Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has pointed out the government’s failure to mention the Women’s Bank in the 2027 Budget Statement, describing it as another unfulfilled promise to Ghanaian women and traders.
Speaking to journalists after the Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, presented the budget in Parliament on November 12, Afenyo-Markin said the Minister was silent on the policy despite it featuring prominently in the 2025 and 2026 budgets.
“Where is the Women’s Bank? They did not even talk about it,” he said.
“Meanwhile, in the 2025 Budget, they said they were going to establish a Women’s Bank. In 2026, they said the same thing. But in 2027, they were quiet. The Minister was silent. So it means that is another scam.”
He said the NDC, which promised the 24-Hour Economy and a new bank to offer loans to women, had failed to fulfil its promises to women and traders across the country.
Paper economy
Afenyo-Markin described the budget as a “paper economy,” arguing that the figures presented did not reflect the reality on the ground.
He cited high food prices at markets including Kotokoraba, Kejetia, Chorkor, Agbogbloshie, Kumasi Asafo, Winneba Central, Abeka and Makola, saying Ghanaians could no longer afford basic foodstuffs.
“The reality is that prices of foodstuffs remain high and Ghanaians cannot afford them,” he said.
He also criticised the rising cost of rice, maize, sorghum and yam, noting that locally produced food had become more expensive than imported produce, while farmers were not receiving support from the government.
On cocoa, he said the government had made no effort to support farmers, and that the farm-gate price per bag had rather reduced since the government took office.
Patience, $10bn and Big Push
The Minority Leader took issue with the Minister’s call for patience, saying Ghanaians had already waited two years for jobs.
“The Minister now tells us that the work ahead will demand patience. Whose patience? Patience after two years. This is his penultimate budget, and he is calling for patience,” he said.
He questioned the government’s new four-year development plan from 2027 to 2030, noting that the government would exit office in 2028, and demanded clarity on how much of the $10 billion earmarked for the New Economy would be available in 2027, how much would be spent, and which specific projects it would finance.
“What is the difference between the New Economy and the so-called 24-Hour Economy? How many economies will be unveiled in Ghana within four years?” he asked.
On the Big Push programme, Afenyo-Markin said the government had halved its commitment from $30 billion to $14 billion.
He also criticised the new 50-pesewa note bearing the name of Theodosia Okoh, alleging that the wrong picture had been used, and questioned how a government that could not get that right could be trusted with the economy.
Jobs, 1D1F and taxes
Afenyo-Markin said the Minority would conduct a critical examination of the budget and present a full critique after the debate, describing the NDC government as a “sloganeering government.”
“What they came to do was to subject us to another round of slogans and no jobs. Stability on paper, hardship in our pockets,” he said. “They cannot slogan away the cost of living.”
While welcoming the government’s assurance that it had money to pay holders under the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, he asked where the money was to pay teachers, nurses and to recruit.
He also criticised the reintroduction of the One District, One Factory (1D1F) policy, saying the one-year exemption on machinery alone offered no real incentive to the private sector, compared to the NPP administration’s incentives on both machinery and raw materials.
“Without the private sector, the economy cannot grow. The NDC is not growing the economy. The NDC is not creating jobs,” he said. “What they love best is rather to tax, tax, tax.”
