The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta is seeking the approval of Parliament to enable him to spend additional GH₵6,370,925.82 for the 2019 Financial Year.
This is captured in the Order Paper where the Finance Minister will be moving for the Motion for the approval of the said amount as Supplementary Estimate of the Government of Ghana for the year under review.
The Order Paper is a daily publication which lists the Business of Parliament for the day’s sitting.
In November 2018, the Finance Minister requested Parliament’s approval for the government to spend a total of GH₵73.4billion in 2019.
The total expenditure estimate, which is inclusive of clearance of arrears is equivalent to 21.3% of total economic output measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The 2019 estimate as presented was 27% higher than what was projected for 2018.
Should Mr. Ofori-Atta’s request be granted, it means he will be spending about GH₵80billion for the 2019 Financial Year, about GH₵17.7billion higher than the previous year.
It is not clear which sectors the Finance Minister will be spending the Supplementary Budget Estimates on.