In charge of Finance in the Republic of Ghana, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta has said that despite the hardship the country was facing during the outbreak of the Covid-19 Pandemic, not a single Ghanaian public sector worker was laid off.
He revealed that indeed the pandemic is having an impact on the public finances and the government itself but they (government) managed to pay all public workers monthly.
This is because, the main issue the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, seeks to resolve is unemployment.
Explaining the state of the country’s economy to Ghanaians, the Finance Minister said under the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme Business Support Scheme (CAPBuSS), Ghana Enterprises Agency provided 302,001 successful applicants across various sectors and regions with loans amounting to GHȼ523.11 million.
To him, the fiscal policies implemented to provide relief during the pandemic has led to an increase in total public debt.
Mr Ofori-Atta noted that the situation was made worse by the big drop in revenue collections last year with total revenues in 2020 falling by GHȼ11.93 billion, equivalent to 3.1 per cent of GDP, while total expenditures increased by GHȼ14.08 billion, equivalent to 3.7 per cent of GDP.
He confesses that notwithstanding these successes, the president has had sleepless nights as he seeks to ease Ghanaians suffering and transform the economy to create jobs and share the expected wealth across all households.
“This Budget is intentional about Building a Sustainable Entrepreneurial Nation through fiscal consolidation and Job Creation. This may be an uncomfortable transition but we are a people who think deeply and must progress and become a people who also make things for the World and ourselves. We must embrace this challenge of becoming a vibrant entrepreneurial nation.” Mr Ofori told Parliament.
He says data on the performance of the economy as at end-September 2021 indicates that the implementation of the 2021 budget is largely on track.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Dorcas Korkor Larbi
