Parliament has approved the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the government for the year ending 31 December 2022.
The approval came after the House had adopted the motion on the budget document.
The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, moved the motion and requested the House to approve the Budget Statement and Economic Policy after he had presented it to the House on 24 November 2022.
The approval, which is the first stage of budget consideration, paves the way for the House to begin to consider various estimates of ministries, departments and agencies by relevant sector committees.
After that, the House will consider and approve the Appropriation Act to allow the Finance Minister spend the requested amount of funds from the consolidated fund and other public funds.
The approval was preceded by the concluding debates on the budget statement by both the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, and the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, on the floor of Parliament Tuesday (6 December 2022).
Contrary to the previous expectation that some MPs on both sides of the House might drag their feet in endorsing the budget, the development on the floor Tuesday proved otherwise.
There was largely high turnout of MPs, particularly those from the Majority side, as well as Ofori-Atta.