Director of Policy for the United Party (UP) Dr. Samuel Nana Yaw Adutwum, has warned that the 2026 Budget Statement and Economic Policy will not transform the Ghanaian economy despite the government’s assurances of stability and recovery.
According to him, although funds appear to be allocated to key ministries on paper, very little disbursement actually takes place, leaving critical sectors under-resourced and unable to function effectively.
Speaking on Joy News and monitored by NewsDesksGH on November 14, he stated that the government’s failure to release adequate funds is weakening economic activity and reducing household contribution to development.
“I agree with the Minority Leader when he said that allocations to key sector ministries did not go. On paper, yes they went through the appropriation but very low disbursement happened,” he said.
“If you stifle the economy of liquidity you are reducing household expenditure and therefore they cannot contribute to the development that we expect,” he added.
Dr. Samuel Adutwum acknowledged that the government has achieved a degree of macroeconomic stability but warned that it cannot lead to actual transformation.
“Yes, you’ve achieved stability but you need to quickly move into transformation but the 2026 budget cannot help us to transform the Ghanaian economy,” he stated.
He said the budget fails to address the long-standing structural problems that continue to hinder economic growth, particularly the lack of investment in value addition and manufacturing.
“You need to do a lot of value addition. You cannot do value addition when you’re investing extreme amounts, over 30 billion has been promised for Big Push,” he noted.
“Look at the private sector, let them establish manufacturing entities and then you support by extending infrastructure. That will reduce their cost of production,” he said.
He added that the heavy infrastructural allocations generates short-term gains without fixing the structural defects of the economy.
“If you invest heavily in that, to us it’s more of targeting procurement which immediately you get some returns but it cannot sustain or reform the economy in terms of its structural defects,” he added.
The 2026 Budget was presented to Parliament by Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson on Thursday, November 13, under the theme “Resetting for Growth, Jobs and Economic Transformation.”
The Minister announced what he described as a strong economic recovery, citing real GDP growth of 6.3%, a reduction in total public debt to GH¢630.2 billion, and single digit inflation projected to reach 8% in 2026.
