The Minority in Parliament is kicking against the $1 billion loan agreement currently before the House.
At a Finance Committee meeting on Thursday, the Minority stalled the approval processes owing to what they call the discrepancies between the loan presented to the house and what has been presented to the committee for consideration.
While the committee is yet to take a definite stance on the document, the Minority is concerned that the memorandum to Parliament and what was in the loan agreement have some differences.
Speaking to the press, a Ranking Member on the Committee, Cassiel Ato Forson said “the budget is saying that, in the course of the year, they will be taking a term loan of $750 million. Why do you ask us to approve $1 billion?”
In addition, he said the loan agreement is in two tranches in two different currencies, according to the document.
The Minority MP stressed that his side of the House would not be a party to any fiscal indiscipline.
“We want them to first come and amend the budget through the mid-year review to reflect that before we can even consider something above $750 million,” Dr. Forson said.
According to him, the discrepancies also “call into question the competence of the people that sent the document to us. It looks as if they were not prepared before they brought the document to us.”
The 2022 budget noted an international financing programme to raise at least $750 million, with an option to increase it by a further US$750 million for budget support and liability management.