Switzerland provides general budget support to Ghana through the Multi-Donor Budget Support framework since 2002. In line with the SECO Budget Support Strategy of 2013, budget support is provided by using a three pillar approach including policy dialogue, catalogue of reforms and technical assistance.

The development objective is to contribute to sustainable and inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction through supporting Ghana's "Shared Growth and Development Agenda II" (GSGDA II). As this should be the last general budget support operation and other donors are also expected to exit general budget support, the priority for this programme is to sustain the results achieved and to support the Government of Ghana to adapt to a post-budget support environment.

Poverty reduction: The discussion around the new GSGDA II is a key entry point to discuss the pro-poor orientation of the Government's policies. It is expected that poverty levels can be further reduced over the coming years.

Fiscal consolidation and macroeconomic stabilization: The budget support policy dialogue will contribute to the consolidation of the public finances through the discussion and agreement of consolidation targets with the Government of Ghana and the financial support provided in the form of budget support.

Strengthened economic governance: Budget support is an instrument to support the process of improving economic governance over the long run. In Ghana this is particularly relevant with respect to challenges faced due to the economies vulnerabilities and to the fast transformation of the economy.

Erwartete Resultate:  

Policy dialogue: Through the policy dialogue, the Government of Ghana and its budget support partners agree on development goals, reform priorities, performance targets and operational procedures.

Catalogue of reforms: The outcome of the policy dialogue is concretized in a catalogue of reforms, the so-called performance assessment framework (PAF). The PAF contains clearly formulated, agreed conditionality which is aligned to the GSGDA.

Technical assistance: SECO provides technical assistance as an integral component of the budget support package. In Ghana SECO supports ambitious tax policy and administration reforms since 2008. The technical assistance project is approved separately from the budget support operation.

Analytical work to support policy reforms: The budget support operation shall be complemented with analytical work. This is important to strengthen the evidence base for decision making. A contribution of CHF 500’000 is allocated to support analytical work.

Resultate von früheren Phasen:  

Since the beginning of the programme in 2002, MDBS made important contributions to:

• Tangible results in terms of poverty reduction from 51.7% in 1992 to 24.2% in 2013 thanks to a substantial financial contribution which allowed to expand access to public services.

• A frank and open policy dialogue and the regular agreement of performance targets helped to strengthen the reformers within the Government, introduce and maintain a pro-poor orientation in Government's policies and safeguard pro-poor expenditures.

• Strengthened economic governance through: 1) Funds to finance capacity building and training, 2) Support to reforms, and 3) additional donor-funded technical assistance in key areas.

• Donor harmonization and alignment thanks to the MDBS which provided an important platform for coordination and dialogue. This resulted in a more coherent policy dialogue, better coordination and an alignment with Government-owned policies.

Phase 7 01.01.2015 - 31.12.2021   (Active)