Contingency Fund

A contingency fund is a fund established to account for the urgent or unforeseen needs for which no other provision exists to meet the need.

The unforeseen circumstances may include social disorder, natural disaster, and other similar events.

Advances made from the fund should be replaced as soon as possible by presenting a supplementary estimate to parliament to that effect.

The contingency fund is resourced from the money voted by parliament for that
purpose.

For withdrawals to be made from this fund, the President must request the public finance committee of parliament.

On the other hand, the contingency fund is a fund into which funds have been voted (set aside) by Parliament to pay for unexpected events (which no other provision exists) for which the nation must respond to restore normalcy.

For instance, Ghana had to respond to the May 9 Stadium Disaster and the June 3 Accra (Circle) Flooding and Fire disaster.

These monies would normally come from the contingency fund. Even though payments from the contingency fund requires only the approval of the finance committee of parliament, the fund needs to be reimbursed from the consolidated fund for monies spent from the contingency fund and such reimbursements need parliamentary approval

No money shall be withdrawn from any public fund, other than the consolidated fund and the contingency fund unless the issue of those money has been authorized by or under the authority of an Act of Parliament