AN ASSESSMENT OF THE 2025 BUDGETSTATEMENT AND ECONOMIC POLICY OFTHE GOVERNMENT OF GHANA

On March 11, 2025, the new National Democratic Congress (NDC) government presented its first budget statement, outlining its policy priorities and objectives for the next four years. As pointed out in IFS’ pre-budget paper, “What Should Be the Priorities of the New Government as It Confronts the Ongoing Economic Difficulties?”, the budget was presented against the backdrop of fiscal and macroeconomic difficulties Ghana is currently grappling with. These include debt challenges, high inflation, high exchange rate instability, and low growth. In his budget speech to Parliament, Minister of Finance Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson acknowledged the economic difficulties and pledged to fix them. Accordingly, he laid out a program of medium-term fiscal consolidation beginning in 2025. He also announced major policy changes and several new initiatives. Notably, these include uncapping of earmarked funds, new social programs, establishment of a Gold Board, and the “Big Push” infrastructure program. This paper critically assesses the 2025 budget, focusing particularly on the fiscal projections and the key policy initiatives. Section 2, which follows this introduction, reviews the budget’s fiscal estimates. Section 3 presents the assessment, while Section 4 provides policy recommendations