GH¢7.6 billion but failed to pay even that amount, a situation he described as proof of the administration’s inability to implement its own budget.
Describing the fiscal situation as dire, Dr. Amin Adam insisted that Ghana’s fiscal framework under the current government has deteriorated sharply.
He announced that the Minority Caucus will strongly resist the government’s request for additional appropriations in Parliament, arguing that the administration failed to utilise last year’s allocation effectively.
“A government that cannot spend should not be given more room to spend. We will move for appropriations to be reduced,” Dr. Amin Adam emphasized.
