The government’s return to Parliament for approval of nearly $1 billion in fresh loans, just weeks after Ghana exited the IMF’s Extended Credit Facility programme, has raised concerns over the sustainability of the country’s fiscal strategy.
Ranking Member on Parliament’s Economy and Development Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, questioned the government’s renewed reliance on external borrowing, arguing that the development raises concerns about the pace of domestic revenue mobilisation.
Speaking during debate on a motion seeking approval for several international financing agreements, the Ofoase-Ayirebi MP said Parliament must consider the cumulative impact of the proposed loans rather than assess each agreement separately.
He noted that Ghana announced its successful exit from the IMF programme on May 15, 2026, but Parliament was now being asked to approve new borrowing estimated at close to $1 billion barely nine weeks later.
The proposed financing package includes about $300 million for the education sector, $500 million for road infrastructure, approximately $22 million for the Ministry of Finance and about $180 million in net borrowing already captured in the 2026 Budget.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah stressed that the Minority was not opposed to the projects for which the loans were being sought.
He said development financing could serve important national purposes, but argued that the timing and scale of the new borrowing required closer scrutiny, particularly following the government’s declaration that Ghana had successfully completed the IMF programme.
The former Information Minister said the government had previously assured Ghanaians that its fiscal strategy would allow it to remove certain taxes while increasing domestic revenue mobilisation to 18 percent of GDP.
However, he said official fiscal reports showed that the target had not yet been achieved.
According to him, one official report placed Ghana’s revenue-to-GDP ratio at 15.7 percent, while another put it at 16 percent.
He argued that the figures represented little improvement over the position inherited by the current administration.
“It is because the domestic resource mobilisation measures are not performing that nine weeks after the IMF left town, they have gone back to the debt markets and are asking Parliament to approve close to one billion dollars,” he said.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah warned that continued borrowing without a corresponding improvement in domestic revenue could create fresh debt sustainability challenges.
He also criticised what he described as spending priorities that direct significant resources towards quasi-fiscal operations instead of critical development needs.
Citing figures from the Bank of Ghana’s 2025 financial statements, he claimed that about GH¢16 billion was spent on sterilisation operations, while approximately GH¢9.6 billion was incurred through gold-related losses.
The MP called for urgent measures to strengthen domestic revenue mobilisation and improve expenditure management across government.
He said a coordinated, whole-of-government approach was needed to reduce Ghana’s dependence on external borrowing and prevent a return to the debt pressures that previously necessitated IMF support.
Despite his concerns, Mr Oppong Nkrumah reaffirmed the Minority’s support for the proposed loan agreements, stressing that the central issue was the need for government to address the underlying weaknesses in revenue generation and expenditure management.
