More than 50 Bills passed into law within the last four years - Finance Minister

The Finance Ministry of Ghana under the leadership of Ken Ofori-Atta has been able to put together more than 50 Bills passed into law by Parliament within the last four years.

According to Ken Ofori-Atta, his outfit together with Parliament are grateful to the Speaker of Parliament and its Honourable members for achieving the feat since 2017.

“Together with this Parliament, the Ministry of Finance alone has passed more than 50 Bills into law in the last four years. I, and all of the team at the Ministry of Finance, humbly thank you, Mr Speaker and Honourable Members.”

The Finance Minister said this while he presented the 2021 Expenditure in Advance of Appropriation budget before Parliament on Wednesday, October 28, 2020.

Meanwhile, some of the laws passed under the Finance Ministry in Parliament are; The Tax Amnesty Act 2017, Customs (Amendment) Bill, 2020, Earmarked Funds Capping and Re-alignment Bill, 2017, Payment Systems and Services Act and others.

Meanwhile, an amount of GH¢27.4 billion has been requested by the Finance Minister from the government intended towards the expenditure of the first quarter of 2021.

The Minister making a case for the approval before Parliament said, “that this Honourable House approves by resolution, the withdrawal of the sum of twenty-seven billion, four hundred and thirty-four million, one hundred and eighty thousand, five hundred and twenty Ghana cedis (GH¢27,434,180,520.00) from the Consolidated Fund."

“This is for the purpose of meeting expenditure necessary to carry on the services of the government in respect of the period expiring three months from the beginning of the financial year or on the coming into operation of the Appropriation Act in respect of the 2021 financial year,” he added.

The request made by the Finance Minister is intended to prevent transitional encounters in the affairs of the central government for the first three months after the general election.