Ken Ofori-Atta, Finance Minister
Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta will present this year’s Budget Statement and Economic Policy to Parliament today on behalf of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.
This follows a series of bilateral meetings held between the Finance Minister and various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) since February, this year to review their policies and ensure consistency with government’s medium term policy strategy.
According to the Finance Ministry, the 2017 Budget would focus on stimulating growth and job creation through private sector development.
The budget is expected to contain measures to restore fiscal discipline and good economic governance, transparent and accountable use of public resources in accordance with the new Public Financial management law and further provide a credible basis for economic policy clarity going forward.
Puzzling discovery
In February, this year, the ministry announced that during the review and audit process, MDAs submitted unbudgeted projects and commitments of about GH¢7 billion, which were to be validated as the budget process was underway.
“We will have a better sense of the numbers before the budget, and have a team assembled to complete our forensic audit to confirm the validity of these expenses and ensure that value for money was obtained at all times.”
Last year’s budget
Total revenue and grants was estimated at GH¢38,038.00 million out of which domestic revenue was GH¢36,430.00 million while grants totaled GH¢1,608.00 million.
Total expenditure (including arrears) on the other hand was GH¢46,446.00 million.
As part of the Mid-year review that was presented to Parliament in July 2016, total revenue and grants were revised downwards to GH¢37,889.00 million.
Likewise, total expenditure was revised downwards to GH¢46,297.00 million.
Also, total expenditure (including amortization) was revised upwards to GH¢49,057.40 million from GH¢47,169.24 million, resulting in a supplementary estimate of GH¢1,888.2 million.
Expectations
Analysts have indicated that even though 2016 was a challenging year for equity investors, especially in the first half, renewed investor confidence in Ghana was already reflecting positively on the Ghanaian stock market.
Kojo Adae Mensah, CEO of Databank Group, described the inflation rate for last year as high, adding that interest rates were high while the value of the Ghana Cedi continued to decline against the US dollar.
For this year, he stated: “We are also seeing further decline in inflation, as well as rates for Treasury bills and other fixed-income investments. This is a clear indication that economic fundamentals are improving and that borrowing rates for both individuals and businesses will ultimately come down, thereby allowing them to accomplish more with less.”
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has promised to create more job opportunities for Ghanaians.
By Samuel Boadi
samuel10gh@yahoo.com