During the presentation of the 2025 Mid-Year Budget review by the Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, in Parliament, he disclosed that Ghana’s ability to withstand recent fiscal and external shocks was severely compromised when they took office.
This, he told Parliament on Thursday, July 24, 2025, was due to the depletion of vital financial buffers in the preceding years.
He said the previous administration either “depleted, drawn down, or collateralised” these buffers that are designed to protect the economy against unforeseen disturbances.
“At the time we took over, the buffers needed to cushion us against fiscal and external shocks had been depleted,” he stated, further clarifying that “some had been drawn down completely, others collateralised, and others simply non-existent.”
Dr. Forson explained that the government had limited options amid the country’s mounting debt obligations, global economic volatility, and domestic revenue shortfalls resulting from depleted state coffers.
“This government was literally handed an economy with no airbag,” Dr Forson remarked, adding that “the situation we inherited made the early months of this administration exceptionally difficult.”
The Finance Minister assured Parliament and Ghanaians that the current government is taking deliberate steps to rebuild those lost buffers, improve fiscal discipline, and restore credibility to Ghana’s public financial management systems.
He called for collective effort and responsible governance to ensure long-term stability and resilience against future shocks.
