The government’s mounting revenue shortfall, estimated at GH¢19 billion, when combined with the balance brought forward from 2024, is pushing Ghana’s revenue-to-GDP ratio down to 11% from 16%, a development that lawmakers warn will undermine growth and cripple the state’s ability to fund essential services.
This concern dominated Parliamentary debate on the Government’s 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policy.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ofoase Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, described the shrinking revenue effort as a “structural crisis” with real consequences for the broader economy.
“Colleagues, you have lost 5% of GDP in revenue. Five percent of one trillion is GH¢50 billion. That is what is broken and that is why you have had to cut expenditure by GH¢28 billion,” he told the House, urging MPs to study the budget tables carefully.
According to him, mid-year revenue underperformed by GH¢3 billion, but the GH¢11 billion balance carried forward from 2024 meant the true fiscal pressure was far greater than the government acknowledged.
As of the latest figures, he said, “the revenue shortfall stands at GH¢8 billion, but when combined with the earlier GH¢11 billion, the strain reaches GH¢19 billion.”
Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah warned that this narrowing fiscal space directly impacts Ghana’s economic prospects, arguing that without adequate revenue, the country cannot fund programmes intended to stimulate growth or enhance productivity, further weakening the GDP outlook.
“All the promises you make cannot be fulfilled if you cannot mobilise revenue. If your revenue doesn’t perform, you won’t get the money to invest in job-creating initiatives.”
Teachers, Nurses, Contractors Left Stranded
The MP stressed that the GH¢28 billion expenditure cut was not an abstraction, but a direct blow to employment.
“Teachers are waiting to be recruited; nurses are at home, contractors are unpaid. Young Ghanaians are waiting for flagship programmes to be funded, but because the revenue strategy has failed, nothing is happening,” he argued.
He dismissed the government’s projection of 800,000 jobs as misleading, noting that 490,000 of them were categorised as manual labour linked to road construction.
“You have no programme to create industrial jobs. Technical university graduates have no place in this plan,” he added.
‘Fleeting Jobs’ and Fiscal Priorities Questioned
The member for Manhyia South, Nana Agyei Baffour reinforced the concerns, linking the revenue downturn to worsening unemployment.
Paying tribute to six young women who died while pursuing job opportunities, he said their tragedy symbolises the desperation of Ghana’s youth.
Nana Agyei Baffour criticised the government’s expenditure choices, particularly the GH¢13 billion allocation for aircraft procurement, calling it misplaced at a time of severe revenue constraints.
“Why spend GH¢13 billion on aircraft when 78,000 nurses, over 6,000 teachers and 60% of the 300,000 graduates each year are unemployed?” he asked.
He argued that the government’s planned job creation is “fleeting,” unable to absorb skilled graduates or create sustainable employment pathways.
Citing a June 2025 World Bank assessment, he noted that Ghana’s economic growth “continues to fail to translate into meaningful job creation.”
Both MPs concluded that unless government urgently strengthens its revenue mobilisation framework and redirects expenditure into productive, job-creating sectors, Ghana risks undermining GDP growth and returning to cyclical fiscal crises.
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah warned that relying on temporary macroeconomic gains, such as currency interventions financed by gold purchase windfalls, could expose the country to shocks.
“You can dance over temporary results but without structural fixes, we will be back here again,” he said.
Nana Agyei Baffour, for his part, predicted that the current trajectory could force another return to the IMF, arguing that spending patterns remain inconsistent with the country’s revenue reality.
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