Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta on Wednesday requested Parliament to approve the withdrawal of GH¢27.434 billion from the Consolidated Fund, which the Ministry has appropriated to finance state expenditure from January to March 2021.
The approval is for the purpose of meeting expenditure necessary to carry on the services of Government in respect of the period expiring three months of the Financial Year or on the coming into operation of the Appropriation Act in respect of 2021 Financial Year.
“Right Honourable Speaker, in accordance with Article 180 of the 1992 Constitution….I beg to move that this Honourable House approves by resolution the withdrawal of the sum of Twenty-Seven Billion, Four Hundred and Thirty Four Million, One Hundred and Eighty Thousand, Five Hundred and Twenty Ghana Cedis (GH¢27,434,180,520) from the Consolidated Fund,” Mr Ofori-Atta said.
“This is for the purpose of meeting expenditure necessary to carry on the services of Government in respect of the period expiring three months of the Financial Year or on the coming into operation of the Appropriation Act in respect of 2021 Financial Year.”
His request, he said, was also in line with Section 23 of the Public Financial Management Act (PFM), 2016 (Act 921).
He recalled that when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) took office in 2017, it was with a task of turning the economy around and had the courage to implement a GH¢100 billion CARES (Obaatanpa) programme.