Dr Mahamudu Bawumia
Government says it achieved fiscal deficit target for the first time in history in 2017.
It created fiscal space by capping earmarked funds to 25 percent of government revenue and realigning expenditures to government priorities.
Delivering a keynote address during the opening of 2018 New Year School at Legon, Vice President Dr Alhaji Mahamadu Bawumia, who described the achievement as historic, stated: “No government has been able to do this even though many have expressed the intent to.”
According to him, the government stayed current on payments to statutory funds such as the GETFUND, NHIS, DACF, SSNIT, ROAD FUND, in 2017 while paying arrears inherited.
Validated arrears inherited for the Statutory Funds, Capex, Compensation and Goods and Services at the end of 2016 amounted to GH¢3.1 billion.
About two-thirds of the total arrears was statutory.
Out of this total, our government paid GH¢1.45 billion in 2017.
“In fact, in just one year we have paid almost half of the arrears accumulated by the NDC government while staying current on existing obligations,” Dr Mahamadu Bawumia emphasized, adding that “it is in this regard that I find it amusing that some latter day saints are asking government to pay arrears owed to contractors after recklessly accumulating the arrears in the first place and not paying it themselves.”
Touching on the topic of unemployment, the Vice President said “that is the key and most pressing issue of our time. In fact, it is a national security issue because the devil finds work for idle hands. Ultimately the high level of unemployment is a reflection of the underlying weaknesses in our economy. This is why the President has placed job creation as the number one priority of government.”
He also pointed out that after 60 years of independence, Ghana has not achieved the level of development that its founding fathers envisaged, given its endowment of natural resources – gold, diamonds, iron, bauxite, manganese, oil, cocoa, fertile land, water, etc. as well as human resources.
“After 60 years of independence, it is clear that we have to do things differently because you cannot do the same things and expect different results. Countries such as China, South Korea, Malaysia, UAE, etc. have shown that transformation can be achieved in one generation and therefore it is possible for Ghana to do same.”