Former Finance Minister and Ranking Member of Parliament’s Finance Committee, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, has criticised the government’s 2027 Budget for failing to provide immediate solutions to unemployment.
According to him, several flagship projects under the New Economy will not deliver their expected jobs for two or three years.
Dr Amin Adam argued that the government’s target of reducing unemployment to below eight per cent is set for 2030, while major projects expected to support employment have implementation timelines extending beyond 2027.
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“The Government’s answer is the New 24H+ Economy, a medium-term programme running from 2027 to 2030,” he stated.
Addressing journalists in Parliament on Friday in response to the contents of the 2027 Budget delivered by the Finance Minister on Thursday, Dr. Amin Adam cited the planned 600-megawatt thermal power plant, whose first phase is expected in December 2028, with the remaining capacity scheduled for December 2030.
The first phase of the Pwalugu project is also expected in early 2029, while the oil palm development programme has a self-sufficiency target of 2032 and is expected to create 250,000 jobs.
Dr Amin Adam pointed to proposed garment factories expected to create thousands of jobs, arguing that the projects remain at the feasibility stage.
These timelines, he said, show that the New Economy does not adequately address the immediate employment concerns confronting young people.
“Nothing in the New Economy puts a job in a young person’s hands in 2027,” he stated. “The Budget therefore does not address the immediate demand for jobs.”
The former Finance Minister argued that the government should have started implementing the projects earlier so that their employment benefits would be felt in 2026 and 2027.
He also questioned the absence of clear reporting on some existing youth employment initiatives, including the Adwumawura Programme and National Coders Programme.
Dr Amin Adam acknowledged that the Youth Employment Agency had engaged 73,537 young people and planned to engage 100,000 in 2027.
However, he said this remains inadequate against the scale of the unemployment challenge, particularly as jobs remain a major concern for the population.
He maintained that young Ghanaians need concrete employment opportunities rather than long-term targets whose delivery dates have been pushed several years into the future.
The Minority’s position is that the 2027 Budget should provide measurable job creation targets and demonstrate how the government intends to address unemployment within the year, rather than relying mainly on projects expected to mature between 2028 and 2032.