GH¢2.06bn youth jobs earmark for 2027 is 129% above the 2026 YEA line as cap is set to be lifted

Ghana plans to put GH¢2.06 billion of earmarked tax money into youth employment and apprenticeship programmes in 2027. That is 129% more than the GH¢896 million set for the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) in the 2026 revised budget, according to the Budget's own tables.

The two lines are labelled differently, so the comparison is of similar, not identical, items.

The jump comes from one proposed change. Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson told Parliament on 12 November that the Government will amend the Earmarked Funds Capping and Realignment Act, 2017 (Act 947). Communications Service Tax (CST) revenue for youth programmes "will no longer be capped".

He put the gain at an "additional GH¢1 billion". The tables show GH¢1.16 billion more than the 2026 YEA line. Until Parliament amends the law, the cap still applies.

The numbers behind the cap

The money is earmarked from Communications Service Tax revenue.

• In the 2026 revised budget, the YEA line was 47% of the GH¢1.90 billion CST target.
• In 2027, the youth earmark is GH¢2.06 billion against CST of GH¢2.08 billion. That is 99%.
• The earmark is set to keep rising, to GH¢3.20 billion by 2030 in the Budget's indicative figures, 56% above 2027.

The YEA is also spending faster than planned. It received GH¢799 million in January to October 2026, against GH¢713 million programmed for the period.

The Ministry of Youth Development and Empowerment, through the YEA, engaged 73,537 young people across 13 employment modules, the Budget says, and aims to cover at least 100,000 beneficiaries in 2027. Spread across 100,000 places, GH¢2.06 billion is about GH¢20,550 per beneficiary. That is a ceiling, since the money also pays for running costs and other programmes.

Set against the need

The scale of youth joblessness dwarfs the target. Unemployment among 15 to 35-year-olds averaged 21.9% in the first three quarters of 2025, nearly twice the national 12.8%, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) says.

Nearly two million young people aged 15 to 35 were not in education, employment or training as at the third quarter of 2025. At 100,000 places, the programmes would reach about one in 20 of them.

What people on X are saying

The measure circulated on budget night. @tv3_ghana reported the minister saying the change frees "an additional GH¢1 billion for the Youth Employment Agency (YEA)". @Y979FM highlighted the 100,000-beneficiary goal. @modernghanaweb headlined "YEA allocation to hit GH¢2bn in 2027". @BoredNf3 added a fair caveat: "That needs Parliament to amend the law first."

Some framing ran ahead of the documents. The Budget earmarks the money for "youth employment and apprenticeship programmes", not only the YEA, and the GH¢2 billion in the Youth Ministry's allocation is described as "youth employment and skills development programmes".

What it means

Young Ghanaians are being promised more than twice the 2026 YEA allocation. Delivery depends on two things: Parliament passing the amendment, and CST revenue arriving. CST came in at GH¢1.23 billion in January to October 2026, below the GH¢1.56 billion programmed.

Limitations

The 2026 and 2027 lines carry different labels ("Youth Employment Agency" against "Youth Employment/Apprenticeship Programmes"), so the 129% rise compares similar, not identical, items. The Budget does not say over what period the 73,537 were engaged, or how the 2027 money splits between agencies. 2028 to 2030 figures are indicative projections.

Youth unemployment data are for 2025. The NEET count is a third-quarter 2025 snapshot.

Sources

• Ministry of Finance, 2027 Budget Statement, paras 900–904, 1379, 1571–1572, Appendices 2A, 2C, 3A, 3C, 12 Nov 2026
• Ministry of Finance, 2027 Budget Speech, paras 484–488, 609
• Ghana Statistical Service, press release, 28 Jul 2026
• Ghana Statistical Service, Ghana in Numbers 2025, youth chapter
• MyJoyOnline
• 3News
• Adomonline
• X posts: @tv3_ghana; @Y979FM; @modernghanaweb; @BoredNf3