Macroeconomic stability is vital – Finance Minister
Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance, has said government would continue with its efforts to ensure that the benefits of macroeconomic stability are translated into the well-being of all Ghanaians.
He said such benefits would be felt in the provision of safe drinking water, good roads, jobs, access to good healthcare, stable and affordable electricity and good education.
“The many social interventions that have been implemented by government over the last three years along with jobs created, have brought relief to many Ghanaians,” he said.
Delivering the 2020 budget on Wednesday in Parliament, Mr Ofori-Atta said many parents were suffering because they could not afford to pay school fees for their children to attend senior high school, but thankfully the Free SHS is here and has provided relief to them.
“We paid the registration fees for thousands of BECE candidates, abolished fees for post graduate medical training, restored teacher and nursing trainee allowances, doubled the capitation grant, and implemented NaBCo which has employed 100,000 graduates across every constituency in Ghana,” he said.
He said the government had also recruited over 350,000 people in the public sector in the last three years and these can be found in various fields including teaching, security services, nursing, NaBCo and the forestry sector.
“We have expanded the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme by 150,000 people, expanded the school feeding programme by 500,000 children and increased the peace keeping allowance from $31 to $35 per day.”
Mr Ofori-Atta said while the average annual increase in electricity tariffs between 2010 and 2015 was 45 per cent there had been a net reduction of electricity tariffs by at least between five to 10 per cent for households and businesses since 2016.
“Thousands of Persons with Disability (PWD) have had their allocation from the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) increased by 50 per cent, (and we have) ensured the implementation of our pledge of employing 50 per cent of the persons who manage the country’s toll booths from amongst Persons with Disabilities”
He said to address the problem of a lack of ambulances in many parts of the country, government has procured 307 well-equipped ambulances for the National Ambulance Service under the One Constituency One Ambulance initiative and by next month, all 275 constituencies would each have a functioning ambulance.
Mr Ofori-Atta said many of these initiatives and social interventions have put monies either directly or indirectly into the pockets of many Ghanaians, saying from 2017 to date, these interventions by government have put at least GH¢ 12.2 billion in the pockets of Ghanaians.
“The electricity tariff reductions effected by the PURC effective March 15, 2018 resulted in savings of GH¢ 1.8 billion for a year for residential and non-residential customers and this is money in their pockets, while the reduction and abolition of taxes including the 50 per cent reduction in import duty has saved taxpayers a total of GH¢4.1 billion over the last three years.”
He said the over 350,000 jobs that have been created in the public sector has provided total earnings of GH¢2.9 billion adding that government has through the financial sector clean-up, saved the deposits of 4.6 million depositors who would otherwise have lost their deposits.
In the area of cocoa prices, the sector minister said, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, who together produce 67 per cent of the world’s cocoa, have agreed on a framework for setting floor prices for cocoa. GNA
