Full Text: Finance Minister Ato Forson Presents 2025 Mid-Year Budget Review to Parliament

Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, on Thursday, July 24, 2025, presented the Mid-Year Budget Review to Parliament, outlining the state of Ghana’s economy for the first half of the year and proposing adjustments to fiscal strategies for the rest of 2025.

His address offered a frank assessment of the government’s inherited challenges and the progress made under President John Dramani Mahama’s administration.

In his opening remarks, Dr. Forson emphasized that the presentation was not just a statutory requirement under the Public Financial Management Act, but also “an account of what we inherited and the positive results of our stewardship in the last 198 days.”

He paid tribute to the late President John Evans Atta Mills, whose passing occurred on the same date thirteen years ago, before delving into the economic situation.

The minister painted a dire picture of what the current government met upon assuming office, describing it as “an economy in deep distress, far worse than we had imagined.”

According to him, public trust had eroded, the national spirit was broken, and “the foundations of our economy had sunk even deeper.”

He pointed to reckless commitments, high public debt, inflation, and a depreciating cedi as key indicators of the crisis they inherited.

“The indebtedness of the government had culminated into state insolvency,” he noted, adding that “the mismanagement of our public finances by the previous administration led to devastating haircuts… which denied pensioners and the middle-class their lifetime savings, livelihoods and dignity.”

Dr. Forson went on to highlight fiscal risks posed by the energy and cocoa sectors, staggering public debt, collapsed MSMEs, and credit downgrades that pushed Ghana into what he called “junk territory never seen in the history of Ghana.”

The review was presented under the theme: Resetting the Economy for the Ghana We Want. Dr. Forson also announced that the full Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review document had been submitted to Parliament and requested it be captured in the Hansard.

Source: Liberalprint.com