Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Attah has poured cold water on allegations that government has been evasive with expenditures of the COVID-19 funds.
According to Ofori Attah, government mobilized a total of GHc18.19 billion for the fight against the pandemic between 2020 and 2021, and ended up expending GHc12 billion out of the amount generated over the period in question.
This was revealed by the Minister on Wednesday June 22 2022 when he appeared before parliament to respond to several questions from the minority as to how funds for the COVID-19 fund were spent.
“Mr. Speaker, at this juncture, I wish to dispel the notion that there have been inconsistencies in government data on COVID-19. His Excellency the President intimated during the State of the Nation Address on 30th March, 2022, that we had mobilized about Gh¢17.7 billion since 2020 to fight the pandemic.
“Mr. Speaker, to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on businesses and households, ensure that economic activities recover and minimize job losses, government mobilized GH¢18.19 billion out of the programmed GH¢19.3 billion in 2020 from various funding sources,” Ofori Attah said
“Mr. Speaker, for the years 2020 and 2021, the programmed expenditure amounted to GH¢15,763.48 million for the COVID-19-related expenditures out of which the actual utilization was GH¢12,036.41 million,” he added.
The table below shows the full details of every money pertaining to the COVID-19 funds:
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