The Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, has identified enhanced domestic revenue mobilisation as one of the seven priority measures to revive the economy and accelerate the development of the country.
He said Ghana had not performed well in revenue mobilisation compared to its peers and said revenue mobilisation in the past decade had been poor.
Dr Forson stated this in a presentation on the State of the Ghanaian Economy during the opening of the National Economic Dialogue (NED) 2025 in Accra yesterday, which formed part of President John Dramani Mahama’s 120-day social contract commitment.
The Finance Minister mentioned the other priority areas as balancing equity, simplicity and efficiency, pursuing a qualitative fiscal consolidation: ring-fencing growth enhancing spending and social programmes.
The others are ensuring compliance with public financial management and public procurement laws; implementing robust commitment controls to maximise value for money and ensure fiscal discipline; enhancing the efficiency of public spending in social programmes and public infrastructure; phasing out costly, regressive and ineffective subsidies to the energy sector; reforming state-owned enterprises that create contingent liabilities and quasi-fiscal spending (such as COCOBOD and Electricity Company of Ghana); and strengthening Ghana’s fiscal framework by redesigning the fiscal rule to enhance automatic stabilisers.
The two-day programme is on the theme “Resetting Ghana: Building the Economy
We Want Together.”
It is being attended by government officials, policy makers, business leaders, Members of Parliament, members of the diplomatic corps, development partners, representatives of banking, finance and insurance organisations, civil society organisations, academic and research experts, women and youth group representatives, the clergy, traditional leaders, community representatives, and grass-roots Ghanaian citizens, to discuss measures to foster inclusive economic growth and national development.
The objective of the dialogue is to communicate the true state of Ghana’s economy to stakeholders and the people of Ghana, develop a homegrown fiscal consideration programme to guide the national budget and highlight key structural reforms and policy priorities essential for resetting the economy.
The dialogue centres on six thematic areas, namely Growth with Diversification Export Competitiveness Productivity Technology, and Human Well-being(DEPTH): Achieving Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Transformation; Private Sector-led Growth; Unlocking the Full Potential of Businesses; Infrastructure Development: Addressing the Deficit for Economic Transformation; Structural and Policy Reforms; Strengthening Key Sector for Growth and Good Governance; and Accountability and Anti-Corruption Measures.
Dr Forson said the government was ready to transform the economy to promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
“There is an urgent need for comprehensive policies and institutional reforms that enhance productivity, improve the quality of infrastructure and services, and elevate human capital and workforce skills. These reforms have the potential of transforming Ghana within a generation, tripling its per capita income by 2050,” Dr Forson stated.
The Finance Minister said the objective of the government was to move from an economy based on factor accumulation and natural resource depletion to one driven by productivity and human capital.
Touching on the National Economic Dialogue, Dr Forson said it was an “Opportunity to reflect on our economic reality, address pressing challenges, and chart a course towards a more prosperous future for all our citizens.”
The Chairman of the Planning Committee of NED 2025, Dr Ishmael Yamson, said the task of resetting Ghana could not be delayed.
He said the country needed home-grown policies to address the myriad of socio-economic challenges facing the country.
Dr Yamson said there was the need to transform the economy to generate jobs and bring hope to the teeming unemployed youth, saying Ghanaians were tired of poverty and hardship.
The Chairman of the NED lauded the President for hosting the programme and suggested that it should be an annual programme to dialogue with the private sector and key stakeholders to discuss measures to prop up the economy.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE & JULIUS PETETSI
