Ken Ofori Atta
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta has touted the achievements of the Akufo-Addo-led administration since they took power almost a year ago.
During the 2018 budget presentation in Parliament on Wednesday, the Minister said so far, they have achieved more than the previous administration did in the eight years that it governed the country.
“We have achieved under one year what seemed impossible in eight years,” he said.
Mr Ofori Atta said, although the Akufo-Addo-led administration inherited an ailing economy, it has been able to turn things around per the president’s mindset to inspire “all of us to see the invisible, to feel the intangible and to achieve the impossible.”
The Akufo-Addo-led administration, Mr Ofori Atta said, has restored macro stability, renewed confidence in the economy, provided reliable electricity supply among others.
“Our SHS students have literally forgotten how to spell ‘dumsor’, because ‘dumsor’ is dead,” he noted.
The Minister also indicated that the economy has returned to robust growth with a real GDP growth of 7.8 percent in the first half of 2017 against 2.7 percent in 2016.
He said inflation has been reduced to 11.6 percent as of October 2017 from 15.4 percent in December 2016.
“We have maintained stability of the cedi against the US dollar, brought down the policy rate to 21 percent from a peak of 26 percent in 2016.
“We have normalized the domestic yield curve, issued the country’s maiden 15-year bond in April 2017, improved external balances driven by higher export earnings and lower imports and improved gross international reserve to GHS7.2 billion, equivalent to 4.1 months of import cover, the highest reserve in the country’s history,” he added.
The Finance Minister said policies that have been rolled out by the government are yielding positive results, restoring hope and bringing relief to Ghanaians.
These achievements for him is “heartwarming when a parent walks up to you and says ‘thank you for putting money in my purse because she did not have to pay 2,000 for her two daughters in SHS.”
“Or when an excited teacher trainee shows you the text message of their allowances received. These are just two examples of the promises some said were impossible to achieve,” he stated.
Mr Ofori Atta was proud of the government’s resolve to respect the limits the House set within appropriation, indicating that he is confident that they will end the year with a fiscal deficit of 6.3 percent from 9.4 percent it inherited.
“In fact, lower than the 6.5 percent contained in the budget in March. This is only the second time in a decade that a government has managed to stay within its budget deficit target,” he said.
-Myjoyonline