Budget Targets May Be Difficult To Achieve -TUC

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) says the macro-economic targets in the 2003 budget might be difficult to achieve.

In a statement signed in Accra by the TUC Secretary General, Mr Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, the labour movement described the single digit inflation rate of nine per cent as "ambitious" taking into account the price increases in fuel, utility tariffs and consequences of the threat of war in Iraq.

The TUC said the overall growth rate of 4.7 per cent, though modest, might not be realised in view of the foreign component (84.7 per cent) for investment that normally did not flow in as expected. On increased import tariffs on rice and poultry imports, the Labour movement said in order not to create a shortfall in the availability of the products, the government should give real support to encourage all-year round production. The TUC said a proposal to impose 640 cedis per litre across board TOR debt recovery levy would be too burdensome for the population to bear. The TUC said it is "deeply disturbed" by what appeared to be a proposal to further increase the prices of petroleum products.

On the funding for the National Health Insurance (NHI), the TUC said the proposal in the budget that SSNIT contributes a minimum of 2.5 per cent of each worker's contribution of 17.5 per cent towards the NHI was questionable. It said the SSNIT fund was not part of the Consolidated Fund and should not be seen as a pool from which government could draw resources to fund its programmes. The TUC said it appreciated government's efforts in providing quality education, such as distance education, new TV programmes for SSS and furniture, textbooks and infrastructure for schools and teachers.

However, it said, the money spent on basic education was not achieving the expected returns. The TUC said it welcomed the move by government to review the rent law and proposed that emphasis should be placed on the enforcement of the law when it was revised and government should play an active role in increasing housing stock.

The TUC expressed support for the National Identification System and suggested that it should be carried out in a manner that was devoid of unnecessary institutional frictions and in a non-partisan manner.