The Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, has announced that the nation saved a total of GH¢4.9 billion on domestic interest payments as of the end of June 2025.

He attributed this achievement on domestic interest payments - Treasury bills (T-bills), Government bonds and other debt instruments purchased by local banks, institutions, or individuals, to prudent debt management during the period under review.

Dr Ato Forson made the disclosure while presenting the 2025 Mid-Year Budget to Parliament on Thursday, July 24.

"Right Honorable Speaker, we have indeed saved 4.9 billion Ghana cities on domestic interest payment as at end June 2025 due to our prudent debt management policy," he said.

Dr Forson also mentioned that strong fiscal discipline has produced significant results, including a lower-than-targeted deficit and a higher-than-expected primary surplus in core fiscal performance.

"Mr. Speaker, our fiscal discipline has yielded the needed remarkable results so far. We have delivered below target deficit on both cash and commitment basis. We have delivered a greater than anticipated primary surplus in the core fiscal income," he stressed.

"We have delivered a strong expenditure and commitment control. We have delivered robust tax revenue performance. Mr. Speaker, provisional data shows that the primary balance on commitment basis, I mean the fiscal income, as at end June 2025 recorded a surplus of 1.1 per cent of GDP, surpassing the target surplus of 0.4% of GDP set for the same period," he stressed.

He went on to say that Ghana's fiscal performance has outperformed projections with the overall fiscal deficit was 0.7 per cent of GDP on a commitment basis (better than the 1.8 per cent target) and 1.1 per cent on a cash basis (better than the 2.4 per cent target). 

He added that the primary balance showed a surplus of 0.7 per cent of GDP, outperforming the projected deficit of 0.2 per cent. Non-oil tax revenue exceeded targets by GH¢787 million, with corporate income tax alone surpassing its target by GH¢555.3 million (2.9 per cent above target).

Read what he said on interest payments below:

Mr Speaker, interest payment amounted to 25.4 billion, which is 1.8  per cent of GDP. This is below the target of 30.5 billion, which is 2.2 per cent of GDP, and this was mainly due to lower domestic interest payment. Domestic interest payment amounted to 21.6 billion, against a target of 26.5 billion, representing a reduction of 4.9 billion Ghana cities, mainly on account of planned domestic borrowing and a decline in the T-bill rates. 

Mr Speaker, external interest payment amounted to 3.8 billion Ghana cities, against a target of 4 billion, due mainly to the appreciation of the Ghana cities. Other expenditure, mainly comprising energy sector levies, transfers and energy sector payments shortfalls, amounted to 11.4 billion Ghana cities, or 8% of GDP. This was 12.7 per cent below the target of 13.1, or 0.9% of GDP for the same period. 

Right Honorable Speaker, arrest clearance amounted to 4.8 billion Ghana cities. It is important to know that there was no build-up in arrest payable during the period under review, signalling strong commitment control and fiscal discipline. Mr. Speaker, we are very different from our friends that decided to flee from the chamber. 

Mr Speaker, the deficit was largely financed from domestic sources, with net domestic financing of 13.1 billion, well below the 18.7 billion target. The net foreign financing was 2.8 billion, mostly from the utilisation of the 4.5 billion IMF disbursement.

Mr Speaker, between 1st of January to 6th of January, the IMF disbursement of 4.5 billion was spent before the Mahama administration took office, just in six days.