Minister of Finance Seth Terkper will be seeking parliamentary approval for a supplementary budget on the 2016 financial statement, a leader of the House has said. The supplementary budget is expected to be delivered in Parliament next month.
The delivery will also review the 2016 budget statement. While settling on the 2016 financial budget for the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Majority Leader Alban Sumana Kinsford Bagbin on Tuesday, June 7 said: “I have credible information that the Minister of Finance will be coming back to this House with a supplementary budget and the GNPC should take the opportunity and make sure that it is captured in this supplementary budget for scrutiny and approval if need be”.
The 2016 budget statement and government’s financial policy was delivered on Friday, November 13 by Mr Terkper. A supplementary budget will imply that the financial year is following the same timeline as 2015’s.
This year’s supplementary budget, however, comes in a year government has resolved to spend within budget as a result of the impending general elections. ““I have assured the nation and our partners that my administration will exercise strict fiscal discipline even in this election year in order that we can transform this negative narrative of our country,” President John Mahama assured in his state-of-the-nation address earlier this year.