The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has highlighted a major restructuring of Ghana’s public investment programme, revealing that the government has cancelled about 1,800 projects and rephased or rescoped another 2,000 as part of efforts to improve spending efficiency and strengthen fiscal discipline.
The reforms form part of Ghana’s broader public financial management agenda under its economic recovery programme and are aimed at aligning infrastructure spending with available fiscal resources and implementation capacity.
In its latest Article IV Consultation and proposed Policy Coordination Instrument (PCI) report, the IMF said the government undertook a comprehensive review of the national public investment portfolio to eliminate projects that were considered unfeasible, low priority or inconsistent with current development objectives.
“The authorities have undertaken a comprehensive review of the public investment portfolio, resulting in the cancellation of about 1,800 projects and the rephasing or rescoping of around 2,000 others,” the Fund said.
According to the IMF, the rationalisation exercise is intended to improve the quality and effectiveness of public investments by concentrating resources on projects with stronger economic and social returns.
The Fund said the review is expected to reduce wasteful expenditure, improve capital spending efficiency and ensure that public investment decisions are better aligned with fiscal realities.
The exercise forms part of a broader package of reforms aimed at strengthening public investment management, procurement systems, commitment controls and expenditure oversight as Ghana works to restore fiscal sustainability following its debt restructuring programme.
The IMF noted that the reforms are designed to prevent the accumulation of arrears, improve budget execution and create fiscal space for priority infrastructure and development projects under the proposed PCI arrangement.
The Fund also linked the measures to wider governance and public financial management reforms intended to improve the efficiency of government spending and safeguard Ghana’s long-term debt sustainability.
