2018 will be a difficult year for government - Dr. John Gatsi

Economist, Dr. John Gatsi has predicted that government may be challenged with revenue mobilisation in 2018 because it has failed to do enough to deal with loopholes regarding its sources of revenue.

He, therefore, cautioned government against its high expenditure programmes saying it will further deepen its woes.

He also expressed worry at manner in which has decided to align its expenditure and revenue mobilisation targets insisting that it is leading to the accumulation and non-payment of arrears.

“2018 will be a difficult year for government in terms of revenue mobilisation but I believe that government will also align its revenue mobilisation efforts by pruning down expenditure. The expenditure roadmap for this country is too bad. We need to realign expenditure and the way we are realigning expenditure is hurting the economy, arrears are not being paid. We are in a cycle of accumulation of arrears through the Free SHS, many people are now cooking and providing a lot of services” he remarked

Ahead of the 2018 budget next week he cautioned the government to prioritise revenue mobilisation and realign its expenditure roadmap to make inflows.

He said the current arrangement will result in arrears accumulation as is being experienced with the Free SHS programme where caterers and other service providers haven’t been fully paid.

“We need to enhance revenue mobilisation in 2018. If your revenue shortfalls are pronounce it has effect on debt management because you may be forced to fill the gap with more debts and at the same time you have repayment expectations of old debts so all those things will be facing you in 2018. So that is why enhanced revenue mobilisation ought to be a priority” he explained

In line with the budget reading, Organized Labour has also demanded the inclusion of practical policy initiatives in government’s upcoming 2018 budget to address the rising unemployment rate.

They argued that the unemployment gap has increased steadily over the last few months due to the absence of dedicated efforts and feasible action plans to address the challenge.

Organized labour anticipates that more workers will most likely be laid-off as a result of the non- performance of certain sectors of the economy including textiles.

The 2018 budget is expected to be read on Wednesday, November 15 by the Finance Minister in parliament.

Dr. John Gatsi disclosed these to www.ghanaweb.com on the sidelines of a two-day training programme organised for Journalists for Business Advocacy, a group of journalists into finance and economics reporting in Accra on Wednesday

The event was graced by Governor of the Central Bank, Ernest Addison and the President of Chartered Institute of Bankers Ghana, Patricia Sappor