The Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament’s Finance Committee, Dr Gideon Boako, has cautioned that Ghana’s improving fiscal indicators should not automatically be interpreted as evidence of sustainable economic transformation.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, July 25, Dr Boako said the more important issue is the quality of the fiscal adjustment rather than the size of the reported fiscal gains in the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review.
According to the Tano North MP, policymakers must determine whether the government’s fiscal performance reflects genuine structural improvements in revenue mobilisation and expenditure efficiency or whether it has largely been achieved through expenditure compression, delayed projects and favourable external conditions.
“The question is no longer simply whether the macroeconomic indicators have improved.
The question is whether this improvement represents a durable transformation of the economy, or whether part of the fiscal success is being achieved through expenditure compression, favourable external conditions and delayed implementation rather than stronger revenue mobilisation, productive investment and job creation,” he stated.
Dr Boako argued that if expenditure on roads, infrastructure, contractor payments, social intervention programmes and productive capital investment is merely postponed, the country’s fiscal deficit may appear healthier in the short term while underlying liabilities accumulate for the future.
He maintained that fiscal consolidation achieved through efficiency gains is fundamentally different from consolidation resulting from under-execution of approved expenditure.
