Gov’t spends GHS 28.1bn on Covid-19 mitigation – AG audit report
A total amount of GHS 21.8bn was mobilised by the Ministry of Finance from March 2020 to June 2022 to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Ghanaian economy, says the Auditor-General, Johnson Asiedu.
Per the recently released audit report on Government’s Covid-19 expenditure by the Auditor General, the Auditor-General noted the Ministry of Finance mobilised a total amount of GH¢19,112,318,205.12 in 2020 to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Another amount of GH¢1,978,551,137.46 was mobilised in 2021 and GH¢753,319,842.66 (up to June 2022) to finance the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme and the implementation of the Ghana COVID-19 Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan.
“In all, a total amount of GH¢21,844,189,185.24 was mobilised to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana,” quipped the Auditor-General.
According to the Auditor General, the total amount of GH¢21,844,189,185.24 was sourced from the Contingency Fund, the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Union (EU) and the sale of BOG-COVID-19 Bonds for the 2020, 2021 and 2022 Fiscal Years to finance the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme and implementation of the Ghana COVID-19 Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan as well as Budgetary Support.
Per the report, the GHS 21.8bn was sourced from the following areas:
UTILISATION OF CONTINGENCY FUND – GH¢1,203,792,295.77
We noted that GH¢1,203,792,295.77 was deposited into the Contingency Fund on 8 April, 2020 and the fund was used to pay for allowances to Frontline Health workers, supply of food items, free water and electricity, evacuation of Ghanaians, support for small and medium scale businesses affected by COVID-19 pandemic, purchase of various medical supplies to support the fight against COVID-19, cost of mandatory quarantine of Ghanaians stranded abroad and other COVID-19 payments.
UTILISATION OF WORLD BANK GROUP FUNDS FOR COVID-19 HEALTH INTERVENTIONS – US$430,000,000
We noted that the World Bank Group in 2020 and 2021 made available a total of US$430,000,000.00 to the Government of Ghana for Ghana COVID-19 Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan.
We observed that out of the US$430,000,000.00 made available to the Government of Ghana, a total amount of US$328,568,618.57 (GH¢1,978,483,194.02) was disbursed to the Ministry of Health for various approved health interventions as at June 2022.
Our audit disclosed that the amount of US$328,568,618.57 (GH¢1,978,483,194.02) disbursed to the Ministry of Health was utilised on medical equipment, cleaning materials, medicines, consultancy, storage facility for the vaccines and deployment, life insurance, construction, leasing and renting of treatment and isolation centres, etc.
UTILISATION OF IMF RAPID CREDIT FACILITY – US$1,000,000,000 (GH¢5,566,676,162)
We observed that the Government of Ghana received US$1,000,000,000.00 (GH¢5,566,676,161.54) on 22 April, 2020 from the International Monetary Fund to support the 2020 budget.
We noted that the amount received was utilised on liability management, District Assemblies Common Fund fourth quarter allocation, NABCO second quarter allocation, LEAP program first quarter allocation, Free SHS Program allocation for 2nd semester of 2019/2020 academy year, free water and electricity, capitalization of the National Development Bank of Ghana, Construction of 88 District Hospitals and seven Regional Hospitals, issuance of Ghana Cards and mop-up exercise across the country among others.
UTILISATION OF BOG-COVID-19 BONDS – GH¢10,000,000,000
We observed that the Bank of Ghana in May and September 2020, transferred a total amount of GH¢10,000,000,000 to the Controller and Accountant General as proceeds from the Bank of Ghana COVID-19 Bonds issued.
We noted that the receipts were expended on liability management, statutory payments to the Social Security and National Trust (SSNIT), Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND) and other Government of Ghana expenditures as Budget support.
UTILISATION OF AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK FUND – US$69,957,855 (GH¢398,745,782)
We observed that on 28 September 2020 the Government of Ghana received US$69,957,855 (GH¢398,745,781.93) from the African Development Bank to support the 2020 budget.
We noted that the amount of GH¢398,745,781.93 was transferred into the Treasury Main Account of the Controller and Accountant General held at the Bank of Ghana to support the 2020 budget.
UTILISATION OF EUROPEAN UNION FUND – €84,123,580 (GH¢569,617,582)
We observed that the Government of Ghana on 18 November 2020 received €84,123,579.54 (GH¢569,617,581.78) from the European Union Commission to support the 2020 budget.
We noted that the amount of GH¢569,617,581.78 was transferred into the Government Main Treasury Cash account and expended on goods & services, capital expenditure and compensation of employees.
DISBURSEMENT OF COVID-19 FUNDS
Out of GH¢21,844,189,185.24 mobilised, GH¢11,750,683,059.11 was spent on COVID-19 activities and the rest on budget support. On COVID-19 activities, we noted that GH¢8,658,496,124.96 was spent in 2020, GH¢3,084,311,725.45 in 2021 and GH¢7,875,208.70 in 2022 to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Ghana.
