Deputy Minister of Finance John Kumah has stated the government is negotiating a fund programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) anchored on four key programmes.
According to him, the government is first keen to achieve debt sustainability and argued the debt exchange programme announced in the 2023 Budget will enable the government to bring the debt level to a sustainable level by the end of the year.
He acknowledged that 2022 has been a very difficult year because of what the nation went through but stressed the policies encompassed in the 2023 Budget will address the challenges and prepare the economy for takeoff.
Reacting to the Budget presentation by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta on Thursday, November 24 in Parliament during an interview, Mr. John Kumah indicated the government will also embark on aggressive revenue mobilization including raising the Value Added Tax (VAT) by 2.5%. and bringing down the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy) from 1.5% to 1%.
This, he said, will help enhance government’s revenue measure and bring in more funds into the national kitty.
According to him, property tax, which implementation has been delayed for while is now ready and has been factored into the budget and added, “We believe we will be able to achieve aggressive revenue mobilization in 2023.
The Deputy Minister indicated that the government also plans to provide safety nets and social protection programmes for the poor due to the difficulties faced in 2022.
Government, he said, is doing this by pursuing two important policies; increasing the number of beneficiaries on the LEAP programme from 320,000 to 450,000 and increasing the GH¢45 monthly stipend they receive.
According to him, these and other programmes in the budget are very crucial as far as the 2023 budget is concerned and stressed by the time the debt exchange programme is completed, the economy would have expanded and opened the base to create jobs for the youth.
He assured the government is going to change the economic costs and difficulties that the Ghanaian economy is grappling with and assured that the answers to how the state can recover from the present difficulty have been provided in the 2023 budget.
Deputy Finance Minister and MP for Atiwa East, Abena Asare Osei, in her remark argued the budget is not only concentrating on increasing government revenue but also cutting down expenditures.
According to her, government is cutting down on fuel by 50% not only for political appointees but across departments, ministries and agencies.
She indicated that certain exemptions granted to foreign companies will also be removed in the 2023 Budget, which will reduce government expenditure.
Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, however, argued the Budget as presented by the Finance Minister spells doom and gloom for the Ghanaian people and paints a very terrifying and horrifying picture.
He argued it does not address the pain, hardship and suffering of the Ghanaian people and warned it is actually going to worsen an already bad situation.
The North Tongu legislator expressed disappointment a review on petroleum products was not mentioned and questioned why Ghana has the highest diesel and petrol prices in the sub-region; higher than Togo, Benin and Ivory Coast.
