The minister’s voice still carried the echo of a closing ledger—Ghana will no longer borrow to pay salaries or import rice, only for projects that “grow the tax base”.
Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson told Parliament on 18 September that “I will not borrow for consumption but for transformative projects”, signalling a hard pivot from past budgets that plugged wage gaps with fresh debt . The rule means no future bond will fund fuel subsidies, election-year hiring or office stationery—only roads, ports and power lines that can repay themselves through new revenue.
The shift comes as public debt hit GH¢628.8 billion in July, equal to 44.9 % of GDP, after the cedi’s summer slide added GH¢15.8 billion in three months . Forson argues the new guard-rail is the only way to restore debt sustainability and keep the IMF’s three-year programme on track.
First on the whitelist: a feasibility study for a new Accra–Kumasi motorway, flagged as a flagship growth project to be completed within two and a half years and financed strictly on project-finance terms—tolls, not taxes, must service the loan .
And the next rice shipment? Importers will have to find dollars on their own—will the market adjust or will the price of jollof rise before the first toll is collected?
Source: https://citinewsroom.com/2025/09/no-more-borrowing-for-consumption-only-growth-driven-projects-ato-forson/
The minister’s voice still carried the echo of a closing ledger—Ghana will no longer borrow to pay salaries or import rice, only for projects that “grow the tax base”.
Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson told Parliament on 18 September that “I will not borrow for consumption but for transformative projects”, signalling a hard pivot from past budgets that plugged wage gaps with fresh debt . The rule means no future bond will fund fuel subsidies, election-year hiring or office stationery—only roads, ports and power lines that can repay themselves through new revenue.
The shift comes as public debt hit GH¢628.8 billion in July, equal to 44.9 % of GDP, after the cedi’s summer slide added GH¢15.8 billion in three months . Forson argues the new guard-rail is the only way to restore debt sustainability and keep the IMF’s three-year programme on track.
First on the whitelist: a feasibility study for a new Accra–Kumasi motorway, flagged as a flagship growth project to be completed within two and a half years and financed strictly on project-finance terms—tolls, not taxes, must service the loan .
And the next rice shipment? Importers will have to find dollars on their own—will the market adjust or will the price of jollof rise before the first toll is collected?
Source: https://citinewsroom.com/2025/09/no-more-borrowing-for-consumption-only-growth-driven-projects-ato-forson/
The minister’s voice still carried the echo of a closing ledger—Ghana will no longer borrow to pay salaries or import rice, only for projects that “grow the tax base”.
Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson told Parliament on 18 September that “I will not borrow for consumption but for transformative projects”, signalling a hard pivot from past budgets that plugged wage gaps with fresh debt . The rule means no future bond will fund fuel subsidies, election-year hiring or office stationery—only roads, ports and power lines that can repay themselves through new revenue.
The shift comes as public debt hit GH¢628.8 billion in July, equal to 44.9 % of GDP, after the cedi’s summer slide added GH¢15.8 billion in three months . Forson argues the new guard-rail is the only way to restore debt sustainability and keep the IMF’s three-year programme on track.
First on the whitelist: a feasibility study for a new Accra–Kumasi motorway, flagged as a flagship growth project to be completed within two and a half years and financed strictly on project-finance terms—tolls, not taxes, must service the loan .
And the next rice shipment? Importers will have to find dollars on their own—will the market adjust or will the price of jollof rise before the first toll is collected?
Source: https://citinewsroom.com/2025/09/no-more-borrowing-for-consumption-only-growth-driven-projects-ato-forson/
The minister’s voice still carried the echo of a closing ledger—Ghana will no longer borrow to pay salaries or import rice, only for projects that “grow the tax base”.
Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson told Parliament on 18 September that “I will not borrow for consumption but for transformative projects”, signalling a hard pivot from past budgets that plugged wage gaps with fresh debt . The rule means no future bond will fund fuel subsidies, election-year hiring or office stationery—only roads, ports and power lines that can repay themselves through new revenue.
The shift comes as public debt hit GH¢628.8 billion in July, equal to 44.9 % of GDP, after the cedi’s summer slide added GH¢15.8 billion in three months . Forson argues the new guard-rail is the only way to restore debt sustainability and keep the IMF’s three-year programme on track.
First on the whitelist: a feasibility study for a new Accra–Kumasi motorway, flagged as a flagship growth project to be completed within two and a half years and financed strictly on project-finance terms—tolls, not taxes, must service the loan .
And the next rice shipment? Importers will have to find dollars on their own—will the market adjust or will the price of jollof rise before the first toll is collected?
Source: https://citinewsroom.com/2025/09/no-more-borrowing-for-consumption-only-growth-driven-projects-ato-forson/
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