Fact-checked by Peter Quao Adattor
Claim: $750M Afrexim agreement sent to parliament stated the creation of an escrow account.
Source: John Ampontuah Kumah
Verdict:False
The Government of Ghana entered into an agreement with Afreximbank for a facility of $750 million to support its 2022 budgetary needs.
The funds were to be used to finance critical infrastructure projects including roads and sports facilities for the 2023 All Africa Games to be hosted by Ghana.
On August 26, 2022, the entire funds reportedly hit the government’s account with the Bank of Ghana.
This was published by several media platforms (here, here, here).
However, 3newsreported a day later that the reported amount received was 713 million dollars instead of the entire 750 million dollars contained in the agreement approved by parliament.
Minority Spokesperson on Finance Cassiel Ato Forson, in tweet reaction to the 3news publication, demanded details about the shortfall.
Deputy finance minister John Ampontuah Kumah responded in tweet, saying the $37 million was set aside for interest payment obligations, a common practice known as escrow account.
He alleged that all the conditionalities relating to the loan including the creation of an escrow account for debt servicing were supplied to parliament and approved.
But, Cassiel Ato Forson argued that the escrow condition was not part of the agreement sent to parliament, accusing the government of acting without parliament’s approval.
In this fact-check report, we examined whether the escrow account provision was contained in the document sent to parliament.
Fact-check Report
The agreement as approved by parliament had the following terms and conditions.
Paqmediagh’s checks with parliament showed that no amendments were done after the agreement was approved on 21st July following the finance committee recommendation on 19th July 2022.
Verdict
Based on the agreement as approved by parliament and the house records, we rate the claim that parliament was aware of an escrow account in the Afrexim facility as FALSE.
