Minister of State designate at the Finance Ministry, Abena Osei-Asare has said that the letter that the Finance Ministry wrote on the potential financial implication of the anti-gay bill was to afford managers of the economy measures on how they can address any revenue gap issue should they arise as a result of the passage of the bill.
She said it was an internal memo that was not to be sent out.
“We heard certain sentiments from certain stakeholders so what we sought to do was to see how best we can address any revenue gap issue should they arise as a result of the passage of the bill. It was an internal memo. It wasn’t a memo that was to be sent outside because we were sitting to see how best we could close the gap,” she explained on Wednesday, March 13 when she appeared before the Parliament Appointment Committee.
The Ministry of Finance on Monday, March 4 pointed out dreadful implications of the president assenting to the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill.
In a brief on the implications of assenting to the Bill by President Akufo-Addo, the Ministry of Finance said the country stands to lose huge financial support from the Bretton Woods institutions.
“In total, Ghana is likely to lose US$3.8 billion in World Bank Financing over the next five to six years. For 2024, Ghana will lose US$600 million budget support and US$250 million for the Financial Stability Fund. This will negatively impact Ghana’s foreign exchange reserves and exchange rate stability as these inflows are expected to shore up the country’s reserve position,” part of the brief cited by 3news.com reads.
The Ministry of Finance provided the details as follows:
- The expected US$300 million financing from the First Ghana Resilient Recovery Development Policy Operation (Budget Support) which is currently pending Parliamentary approval might not be disbursed by the Bank when it is approved by Parliament;
- On-going negotiations on the second Ghana Resilient Recovery Development Policy Operation (DPO) for budget support amounting to US$300 million may be suspended;
- On-going negotiations for US$250 million to support the Ghana Financial Stability Fund may be suspended;
- Disbursement of undisbursed amounts totaling US$2.1 billion for ongoing projects will be suspended; and
- Preparation of pipeline projects and declaration of effectiveness for two projects totaling US$900million may be suspended.
The Ministry cautioned that, “The potential loss of these financial resources will create a financing gap in the 2024 budget that the government must address through additional domestic revenue mobilisation and a significant reduction in expenditure. Failing this, Government’s ability to achieve the targets in the 2024 Budget will be undermined and the IMF-ECF Programme is likely to be derailed.”
Parliament on February 28 passed the Promotion of Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill.
But persons including a Renowned economist, Kwame Pianim indicated that the Finance Ministry’s warning came too late.
In the view of Mr Pianim, the Ministry should have sent this caution to Parliament the moment discussions on the bill commenced in the House.
Speaking on the Business Focus with TV3’s Paa Kwesi Asare on Tuesday, March 5, Mr Pianim said “I think that if this document is really true it shows how incompetent our administration is. it is really shambolic. Where was the Ministry of Finance when this bill was being discussed?
“Normally, when a bill is being discussed in Parliament, bills come from the government, the cabinet minister will take the document to parliament, convince his colleagues that he wants to pass this Act, and then it goes to Parliament.
“The Ministry of Finance should have sent this document to the cabinet and to the president and to the relevant committees of Parliament that were discussing it to say these are the financial implications of this bill.
“That is how it is done and then if the president is up to task and he is doing his job then the president will hold the breakfast meeting, invite Parliamentary leaders and say this is where the national interest is, this is the geopolitical implications of this bill and therefore think twice before you move ahead. That is what is done, you don’t wait for the bill to be passed and then you disgrace the whole nation.”