The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has raised concerns over how government’s GH₵2.45 billion recapitalization package for the National Investment Bank (NIB) has been reflected in the 2025 mid-year budget review.
According to the review, the support package comprised GH₵450 million in cash, GH₵1.5 billion in government bonds, and GH₵500 million in shares of Nestlé Ghana Limited assigned to the bank. This means that GH₵1.95 billion of the support was either direct expenditure or debt incurred by the state.
However, Mr. Leslie Dwight Mensah, Senior Research Fellow at IFS, pointed out that only the GH₵450 million cash component was captured in the government’s expenditure and deficit data. He said this underreports the true fiscal impact of the recapitalization package and contradicts the commitment-based fiscal reporting framework, which requires both cash and non-cash outlays to be recognized.
“This omission means the official expenditure and deficit positions for the first half of the year are understated,” Mr. Mensah explained. “The same problem exists in the revised full-year projections, which fail to properly account for the GH₵1.95 billion support extended to NIB.”
The IFS cautioned that failing to reflect the full fiscal cost of interventions such as the NIB recapitalization undermines fiscal transparency and risks eroding market confidence in official reporting. It urged government to ensure that its fiscal data accurately captures all commitments to safeguard credibility in economic management.
