High public sector wage bill leaves Ghana with little room to hire new workers

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Recently, some have been accusing the Finance Minister of failing to give financial clearance for the employment and payment of workers.A while ago, at the Office of the President, the Minister laid bare the realities.Finance Minister, Dr Ato ForsonIn his presentation, he showed that regrettably, Government is unable to employ more workers immediately because there is simply no money to do so.In 2025, 44% of all tax revenue went into paying public sector workers, far above the recommended limit of 35%.After meeting statutory obligations such as DACF, GETFund, NHIL, and servicing debt, only GH¢61.9 billion remained out of total tax revenue of GH¢183 billion. However, the public sector wage bill alone was GH¢78.9 billion.This means Government had to borrow about GH¢17 billion just to pay salaries.In total, wages, debt payments, and statutory transfers exceeded all the tax revenue collected.In this situation, there is simply no fiscal space to recruit more workers or adequately fund essential projects like schools, hospitals, and roads.This is why patience and understanding are needed at this time, as the current managers of the economy implement the necessary policies to fix these structural challenges and create the space to employ more people sustainably.