Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has disclosed that the Contingency Fund currently has a credit balance of about GH¢200 million.

The Fund serves as an avenue into money voted by Parliament which shall be paid and utilised by the government.

In a statement read on his behalf on the floor of Parliament by the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, Ken Ofori-Atta explained that the current credit balance for the Fund is out of the total amount of GH¢1.33 billion that Parliament voted for between 2017 and 2022.

He clarified that this included an amount of GH¢1,203,715,086; GH¢50,000,000, and GH¢76,489,307 voted in 2020, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

“Of the total GH¢1,330,204,393 voted for the Contingency Fund, GH¢1,203,715,086 was paid from the Stabilisation Fund to meet COVID-19 related expenditures in 2020. The amount represented the cedi equivalent of the $200 million in excess of the $100 million cap established for the Stabilisation Fund,” Ken Ofori-Atta said.

The Finance Minister further said the government had advanced and utilised an amount of GH¢1,201,911,778 from the Contingency Fund between 2020 and 2021 to meet COVID-19-related expenditures.

“In 2020, government advanced and utilised an amount (GH¢1,200,696,496) and 2021 (GH¢1,669,387) and as of December 31, 2021, the balance in the Contingency Fund account was GH¢660,117,959,” he told lawmakers.

“The Ministry of Finance, the Controller and Accountant General’s Department and the Bank of Ghana are working together to replenish the account over the medium term as indicated to this House in April 2020,” the Finance Minister added.

The statement by the Finance Minister was delivered by the Minister of State responsible for Finance, Dr Amin Adam before lawmakers.

It was in response to a question posed by the Member of Parliament of Ketu North James Klutse Avedzi who was demanding how the advances had been made from the Fund from 2017 to 2022, as well as its utilisation.

MA/NOQ