New Fiscal Council Must Provide Forward-looking Analysis to Influence Parliamentary Decision-making – Economist
Development Economist and Chartered Accountant, Nicholas Gbana, has stressed the need for Ghana’s soon-to-be-established Fiscal Council to provide timely and forward-looking assessments of government budgets and expenditure forecasts in order to strengthen parliamentary oversight and improve fiscal discipline.
Speaking during the NorvanReports Economic Governance Platform (EGP) and Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) X Space discussion on September 14, 2025, themed “From Watchdog to Advisor: Should Ghana’s Fiscal Council Only Police or Also Shape Fiscal Policy?”, Mr Gbana emphasised that the Council’s credibility will depend largely on its independence and the timeliness of its inputs into fiscal policymaking.
> “The Fiscal Council has to go through a very thorough independent process of recruitment, so that you have the right people in there who are also not subject to political influences… The key thing is that the Council is able to make its assessment and review budget forecasts early enough to inform the approval process by Parliament. If that doesn’t happen, then it becomes more of reporting after the fact, and by then the harm would already have been done,” he remarked.
He cautioned that without proactive engagement in the budget process—particularly before parliamentary approval of expenditure estimates and loan agreements—the Council risks being reduced to a post-mortem body, offering reports after fiscal damage has already occurred.
Mr Gbana further called for technical and financial support from international partners such as the IMF and the UK to help build institutional capacity for the Fiscal Council, while urging government to resource the body adequately. He also highlighted the importance of recruiting Management Information Systems (MIS) specialists to ensure efficient data extraction from platforms such as the GIFMIS and to enhance public accessibility of fiscal data through simplified dashboards.
The new and independent Fiscal Council is expected to be established under the revised Public Financial Management (Amendment) Act, 2025. Its mandate will include monitoring Ghana’s fiscal performance and advising government on fiscal sustainability.
This will mark the second attempt at instituting a Fiscal Council. The first was set up in 2019 to enforce a 5% fiscal deficit rule but was suspended following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The amended PFM Act also introduces a fiscal surplus target of at least 1.5% of GDP and a public debt ceiling of 45% of GDP by 2034, as part of long-term measures to entrench fiscal discipline.
