2012 budget will engender a "Go Slow" economy- Nduom

Accra , Nov 17, GNA - Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, the 2008 presidential candidate of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), on Thursday described the 2011 budget as one that would engender economic “go slow” because it had not addressed critical growth stimulators.

“In my view, given this year’s experience and the Finance Minister’s own admission that inflation targeting, the fear of high payroll cost and stabilization remain key policy objective, the only way to characterize the 2012 budget is that Ghanaians are in for a go slow economy”, he said in a statement on Thursday, reacting to the 2012 budget presented yesterday by Finance and Economic Planning Minister Kwabena Duffor to Parliament.

Dr Nduom said the 2012 budget "will have to demonstrate how government will support acceleration in the local economy because the expectation was that the Finance Minister together with all state stakeholders would demonstrate the proper use of the state’s purchasing power for the benefit of the average Ghanaian".

He said the budget did not indicate how the state was going to support local farmers, industries in the rural areas, and Ghanaian entrepreneurs with tax incentives in order to boost the ability of such local industries to perform well and stay in the competition for consumers.

The Management Economist said it was prudent on the part of the Government to start investing in the productive sectors of the economy now, arguing that for a long time, Government had been engaged in borrowing to invest in ventures that do not provide returns and productivity to the state, leaving the state with huge debts which was not good for the economic health of the nation. He said the 2012 budget should make provisions to reverse the abandonment of some major projects which was started by previous governments like the affordable housing projects and other major road networks in the country. Dr Nduom urged the Government to demonstrate through the budget how it would specifically redeem the promises made to the people of the Western Region, saying, “We do not want to see the Nigerian Delta state situation happen in Ghana”. He said "government would do Ghanaians good "if much more was put in the budget to the enable the commencement of the STX affordable housing project that had stalled for almost two years.

Dr Nduom said the budget did not indicate clearly how the three billion Chinese loan facility was going to be used or allocated, considering the fact that resources must be pushed into the productive sectors of the economy to improve business and industrialization in the country.

He said Ghanaians expected the 2012 budget to expose how government was going to ensure that the National Identification System was given full attention to ensure its successful completion, since it was an important founding building project, which implementation would bring tremendous discipline to the country.

The 2008 CPP Presidential candidate urged the Government to detail attention to the Single Spine Salary Structure because of its potential of motivating workers to do their best with the resultant effect on economic growth.

He said it was equally important that the budget provided funds for the participation of government workers in the new Three Tier Pension Scheme, while it gave sufficient resources to the Pension Regulatory Authority to be effective in its supervisory role.

Dr Nduom stressed the need for the Electoral Commission to be given all the resources it needed with early disbursement to ensure uninterrupted work that would lend credibility to the parliamentary and presidential elections.