The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) is questioning the government’s lack of transparency in the recapitalisation of the state-owned National Investment Bank (NIB), highlighting inconsistencies in the fiscal data presented in the 2025 mid-year budget review.
According to the IFS, while the government disclosed a GH₵450 million cash injection into NIB, it failed to capture an additional GH₵1.95 billion in commitments, despite the full support package amounting to GH₵2.45 billion.
The think tank argued that this selective reporting contradicts commitment-based accounting standards, thereby casting doubt on the credibility of Ghana’s fiscal performance data.
“A breakdown suggests that GH₵1.95 billion of the support package involves either direct expenditure or incurred debt obligations, which ought to be recognised under commitment-based reporting. However, only GH₵450 million was reflected in the fiscal data, implying that the government’s expenditure and deficit positions for the first half of the year understate the true scale of commitments,” Leslie Dwight Mensah, Senior Research Fellow at IFS noted at a press briefing on Wednesday, August 20, 2025.
Mr. Mensah further warned against a return to the international bond market, cautioning that it could worsen Ghana’s already high debt burden.
“Resuming such borrowing will only cause debt service costs to rise rapidly, risking another debt crisis. The government should instead prioritise improving domestic revenue mobilisation, particularly by focusing on the extractive sector, which offers a more sustainable solution to the country’s financing challenges,” he stated.
The IFS has therefore urged the government to exercise fiscal discipline, adopt full transparency in reporting, and avoid strategies that could compromise long-term debt sustainability.
