President Nana Akufo-Addo
The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has pointed out that the welfare of Ghanaians is dear to President Nana Akufo-Addo.
He made the observation on Wednesday, October 28, 2020, in Accra, as he submitted before Parliament, the 2021 expenditure in advance of appropriation.
According to him, Ghana’s macroeconomic gains under President Akufo-Addo “have not been at the expense of our promise to improve the welfare of fellow Ghanaians.”
He noted emphatically that “In fact, the issue of welfare is very dear to President Akufo-Addo and his government. For this reason, we invested in excess of GH¢15.7 billion on key flagship programmes.”
The Minister added that these flagship programmes have created the platform for real economic transformation; strengthening human capital through enhancing access to health care, education and skills development, modernizing agriculture and industry, delivering infrastructure across the country – including a revitalised railway sub-sector – and creating jobs.
“We have remained faithful with our budgets; Asempa in 2017, Edwuma in 2018, Mpuntuo in 2019 and the prescient Nkosuo and Nkabom budget of Covid 19 2020,” he said.
He added that “we have restored Nurses and Teachers Training Allowances and implemented the Free SHS programme to empower current and future generations, and to also ease the financial burden on households. In addition to supporting 100,000 graduates through NABCO, we have lowered the net tax burden of the Ghanaian.”
“That is the care we promised Ghanaians! achievements from the prudent macro-fiscal policies and the resultant turnaround of the economy, amidst unprecedented welfare-oriented interventions under the flagship programmes have been fully tested by the outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic since March, 2020.”
According to him, this pandemic continues to devastate countries, disrupt productivity, threaten food security, multiply job losses, and reduce incomes, particularly for the poorest, as well as traumatic loss of lives.
This year, he noted, the world was on course to experiencing the deepest global economic contraction in the post-war era, causing investments and trade to plunge.
“The Ghanaian economy has also faced the health and economic consequences of this pandemic which threatens lives and livelihoods. By God’s Grace, COVID-19 has so far not been as deadly due to our President’s leadership, thus , our preoccupation has been on addressing the socio-economic dislocations occasioned by this pandemic. We have moved swiftly to mitigate the threats to lives and livelihoods by:
i. Implementing the GH¢1,342million Covid-19 Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan to protect lives;
ii. Operationalising the GH¢1.2 Billion Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP) to support businesses;
iii. Launching a GH¢2 billion Guarantee Scheme to enable SMEs borrow at a more affordable rate;
iv. Supporting the GH¢3 billion credit and stimulus package by commercial banks in Ghana to revitalize industries, especially pharmaceutical, hospitality, services and manufacturing sectors.
By Melvin Tarlue