Finance Ministry transfers former office block to Ghana Statistical Service

The Ministry of Finance has formally transferred its former office block to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), handing the agency full use of a facility the two institutions had shared for decades.

At a handover ceremony at the GSS headquarters in Accra on 16 July, Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson presented the keys to Government Statistician Dr Alhassan Iddrisu.

Dr Forson described the occasion as the return of a building to the national statistical agency. He said the arrangement between the institutions dated to 1961, when the then Central Bureau of Statistics was established under the Ministry of Finance. The ministry later occupied a substantial part of the block while the statistical agency continued to work from the remaining space.

According to the minister, the Finance Ministry moved to its new headquarters in February 2026, allowing the government to transfer the entire facility to the GSS.

Dr Iddrisu said the handover was a significant step towards easing the Service’s infrastructure and accommodation pressures. He said limited office space had restricted the agency to operating at about half of its approved staff strength.

The additional space, he said, could accommodate hundreds of staff whose recruitment had been pledged, and may also provide temporary accommodation for personnel from the Greater Accra Regional Office. That office’s current premises, he said, have serious structural defects.

While welcoming the transfer, the Government Statistician appealed for increased budgetary support to maintain and refurbish the ageing block. He noted that utility, maintenance and refurbishment requirements would create continuing costs rather than a one-off expense.

Officials said the transfer forms part of efforts to strengthen Ghana’s national statistical system and support the production of official data for national development planning.