Ghana’s Parliament has approved Finance Minister’s request for GH¢6.37 billion as the supplementary budget for the 2019 fiscal year.
The Minister stated that government needs the funds to prosecute its planned programmes and initiatives for the second half of the year.
However, more than GH¢6 billion of the approved supplementary budget would go into servicing debts. Notable among them are the energy sector debts and interest payments.
Ghana’s supplementary budget will mean that government’s total expenditure for 2019 will exceed GH¢85 billion. This would widen the budget deficit further. The request has come as part of the mid-year budget review.
Parliament would also deliberate on the Minister’s request to increase certain taxes. They would additionally work to approve the withdrawal of the tax on luxury vehicles.
