Parliament adjourns amidst controversy over 2025 mini-budget
Finance Minister Mohammed Amin Adams’s on Thursday did present the highly anticipated 2025 Mini-Budget to Parliament.
This development has sparked concerns about a potential government business shutdown from January 1, 2025.
The Mini-Budget, a constitutional requirement, aims to provide a fiscal outlook for the upcoming year, addressing key economic issues such as revenue mobilisation, expenditure priorities, and strategies for fiscal consolidation.
Minority Leader Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson expressed disappointment over the Finance Minister’s inability to fulfill this crucial mandate, emphasising the importance of a smooth transition.
Dr Forson, at a press conference in Parliament, in Accra, on Friday assured that the incoming National Democratic Congress (NDC) government will address the expenditure for the first quarter of 2025 when they take office on January 7, 2025.
He said: “In the spirit of a good transition, it is expected that the outgoing president, acting pursuant to Article 180 of the Constitution could have acted in good faith and brought before parliament a proposal for the expenditure to cater for the first quarter of the year 2025.”
“…This was very important because the Appropriation Act for 2025 will not come into force on the 1st of January 2025. Sadly, President Akufo Addo planned to leave the public service uncatered for in the first quarter of the year, 2025.
“However, let me give assurance to the people of Ghana and all stakeholders that the NDC Government will take office on 7th January 2025, and we will act with dispatch to cater for expenditure for the first quarter of the year 2025,” he said.
In contrast, Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin attributed the delay to what he called the “lawlessness” of the Minority Group.
He said the expenditure in advance of appropriation will be laid by the Finance Minister when the House resumes on Thursday, January 2, 2025.
Source: GNA