The Institute for Fiscal Studies, (IFS) has criticized the Minister of Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson for failing to capture more revenues from the small scale mining sector, despite the reported gains over the years.

In its analysis of the 2026 Mid-Year Budget review, the policy think tank said the Finance Minister failed to realise the expected revenue from the sector for national development.

The Executive Director of the institute, Dr. Said Boakye said available data and publications from the Bank of Ghana confirm that even though gold exports from small scale mining increased, revenue from the sector was low.

"It is appalling to note that the Mid-Year budget review fails to articulate government strategy on how to increase revenue from the small scale mining sector looking at how critical the sector is, and the potential it holds for our economy”, he said.

He argued that funds from the mining sector could be used to cover some shortfalls in the budget, especially after value addition to raw materials.

“We were told by reports from the Bank of Ghana that even the small scale mining sector generates more than the large scale and so it is very disappointing for the Finance Minister to miss the opportunity at this critical time".

Providing some recommendations, Dr. Boakye urged government to target expenditure to key infrastructure investments in the economy to facilitate growth.

"Government expenditure has been low on key sectors and we must admit that this is happening because there's not much revenue inflow as expected. This is likely to affect the whole budget planning because government policies are going to be affected".

He stated that government had targeted expenditure of GH¢172.54 billion for the first half of 2026, but actual spending was significantly lower.

“The considerable underspending in the first half of 2026 relative to budget plan not only undermined the budget’s credibility but more importantly it also left much to be desired in terms of growth and development of the country.”

Dr. Boakye emphasized that it will be prudent to completely implement approved expenditures.