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Gov't may borrow to pay salaries, Minority says

The Minority Spokesperson on Finance Anthony Akoto Osei said the hold-up funds could hit the economy because the money has been captured in the budget.
Dr Anthony Akoto Osei
Dr Anthony Akoto Osei

The Minority in parliament has warned government may have to borrow to pay salaries of public workers if steps are not taken to meet the conditions for the disbursement of US$ 484 million locked up by donor agencies.

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The Minority Spokesperson on Finance Dr Anthony Akoto Osei said the hold-up funds could hit the economy because the money has been captured in the budget.

He said the funds are locked up because the government is unable to meet the conditions for the release of the funds.

Mr Akoto Osei made this known Thursday when he led a Minority caucus press conference to respond to Seth Terkper's supplementary budget.

"Already, $75 million budget is locked up by the World Bank. Ther Africa Development Bank has also delayed $49 million.

"Government may have to go and borrow to pay salaries if the monies are not forthcoming.

"An amount of $116million from IMF is going to be delayed. The IMF doesn't work alone, their partners are the World Bank and AfDB.

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"The budget support from the World Bank will be delayed, the budget support from AfDB will be delayed, but all of this is in the minister's programme and it is not going to come anytime soon," Dr Akoto Osei said.

The Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, on Monday requested for a supplementary budget of GHC1.8 billion due to a plunge in commodities prices, shut down of the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah and drop in crude oil prices on the international market.

He assured that government would resist budget overruns, often associated with elections, manage the public debt to ensure debt sustainability, sustain fiscal discipline and invest in infrastructure to ensure a better Ghana for all.

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