2018 Budget: PPP expects more action from government

In line with the provisions of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, will present the 2018 Budget and Economic Policy to Parliament today

The budget, which will be the second presentation of the Akufo-Addo-led government, will focus mainly on how government intends to roll-out policies in the various sectors of the economy by looking at measures in restoring fiscal discipline and good governance, transparent and accountable use of public resources.

President Akufo-Addo in his recent messages has promised to fix the economy by reducing electricity tariffs, providing policies for the challenges in free secondary education which commenced in September this year, providing jobs for the youth, pension for cocoa farmers, the one district one factory policy and many more.

However, the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) in a statement issued and signed by its National Secretary, Murtala Mohammed, yesterday in Accra said they would want to see how the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government will address the revenue challenges via promises such as free education, one district one factory, and election of municipal metropolitan and district chief executives among others.

“We want to see how government is going to tackle the unemployment challenges in this budget. The unemployment deficit in this country is a national security threat and government must show the way,” the statement said.

According to PPP, the free senior high school policy was bereft with challenges including infrastructure and funding gaps “and [the PPP] would want to know how government intends to consolidate the policy and solve the major challenges.”

“Macro-economic success is not translating into the micro level. We want to see how people can feel this in their pocket. The most important expectation for the PPP is that, we want the government to show us in this budget how it’s intends to start the process of implementing the election of municipal, metropolitan and district chief executives promise,” it urged.