All hands on deck

-Needed to execute 2024 budget -Oppong Nkrumah

The Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has emphasized the importance of a collective effort in steering Ghana towards sustainable economic growth.

He called on various stakeholders to fulfill their responsibilities diligently to ensure the successful execution of the 2024 budget and achieve economic objectives.

Opening the debate on the 2024 Budget Statement and Financial Policy of the Government in Parliament, Oppong Nkrumah stated, “Amidst our economic challenges, let us remember we have a collective responsibility for our economic growth.”

The parliamentary debate witnessed intense arguments between the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Majority, expressing support for the budget, and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority, offering critiques.

Oppong Nkrumah, who is also the Member of Parliament for Ofoase-Ayirebi in the Eastern Region, stressed the need for united efforts from various stakeholders, including the Ministry of Finance, Parliament, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), as well as active citizen participation, to ensure the meticulous implementation of the budget.

He highlighted the importance of a well-thought-out economic policy to effectively track and achieve developmental goals.

The Minister emphasized two pivotal agendas: the Stability Agenda, focusing on inflation, exchange rates, and interest rates with support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Growth Agenda, featuring a comprehensive 5-year strategy with a 14-month emphasis on priority areas like agriculture, aquaculture, tourism, creative arts, sports, and digitization.

Oppong Nkrumah underscored the government’s commitment to social intervention programs, citing Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP), Capitation Grant, School Feeding Program, NHIS, Teacher and Nursing Trainee Allowance, and Free SHS.

He noted that the prioritization of these programs had received commendation from the IMF.

The Information Minister stressed the need for a sustained and disciplined approach to the government’s clear and robust growth program.

He urged Ghanaians, especially the youth, to seize opportunities within the country to establish businesses that would create job opportunities for others.

In acknowledging the economic challenges, Minister Oppong Nkrumah highlighted the importance of economic stability as the first objective of any sound economic policy.

He emphasized the need to bring down the cost of living to a level that all citizens can accommodate, particularly in a time when the economy faces challenges, high debt levels, and slowed growth rates.

Abena Osei-Asare

A Deputy Minister of Finance and NPP MP for Atiwa East, Madam Abena Osei-Asare,  reiterated that the COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war had impacted negatively on Ghana’s economy, which the Minority in Parliament and the opposition NDC were refusing to acknowledge.

“So, you don’t go out taking numbers without reference to the current global situation, when you do that, it means you are out of touch with reality and that shouldn’t be the case.

She said it was their hope that they would continue to entrench the economic recovery process leading to stability and growth in the year 2024.

Isaac Adongo

Ranking Member of the Finance Committee of Parliament and NDC MP for Bongo Central Mr Isaac Adongo, said after seven years in Government, the Akuffo-Addo administration had impacted the lives of Ghanaians negatively; declaring that “in fact, it would have been better if you have left our lives the way it was in 2016”.

He said the government impacted Ghanaians negatively when it collapsed 122 financial institutions and locked up people’s money; and that today people still could not get their money back.

John Abdulai Jinapor

Ranking Member for the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament and NDC MP for Yapei-Kusawgu, Mr John Abdulai Jinapor, in comparing the average growth rate between the erstwhile NDC Government and the current NPP Government, said from 2009 to 2016, which was eight years of NDC, the average growth rate in terms of real growth (not normal growth) was 6.47%.

This, he said meant that on the average for the eight-year period, the NDC Administration was growing the Ghanaian economy by 6.47.

“Now I take NPP 2017 to 2024, and (for) the 2024, I used your own projection of 2.80%, from our 6.47% by the end of 2024, you will be growing the economy on an average by 4.30%. And yet Mr Speaker, we handed over three oil fields to this government…,” Mr Jinapor stated.