No overspending for elections – Terkper

Finance Minister Seth Terkper has guaranteed his commitment to ensuring that government’s expenditure does not exceed budget limits this election year.

According to him, even though some of the measures adopted are tough, the prospects for the country’s future are bright.

Mr Terkper was speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday 9 February 2016, at the Ministry of Finance, as he indicated that government had instituted measures to stabilise the economy.

He said there were labour agitations and pressure to start projects during election years but entreated Ghanaians to be realistic with their demands, as government works to stay within its budget.

“Ghana is known every election year, particularly on account of strikes, on account of pressures and others, for us to give in and then award wage increases beyond what the budget can support, which leads to higher deficits.

"Similarly, we have pressures on expenditure in starting new projects, subsidies and the rest. This has become a risk, not just for investors, but development partners and the rest. We have to find a way to deal with this, and despite being an election year, we have to go through tough measures because the money is just not coming in, and, therefore, you would have heard the president say that we will not overpromise. So, we will tighten and what we are going to do, at least, is to stabilise across the election year,” he stated.