The account set up to pay for the Accra–Kumasi Expressway held US$2.2 billion and GHS 9 billion at the Bank of Ghana on 11 November 2026, the Finance Minister told Parliament in the 2027 Budget Statement (paragraph 913).
At the Bank of Ghana's interbank mid-rate of GHS 11.71 to the dollar on 12 November, that is about US$2.97 billion. The engineer's estimate for the 198.7km, six-lane road, published in the same statement, is US$2.98 billion (GHS 34.9 billion), including contingencies, supervision, land and compensation (paragraphs 919–920).
The cash covers 99.6% of the cost.
That is a real achievement for a country that has rarely saved before it builds. The money came from petroleum revenue (the Annual Budget Funding Amount, or ABFA) and mineral royalties, which Parliament ring-fenced for the road.
Between January and October 2026, US$556.0 million of ABFA was moved into the dedicated holding account (paragraph 686), about a fifth of today's balance. The estimate works out at roughly US$15 million (GHS 176 million) per kilometre, and it is US$1.02 billion, or 25.5%, below the earlier figure of about US$4 billion the government cites (paragraph 921).
The catch is in what comes next. The minister says the "saving of more than US$1 billion" will be "enough to construct the Accra Orbital Expressway" (paragraph 927). But the saving is against an old estimate, not cash in hand: at 12 November rates the account is about US$11 million short of the new estimate, not US$1 billion over it.
Nor is fresh oil money obviously available. The Budget proposes that in 2027 and 2028 petroleum revenue to the budget and mineral royalties go "solely" to a second project, the Western Corridor Railway from Takoradi to Nyinahin (paragraph 935). Two further risks sit on the existing balance.
About a quarter of it is in cedis: a 10% fall in the cedi would shave roughly US$70 million off its dollar value, and the cedi has already lost 10.1% against the dollar this year to October, according to the Budget. And US$2.98 billion is an engineer's estimate; final prices will come from international tenders the government expects to close by the end of 2026 (paragraphs 922–923).
So the claim that "the money is ready" stands, narrowly. The claim that a spare US$1 billion exists for another road does not, on the government's own numbers. What would settle it: the signed contract value, and a funding line for the orbital road in the 2027 appropriation.