Ghana's 2000 budget leaked

In its front-page lead story, the Dispatch writes that Ghana's 2000 budget is scheduled to be presented to Parliament for approval sometime next month (February) but already, many of the core elements of the budget have been leaked.

According to the paper, the leakage has not been on the part of disloyal public officials but from official documents submitted by the government to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Dispatch says that the documents, 16 pages, were submitted under a covering letter of November 3, 1999, to the Managing Director of the IMF, Mr Michel Camdessus.

The covering letter is said to have been signed by the Finance Minister, Mr Kwame Peprah, The paper says that an IMF Public Information Notice of December 7, 1999, also revealed portions of Ghana's 2000 budget. Mr Peprah, in his letter, is said to have hinted that the attached memorandum set out, among other measures, "the key elements of an economic strategy that the government intends to pursue during 2000".

The Dispatch says that the memorandum "provides a summary of the economic trends in 1999 and prospects for 2000". According to the paper, the budget expected to be submitted to Parliament, will include "an increase in the Value Added Tax (VAT) rate; enhancement of non-tax revenue; increases in petroleum taxes; limitation of exemptions under the VAT and a reduction of the minimum cocoa prices paid by government to producers for lower quality beans".