As we begin a new year, our focus remains on ensuring citizens know their country’s financial plan. BudgIT’s work across Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ghana support the people’s participation in governance, encouraging them to get involved and ask critical questions about projects in their communities. We reflect on our work in 2021, from developing the simplified analysis of the national budgets in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ghana, examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on country budgets, to building partnerships with the governments, media, and CSOs and gathering data for the Covid-19 Transparency and Accountability Project.

Simplifying Public Financial Data 

BudgIT Ghana team analysed the 2021 budget-themed “Economic Revitalisation through Completion, Consolidation, and Continuity,” designed to ostensibly end the cycle of unfulfilled commitments over the years and minimise the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We analysed the critical components of the budget using illustrations and eye-catching visualisations. We also did a comparative analysis of the projected expenditure (GHC113bn) and the revenue projection of GHC72bn. Many Ghanaians were surprised to discover the huge and ballooning debt profile, which surged to 83% of GDP at the close of the year.