The government has, for the first time, paid part of its SSNIT contribution obligations ahead of schedule, marking an unprecedented development, according to the Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Kwasi Afreh Biney.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, Mr Biney disclosed that the government not only cleared outstanding contribution arrears inherited from 2024 but also made advance payments before entering 2025.

Responding to questions on how the government has been settling contributions for public sector workers, he said the payments have largely been made in cash.

“Most of the payments have been cash; in fact, more than 70% of the payments have been cash. 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, December, but beyond that, all the payments from last year to date have been,” he said.

Mr Biney revealed that the government owed SSNIT GH¢1.05 billion in contributions for 2024 but settled the entire amount by the end of March 2025.

According to him, the situation has improved significantly since then, with no outstanding arrears carried into 2025.

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

The SSNIT Director-General explained that contribution payments are normally expected by the 14th day of the following month.

However, the government went a step further by making part payment of future obligations before they became due.

“In fact, by the time we're entering 2026, the government had actually paid ahead, because you know, as the month at the end of the month, the state contributions come in by day 14 of the subsequent month, so we are in June. We expect May's contributions to start coming in, latest from the 14th.”

He added that the advance payment was made in December, covering part of the contributions that would only have become due in January.

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

"In December last year, 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.”

The disclosure points to a sharp turnaround in government's relationship with SSNIT, moving from a GH¢1.05 billion debt position in 2024 to a situation where contributions were being paid ahead of their due dates.

For SSNIT, the development signals stronger cash flows and improved compliance with statutory contribution obligations by the state, a trend the Trust says is without precedent in its recent experience.