Data and policy analyst Alfred Appiah has cautioned the government against treating delayed payments to contractors, public sector workers and service providers as fiscal discipline.
The analyst is warning that unpaid obligations are undermining the benefits of Ghana’s improving fiscal position.
While commending Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson for restoring spending discipline after the fiscal excesses of 2024, Alfred Appiah argues that a stronger fiscal position means little if government achieves it partly by pushing legitimate bills into the future.
In April 2025, the Finance Minister announced that contractors would not be paid until their claims had been audited. The analyst believes the decision was justified, given that the Auditor-General’s review of about GH¢68 billion in claims resulted in GH¢8.1 billion being rejected over fraud, duplication or work not done, while another GH¢13.3 billion could not be verified.
However, he said payments to contractors with validated claims appear to be progressing too slowly. Government paid GH¢6.5 billion of the GH¢13.4 billion budgeted for arrears in the first seven months of 2026. Meanwhile, regular capital expenditure by ministries reached only 37% of its budget, although spending on Big Push roads reached 90%.
Contractors outside the Big Push programme reportedly remain owed between GH¢8 billion and GH¢10 billion, with a significant amount of funding sitting at the Bank of Ghana for the Accra-Kumasi expressway.
Alfred Appiah says the consequences of these delayed payments extend beyond contractors. About 52,000 teachers reportedly waited from January to October for their promotion-related payments and had to strike before the issue was addressed. Some nurses, teachers and junior doctors also experienced months of delayed salaries last year.
He also says the government underspent its budget by GH¢38 billion in the first seven months of 2026, with approximately GH¢27 billion concentrated in areas where complaints about delayed payments and inadequate spending have emerged.
He argues that the resulting fiscal improvement must be assessed alongside its impact on economic activity. Non-oil GDP growth slowed from 8.2% in the first half of 2025 to 5.9% in the first half of 2026, while construction growth fell to 2.9% from 4%.
Although he maintains that controlling wasteful expenditure is necessary, delaying legitimate payments is not the same as exercising fiscal discipline. He warned that contractors incur borrowing costs while waiting, project expenses rise and workers resort to industrial action.
He is therefore urging government to establish predictable payment schedules for validated claims rather than allowing obligations to accumulate for large end-of-year settlements.
Alfred Appiah stressed that his position is not a call for reckless spending, expressing confidence that Dr Forson and his team can address the payment delays while maintaining fiscal discipline.
