The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has announced that the government has paid all outstanding debts owed Caterers of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP).
On July 31, 2023, when he presented the government’s mid-year fiscal policy assessment of the budget statement and economic strategy and he promised that the government’s social protection schemes for the poor and vulnerable would be maintained.
Under the school feeding programme, the Caterers suggested allocating GH3.50 per lunch for students. This is in response to the government’s counter-preposition to increase the nutrition grant from 98 pesewas to GH¢1.20p.
“Under the LEAP programme, the government disbursed a total of GH¢169.95 million as of June 2023 to 346,019 households, comprising 1,533,748 individuals. This includes the increase of the monthly grant to beneficiary households from GH¢32.00 to GH¢64.00 for one-member households and GH¢38.00 to GH¢76.00 for two-member households. Our target under this programme period is to reach about 8 percent of the population, that is, 2.5 million people,” he said.
“Under the Ghana School Feeding Programme, coverage increased considerably from 1,671,777 beneficiaries in 2016 to 3,801,491 beneficiaries by June 2023. The feeding grant cost per meal, per child, per day increased from GH¢1.00 to GH¢1.20 for the 2023 academic year. We have also settled all arrears owed to caterers under the programme for the second and third terms of the 2022 academic year and the first term of 2023,” he added.
He claimed that the increase in public elementary school enrollment from 6,048,897 in the 2021–2022 school year to 6,114,302 in the 2022–2023 school year was due in part to the Capitation Grant.
