A former Director at the Ministry of Finance, Eva Mends, has urged journalists and policymakers to help manage public expectations about government spending, warning that economic stability requires difficult trade-offs.
Speaking at a capacity-building workshop for members of the Parliamentary Press Corps in Koforidua, Eva Mends stressed that demands for higher public expenditure must be balanced against the need to maintain key economic indicators such as low inflation and a stable currency.
According to her, many citizens celebrate improvements like a stronger Ghanaian cedi or declining inflation but often overlook the fiscal discipline required to achieve those outcomes. She explained that increased government spending without corresponding revenue could widen the fiscal deficit and force the state to rely more heavily on borrowing.
“If pressure mounts and government decides to increase the deficit and borrow more just to satisfy demands, all the indicators will shift,” she cautioned, noting that excessive borrowing could trigger rising inflation and higher interest rates, ultimately undermining macroeconomic stability.
Eva Mends also warned against unplanned financial commitments by public institutions, particularly state-owned enterprises, saying such obligations often fall back on the central government and disrupt carefully planned budgets.
The workshop, organised by the Parliament of Ghana with support from the World Bank and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, aimed to strengthen journalists’ understanding of public financial management and improve reporting on national budgets and fiscal policy.
Director of Media Relations at Parliament, David Sebastian Damoah, said the training was designed to enhance the capacity of parliamentary reporters to interpret fiscal data and communicate complex financial issues to the public.
He emphasised that covering Parliament should go beyond reporting debates in the chamber to include critical national processes such as budget scrutiny, fiscal oversight and public financial management.
The two-day programme equips members of the Parliamentary Press Corps with the tools to better analyse government spending and strengthen the media’s role in promoting transparency and accountability in governance
