The Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, today March 11, 2025, in the Parliament of Ghana presents the first budget statement and economic policy of the John Mahama-led government since it took office on January 7, 2025.
The fact-check report seeks to verify claims from the presentation.
Some of the claims we have fact-checked are below:
a – Inflation worsened between 2023 and 2024
b – Overall GDP grew by 5.7% (2024) compared to 3.1% (2023)
c – Did Mahama reduce ministries to 23 from 30?
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d – Gross International Reserve increased to US$8.98
e – Visual Card – List of documents presented to Parliament by the Minister
f – Cedi depreciation against major trading currencies in 2024
g – Did Ato Forson project GDP growth of lower that 5.7% for 2025?
h. Visual Card – List of scrapped taxes
i. The major budgetary allocations in the budget
2025 BUDGET : Allocations to Various Sectors or programmes
- GH¢13.85 billion: Allocation for the Big Push Programme.
- GH¢499.8 million: Allocation for the No-Academic-Fee policy for first-year students in public tertiary institutions.
- GH¢292.4 million: Allocation for the distribution of free sanitary pads to female students in primary and secondary schools.
- GH¢242.5 million: Allocation to support victims of the Akosombo dam spillage.
- GH¢200 million: Allocation to support victims of the tidal wave disaster in the Ketu South constituency.
- GH¢3.5 billion: Allocation for the free secondary education program.
- GH¢564.6 million: Allocation for comprehensive provision of free curricula-based textbooks.
- GH¢1.788 billion: Allocation for the School Feeding Programme.
- GH¢145.5 million: Allocation for the Capitation Grant.
- GH¢203 million: Allocation for the payment of teacher trainee allowances.
- GH¢480 million: Allocation for the payment of nursing trainee allowances.
- GH¢9.93 billion: Allocation for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
- GH¢2.81 billion: Allocation for the Ghana Road Fund.
- GH¢7.51 billion: Allocation for the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF).
- GH¢1.5 billion: Allocation for Agriculture for Economic Transformation Agenda (AETA).
- GH¢51.3 million: Allocation as seed fund for the establishment of the Women’s Development Bank.
- GH¢300 million: Allocation for the National Apprenticeship Programme.
- GH¢100 million: Allocation for the ‘Adwumawura’ Programme.
- GH¢100 million: Allocation for the National Coders Programme
Total allocations = GH¢44.067 billion
Claim 6 – Did the Minister of Finance project a growth rate for the current government as Afenyo-Markin claimed?
The Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, in his initial response to the 2025 budget claimed the Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, projected a lower GDP growth rate compared to the 5.7% recorded in 2024.
“It is very clear, Mr Speaker, under the economy that they complain about, the growth was 5.7%, and under the reset economy, the growth is rather going down, you are projecting a 4 point something growth, that is what you are doing… Mr Speaker, the economy they are complaining about left us with 4 months of import cover, and they are projecting under reset, 3 months,” he said.
Fact-check
GhanaFact fact-checked the Minority Leader’s claim by re-visiting the speech by the Finance Minister. On the 2024 GDP growth, the Minister said: “Mr. Speaker, provisional 2024 GDP statistics published by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) on 10th March 2025 shows that overall real GDP grew by 5.7 percent in 2024, compared to the growth rate of 3.1 percent recorded over the same period 2023.”
On page 33 under macroeconomic targets, the Finance Minister stated: “Mr. Speaker, in pursuit of the overarching macroeconomic objectives, the following macroeconomic targets have been set for the 2025 fiscal year:
“i Overall Real GDP growth of at least 4.0 percent;
“ii Non-Oil Real GDP growth of at least 4.8 percent.”
Verdict
Therefore, the claim that the Minister of Finance projected about 4% growth under the NDC government is True.
Claim 5 – Currency depreciation
“By the end of 2024, the currency had depreciated by 19.2 percent, 17.8 percent and 13.7 percent against the US dollar, British Pound and Euro respectively”.
Fact-check
According to the Bank of Ghana Policy Monetary report released in January 2025, the cedi depreciated by 19.2%, 17.8% and 13.7% against the dollar, the pound and the euro respectively.
“In the interbank market, the cedi depreciated by 19.2 percent, 17.8 percent and 13.7 percent against the dollar, the pound and the euro, respectively, on a year-to-date basis,” the Bank of Ghana said in its report.
Verdict
Therefore, the claim is true
5 – Visual Card – List of documents presented to Parliament by the Minister
Claim 4 – Gross International Reserve increased to US$8.98 billion
“Mr. Speaker, Gross International Reserves (GIR) increased to a stock position of US$8.98 billion at the end of 2024 and was enough to cover 4 months of imports, exceeding the target floor of 3 months of imports cover”.
Fact-check
Ghana’s Gross International Reserves at the end of 2024 increased to $8.98 billion according to data released by the Bank of Ghana’s Monetary Policy Committee on January 27, 2025.
“Gross International Reserves (GIR) increased to a stock position of US$8.98 billion at the end of 2024 and was enough to cover 4.0 months of imports, exceeding targets under the IMF programme. This compares favourably with the end-December 2023 GIR of US$5.92 billion (2.7 months of imports),” the Bank of Ghana said.
Verdict
The claim is rated true
Claim 3 – Did Mahama reduce ministries to 23 from 30?
The Minister of Finance claimed President John Dramani Mahama “has also reduced the number of government ministries from 30 to 23.”
Fact-check
GhanaFact has previously published a debunk on the same claim clarifying that the erstwhile Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government left behind 28, not 30 ministries.
The current government, however, has 23 ministries in place per President Mahama’s first Executive Order after taking office in January 2025.
Read more in our report here.
Verdict
The claim is rated a mixture because the claim by the Minister of Finance has true and false claims.
Claim 2 – Overall GDP grew by 5.7% (2024) compared to 3.1% (2023)
“Mr. Speaker, provisional 2024 GDP statistics published by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) on 10th March 2025 shows that overall real GDP grew by 5.7 percent in 2024, compared to the growth rate of 3.1 percent recorded over the same period 2023.”
Fact-check
The Ghana Statistical Service’s publication about the 2024 overall Gross Domestic Product growth shows a 5.7% growth as of March 2025, while same economic metric for 2023 was 3.1%.
Fig 2 – A screenshot from the March 10 GSS data
Verdict
Therefore, the claim is rated true.
Claim 1 – Inflation worsened between 2023 and 2024
“Inflation worsened in the year 2024 from 23.2% in the year 2023 to 23.8% in 2024.”
Fact-check
According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), 2023 ended with an inflation rate of 23.2% and as of December 2024, inflation stood at 23.8%.
For 2023 (GSS), “The year-on-year inflation rate as measured by the CPI was 23.2 percent in December 2023 (Figure 1). This rate of inflation for December 2023 is the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) over the twelve-month period, from December 2022 to December 2023. The monthly change rate for December 2023 is 1.2 percent.”
For 2024 (GSS), “The year-on-year inflation rate as measured by the CPI was 23.8 percent in December 2024 (Figure 1). This rate of inflation for December 2024 is the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) over the twelve-month period, from December 2023 to December 2024. The monthly change rate for December 2024 is 1.8 percent.”
Verdict
Therefore, the claim is true.
