The Chief Director of the Ministry of Finance has encouraged journalists to be diligent and positive in their reportage about the nation’s economic progress.
The Ministry held a technical briefing for selected journalists on the Mid-Year Budget Review delivered by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta to parliament on Monday, July 31, 2023.
In her welcome address Madam Eva Mends, stated that the Ministry was committed to continually engage the media as strategic partners in nation building.
It also gave updates on Ghana’s macroeconomic statistics, the country’s path to debt sustainability, and progress towards the impending International Monetary Fund Review.
The 2023 mid-year budget review focused on revenue and tax administration enhancement measures for economic recovery following the Covid pandemic and other global economic vulnerabilities.
Finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta presented the 2023 mid-year budget review to Parliament, which is in accordance with Article 179 of the 1992 Constitution and the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921).
The presentation to the Legislature reviewed the government’s 2023 Economic Policy and Financial Statement that was delivered on November 24, 2022.
Key among the presentation was no mention of additional taxes which could come as a relief to citizens and the business community at large.
Ken Ofori-Atta also told lawmakers that government did not need or require a supplementary budget. This effectively meant government was not seeking any additional funding for the projects it outlined in the main 2023 budget.
Instead, the government revised Appropriation, that is, its allocations were revised from GH¢227.7 billion as presented and approved in November 2022 to GH¢206.0 billion.
The minister also told Parliament that Ghana’s economy is bouncing back to life. He said the economy is making modest gains in efforts to reverse the severe economic hardship that hit hardest in 2022.
According to him, the government’s policies introduced to bring the economy back to winning ways are yielding positive outcomes.
He mentioned peace, health, security and a continuous supply of power as some of the progress the country has chalked this year.
One of the areas of focus in the budget review also included the prioritization of social protection programmes like Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), School Feeding, and the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
Amid global economic uncertainties, hopes are high that the review will provide a positive outlook for Ghana’s economy and set the stage for a promising second half of the year.
