The Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta has revealed that total amount programmed for the initiatives under the Support to households in 2020 was GH¢1,718 million, out of which amount utilized was GH¢1,550 million.

According to Mr Ofori Atta who was addressing Parliamentarians on the government’s expenditure during the COVID 19 Pandemic Wednesday, a total amount of GH¢12.1million was utilized for the distribution of the packed hot food in Accra, Tema, Kasoa and Greater Kumasi. This includes the cost of transportation of packed food in some suburbs of Greater Kumasi by NADMO.

He added that” the expenditure for the provision of Hot Meals during the lockdown served about 2,744,723 persons for the period of the lockdown at a unit cost of GH¢4.32”.

i.e. A total amount of GH¢42.24 million was expended on distribution of Dry Food packages through Faith Based Organizations in Greater Accra and Kumasi. A total of about 470,000 persons received these food packages.

The Finance Minister also explained that as part of the support to households, Government through the Ministry of Water and Sanitation and its agency Ghana Water Company Limited provided free water which initially lasted for the period April to September 2020. Following an executive directive, this was extended to December 2020 for lifeline consumers.

The distribution was also carried out by the Community Water and Sanitation Agency and other Small Holder Water Supply Organizations (NGOs). An amount of GH¢556 million was budgeted in 2020 for this programme out of which GH¢456 million was utilized. In 2021, a total allocation of GH¢200 million was made for the provision of free water and electricity for lifeline consumers, out of which GH¢143 million was utilized.

Breaking down the expenditure further, Ken Ofori Atta disclosed that ”Government also made provision in the Budget for free electricity to lifeline consumers and absorbed 50% of all electricity bills for all residential and commercial customers. A total cost of GH¢1,039 million was utilized for the policy from April to September 2020”.