Of the GH¢1.25 billion the Ghana Audit Service is credited with recovering in unearned salaries, allowances and other financial irregularities, GH¢11.0 million, under 1%, was transferred into the Consolidated Fund, according to paragraph 1094 of the 2027 Budget Statement presented on 12 November.
In addition, audit infractions cited by the Service resulted in the recovery of GH¢1.22 billion "into the accounts of various Ministries, Departments and Agencies", and a further GH¢8.12 million, representing wrongful payments to deceased pensioners, was recovered into the Controller and Accountant-General's Department (CAGD) Suspense Account. For every cedi shown reaching the central government's main account, about GH¢111 went back to the agencies' own accounts.
GH¢ million, as stated in para 1094. The period of the GH¢1.25bn is not stated. The hatched segment is the arithmetic gap between the stated total and the three itemised amounts, not a confirmed fourth destination.
The three small amounts, magnified (scale 0–15)
Source: 2027 Budget Statement, Ministry of Finance, 12 Nov 2026, para 1094. Gap: 1,250.00 − (11.00 + 1,220.00 + 8.12) = 10.88, StatsGH calculation.
The paragraph does not say over what period the money was recovered. It sits in the Budget's sectoral-performance section, next to the Service's 2026 work: 21 Auditor-General reports for the financial year ended 31 December 2025 submitted ahead of the constitutional deadline of 30 June 2026, and 3,657 audits completed, which the Budget says is 54% of the audits planned for 2026 (para 1095).
It is also separate from the over GH¢18 billion the Auditor-General said on 3 November has been recovered from 2022 to date, a cumulative figure StatsGH reported earlier this month. For scale, the same Budget allocates GH¢1.3 billion to the Audit Service for 2027 (para 1597); that allocation is for a stated year, unlike the recoveries.
The catch: money recovered into an MDA account is not lost. It is still public money, and returning an overpayment to the agency that made it is normal practice. But it stays with the body that paid it out wrongly, outside the Consolidated Fund that Parliament appropriates from, and the Budget does not say whether it was spent again, refunded to programmes or held.
The three amounts also add up to GH¢1,239.12 million, GH¢10.88 million short of the GH¢1.25 billion headline. Rounding of "GH¢1.22 billion" could explain the gap, but the Statement does not show it.
Neither the Ministry of Finance nor the Audit Service has published a breakdown by period or by agency. StatsGH will update this story if either does.
Sources
- Ministry of Finance, The 2027 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, presented 12 November 2026 (paras 1094 and 1095, p.106; para 1597, p.172)
- Ghana Audit Service, We have recovered GH¢18bn, saved GH¢11.7bn wrongful payments — Auditor-General, 3 November 2026 (context: "over GH¢18 billion from 2022 to date"; different period)
- Related: Audit Service says it recovered over GHS18 billion in public funds since 2022, StatsGH, 3 November 2026