Ghana's level of budget openness has dropped sharply from 46% in 2023 to 22% in the most recent Open Budget Survey, positioning the nation significantly under the sub-Saharan African mean of 38%.
As stated in a press statement from SEND Ghana, this raises worries regarding transparency in handling national assets.
The 2025 Open Budget Index, published by the International Budget Partnership (IBP) together with SEND Ghana, examines 82 nations regarding fiscal openness, citizen engagement, and monitoring processes.
The study indicated that the country's significant drop in openness—the key factor—means residents and civic organizations now have much less data available to examine how taxpayer money is collected and utilized.
As per the study, which utilized independent expert evaluations and peer examinations, Ghana fell behind due to postponements in releasing fiscal reports. The report highlighted that these papers are crucial for monitoring public spending as it happens.
A score of 22 percent indicates that the government is offering very little information," the report stated, noting that the absence of up-to-date data "hampers the capacity of parliament, press, and regular people to ensure the executive branch remains responsible.
Although transparency declined, Ghana showed minor progress in the remaining two metrics assessed. The level of public involvement increased from 17 percent in 2023 to 22 percent in 2025, indicating a small rise in chances for engagement.
Nevertheless, the survey noted that these efforts are still constrained: members of the public and non-governmental organizations continue to be mostly left out of budget discussions and ongoing oversight of project execution.
Ghana's budget monitoring score increased from 28% in 2023 to 33% in 2025. As per the study, this enhancement is attributed to greater frequency of audit-related interactions.
Nevertheless, it emphasized that supervision is still inadequate — highlighting that Ghana does not yet have an autonomous financial body capable of delivering impartial assessments and legislative review of the budget formulation and implementation process, which continues to be insufficient.
SEND Ghana once again urged for immediate changes to stop more loss of financial openness. To bring back clarity, increase public involvement, and improve monitoring, the Open Budget Survey suggested that the government should make all eight important budget papers available online promptly and ensure regular publication of In-Year Reports.
It called on the state to broaden parliamentary budget reviews so they incorporate input from civil society groups, marginalized populations, and the wider community, as well as create systems enabling these entities to track how budgets are carried out.
The study further suggested establishing an autonomous financial body to offer unbiased budget evaluation and enhance Parliament's ability to monitor the development and implementation of budgets.
The 2025 study includes 82 nations and continues to be the sole unbiased, comparative, data-driven tool for evaluating financial openness worldwide. SEND GHANA, which worked on the Ghana evaluation, renewed its appeal for immediate changes to stop additional loss of fiscal clarity.
Supplied by SyndiGate Media Inc. ( Syndigate.info ).
