Government to pass Fiscal Responsibility Law

The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, on Monday, said the Akufo-Addo-led administration would soon pass the Fiscal Responsibility Law to ensure fiscal and debt sustainability.

He said the legislation would cap the fiscal deficit and debt to the gross domestic product (GDP) ratio to give assurance to investors and ensure fiscal discipline, no matter the political party in government.

He said by the end of the year, government would set up an independent Fiscal Council and an independent Financial Stability Council to enforce the law.

Vice President Bawumia said this when he opened “The Future of Work in Sub-Saharan Africa” Conference in Accra.

The conference, organised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the government of Ghana, attracted policy-makers, officials from the IMF, Ministers of State, development partners and the Diplomatic Community.

Dr Bawumia said: Government will soon pass a law to prevent politicians from sacrificing prudent economic management on the altar of political expediency.”

He said the lessons learnt by the Akufo-Addo-led government since it assumed office about 23 months ago had shown the urgent need to pass such a law to safeguard Ghana’s economic gains in the future.

He said there was the need to have clear understanding of the future of work on Sub-Saharan Africa and roll out polices to sustain the macroeconomic stability, which underpinned fiscal and debt sustainability, saying; “President Nana Akufo-Addo has decided not to leave fiscal and debt sustainability at the discretion of the politicians”.

“This has never been done by any government since independence and this law will tie the hands of politicians, including ourselves to maintain fiscal and monetary discipline,” the Vice President added.

He noted that most African governments were challenged with the issue of unemployment and how to deal with it, noting that, if care is not taken to address the unemployment situation, it would pose a threat to economic sustainability and political stability.

Professor George Gyan-Baffour, the Minister of Planning, commended the IMF for its leadership in ensuring fiscal discipline in member countries.

He said the Government had invested heavily in education such as the Free Senior High School policy to ensure quality human resource output, particularly, science and technology, technical and vocational training and agriculture.

“This will ensure that the youth are equipped with the necessary skills to become competitive and productive employees,” he added.