President Nana Akufo-Addo has said the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the 2020 budget which was presented to Parliament by Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta in November 2019 out of gear.

Speaking at the Jubilee House on Wednesday, May 6, 2020, President Akufo-Addo said: “I think it is important that everyone in the country knows that the government is one of the biggest, if not the hardest hit by this pandemic”, adding: “We have huge parts of revenues that have gone out of the window, as a result of this pandemic”.

“The 2020 budget, which was made in November, was predicated on a 65-dollar barrel oil”, he said, noting: “Today, we now know that oil is 18, 19, 20, 21 dollars a barrel, so, even that statistics should tell you what a big hole has been created as a result.”

So far, the virus has killed 18 out of the 2,719 people infected with 294 recoveries.

As a result of the economic disruption caused by the virus, the government took $300 million from the Stabilisation Fund, $100 million dollars from the World Bank and $1 billion from the International Monetary Fund to help cushion the country against the shock.

A few weeks ago, the Finance Minister indicated that he would have to present a new budget to Parliament as a result of the disruption.