Ghana Finds a $1.6 Billion Hole in Budget
- Amount uncovered in preparing 2017 budget, vice president says
- IMF had warned that nation will probably miss deficit target
Customers walk through a market in Accra, Ghana.
Photographer: Ty Wright/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Ghana’s budget deficit could be twice as big as previously forecast, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said a day after the government revealed a 7 billion-cedi ($1.6 billion) hole in the budget. The disclosure sent bonds tumbling.
The shortfall as a percentage of gross domestic product could be close to “double digits” for 2016, Ofori-Atta said Wednesday in an interview in Accra, the capital. “We’re still in the process of gathering information” on the undisclosed expenditures, said Ofori-Atta, who will propose the 2017 budget next month.