High expectations as new NPP government presents maiden Budget

There are high expectations among the citizenry as the barely two-month old New Patriotic Party (NPP) government presents its maiden budget statement to parliament today March 2, 2017.

Many are looking forward to tax cuts and sources of funding for various promises contained in the party’s manifesto including the “one district one factory, free Senior High School, one community one dam and others.

A cross section of Ghanaians who spoke to mynewsgh.com ahead of the budget to be presented by Finance Minister Mr Ken Ofori Atta want certain levies scrapped to ameliorate the suffering of most Ghanaians.

In his first state of the nation address, President Nana Akuffo Addo painted a gloomy picture of the economy, reiterating among others earlier reports by the Finance Minister, that the country’s current debt stock had ballooned to GH¢122 billion, leaving Ghana’s debt stock at 74% of GDP.

He added that, three key targets set under the IMF program – growth, fiscal deficit were missed.

What budget will focus on

It is expected that, the Finance Minister will lay out key reforms Government will be rolling out to deal with the country’s current challenges including high debt levels, declining growth levels, increasing budget and fiscal deficits, unemployment, private sector challenges and corruption among others.

A statement from the Finance Ministry said the 2017 Budget is expected to focus on stimulating growth and job creation, through private sector development.

The budget will also be heavy on key reforms and policies aimed at restoring fiscal discipline and tackling corruption and revenue leakages in the public sector.

”The Budget will include measures to restore fiscal discipline and good economic governance, transparent and accountable use of public resources in accordance with the new Public Financial management law and to provide a credible basis for economic policy clarity going forward” a statement from the Finance Ministry said.

Key sectors that the budget will focus on include the power industry, education, health, agriculture, infrastructure and the private sector.