The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the Government of Ghana has put in place a strategy to tighten expenditure controls and prevent arrears’ build-up.

According to the Fund, public procurement will be fully integrated with Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information (GIFMIS) to ensure that only projects that benefit from approved budgets and quarterly allotments can obtain procurement approvals to award contracts.

In a statement, the Fund said the enforcement of sanctions under the Public Financial Management Act will be strengthened, including penalties for covered entities committing spending above their allotments and allocations.

Again, the human resources information system (HRMIS), the bank clearing system (GHIPSS), and GRA’s tax portals will be integrated with GIFMIS.

It stated that the automatic bank reconciliation (ABR) functionality for GIFMIS-linked accounts will be rolled out, and the chart of accounts will be standardised if needed.

“With technical support from FAD, the authorities will develop a strategy to tighten commitment controls and prevent arrears’ build-up. It will be approved by the Cabinet by June 2023 (structural benchmark)”, it added.

Furthermore, the Fund said all central government expenditure will be integrated into the budget planning and accounting systems.

To this end, several important statutory funds (GETFund, Road Fund, and District Assemblies Common Fund) have started reporting their spending budgets in Hyperion at a disaggregated level to use all functionalities of GIFMIS (prior action).

It stressed that the planned rollout of the GIFMIS infrastructure with all available functionalities to over 265 large IGF-reliant institutions will be completed by end-2023 (structural benchmark), adding, “the authorities will also design a programme with clear timelines to ensure that all IGF-reliant institutions start using GIFMIS for IGF receipts, for receiving payment warrants, and for processing their expenditure”.