Bagbin urges Finance Minister to expedite mid-year budget review

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has urged Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to consider delivering the Mid-year budget review earlier than scheduled.

The Speaker’s request comes as Parliament aims to conclude its proceedings and adjourn sine die by August 3, 2023.

Initially, the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, had announced that the presentation of the mid-year budget was slated for July 27, with the expectation that the Parliament would adjourn on August 9, 2023.

“The House has to rise before August 9 because there are commitments that the House cannot ignore which we will have to be part of. Some of these commitments are international and some are domestic, so we have to be on recess before that. So this is a notice to the Minister of Finance to try as much as possible to submit the mid-year Budget and Supplementary Budget Review earlier than being perceived because we have to work on it and approve it before August 10.”

“And so the last day we could get to convene and sit here could be only August 3, and we cannot go beyond that because even with the August 3, we would have been late to attending the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association [programme].”