Minority: Gov’t misleading Ghanaians on economy, rejects betting tax abolition

The minority in Parliament has strongly criticised the government’s 2025 budget presentation, accusing the finance minister of manipulating economic figures and misleading Ghanaians.

Addressing the press after the budget statement on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, the minority claimed the government was misrepresenting the state of the economy inherited from the previous administration.

“The fiscal program was what the minister tried to use to misinform Ghanaians about the economy we handed over to them,” stated former Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam on behalf of the minority spokesperson.

“The minister was quoting a fiscal deficit on a commitment basis of about 8.3% and a primary balance of 3.7% deficit. Ladies and gentlemen, these are cooked figures. They have manipulated the data, and we know how they did it,” Dr. Adam added.

According to the minority, contrary to the figures presented, the previous administration actually left the economy in a better state.

“I can tell you that we left a surplus balance. When we interrogate the data, Ghanaians will know that we left a surplus balance of 0.7% on a commitment basis,” the spokesperson added.

On the much-publicised abolition of the betting tax, the minority dismissed it as misleading, arguing that the tax was never enforced in the first place.

“Betting tax that they said they have abolished, we never collected betting tax. So to come and tell Ghanaians that you have abolished something that you have not implemented is to deceive the people of Ghana,” they said.

The government’s ambitious infrastructure development plan, the “Big Push,” also came under scrutiny. The minority pointed out a significant disparity between the government’s promises and actual budgetary allocations.

“How can they claim to spend US$10 billion when only US$800 million has been allocated?” They questioned, suggesting that the plan was unrealistic and misleading.