Government has fully settled the GH¢1.05 billion it owed the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) for 2024, with most of the payments made in cash, Director-General Kwasi Afreh Biney has revealed.

Speaking on JoyNews' PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, Mr Biney said the state had cleared the entire outstanding amount by the end of March 2025.

Responding to questions about how the payments were made, he disclosed that cash accounted for the bulk of the settlements.

“Most of the payments have been cash, in fact, more than 70% of the payments have been cash,” he said.

According to him, the only exception came in the final quarter of last year when the government used a short-term financial instrument to cover part of its obligations.

“The only time that there was an instrument was from October to December last year. So we had an instrument issued in December, which was a T-bill, so it's actually a short-term instrument maturing this year that was issued for October, November, and December,” he explained.

Mr Biney stressed that, aside from that arrangement, all payments made from last year to date had been settled in cash.

He also revealed the scale of the arrears the government had accumulated before clearing the debt.

“So, for 2024, the government owed 1 billion and 50 million cedis, but by the end of March 2025, the government had paid that in cash,” he said.

The SSNIT Director-General further disclosed that the government did not carry any outstanding contribution arrears into 2025.

“2025, there's no arrears, we didn't enter,” he stated.

He noted that the government had gone a step further by making advance payments before the start of 2026, an occurrence he described as unprecedented.

“In fact, by the time we're entering 2026, the government had actually paid ahead,” he said.

Explaining the contribution cycle, Mr Biney said employers are expected to make payments by the 14th day of the following month.

He noted that although contributions for May are expected from June 14, the government had already demonstrated a proactive approach to meeting its obligations.

“Government in December last year actually made part payment of the bill that will be due in January for December last year,” he disclosed.

That move, he said, meant the government entered January owing only a fraction of the December 2025 contribution.

“In December last year, so by the time we got into January this year, the government only owed a portion of the December 2025 contribution, and that had never happened,” Mr Biney added.

The disclosure indicates a significant improvement in the government's contributions to the pension scheme, with SSNIT now reporting no arrears and even advance payments on certain obligations.