The government has resolved to tighten the expenditures of the country going into 2024, which is an election year. The Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who made this known, indicated that the decision of the government would not have exceptions, as expenditure going forward would be determined by the revenue at hand.
“We are also trying to, as a result of that, bring some more spending controls; that means that we are going to be tightening spending within the revenue limit of the country. If we don’t have revenue for it, we are not going to…,” Kojo revealed.
The Minister was addressing journalists on Sunday, October 22, 2023 on the activities of the Cabinet after a ministerial retreat over the weekend at the Peduase Presidential Lodge.
The retreat will culminate in the presentation of the fiscal policy and financial statement for 2024 to Parliament by the Minister for Finance next month.
MEASURES
The government says it is focused on some more structural reforms in the medium term, including enhancing the Public Financial Management (PFM) system. This move is to ensure that, among other things, all arrears that are being accumulated off-book can be dealt with.
The government has thus encouraged every single government entity to get on the GIFMIS platform.
The minister said the government has also resolved to work further towards bringing inflation down.
He indicated that the Bank of Ghana had mentioned that they were going to continue with a tight monetary policy to bring down inflation from 38% to about mid-20% by the end of this year, and about 15% by the end of 2024.
The exchange rate regime, he asserted, was also something that the government, working with the Central Bank, seeks to maintain.
According to him, the intention was that the country would not have any significant further slippage towards the end of the year.
“And then, on the front of growth and jobs, the government has also approved a number of measures, particularly in the areas of agriculture, aquaculture and industry, aimed at ensuring that we have a lot more expansion for a lot of young people to get jobs and incomes moving forward,” the minister told the media.
He mentioned that the cabinet was clear in its mind that 2024 would not be a year for new projects, but to maintain and complete existing ones.
PREVIOUS
It would be recalled that the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, announced that he and the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Ernest Addison, would be on the board of the Ghana Cocoa Board to ensure efficiency.
According to a Myjoyonline report, Ken Ofori-Atta has confirmed the establishment of a monitoring desk by his outfit and the BoG to observe the finances of the entity.
The Ghana Cocoa Board has been suffering huge annual losses, which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) identified as a major threat to the sector and the government’s fiscal efforts.
EXTERNAL
On the other hand, the Minister for Finance has engaged the external creditors of Ghana to accept a haircut.
The government seeks to negotiate with its external creditors to accept a 40 percent haircut in the proposed restructuring of Ghana’s $10 billion debt.
The success of that negotiation would open the door for the second tranche of the $3 billion IMF external credit facility, amounting to $600 million.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet, Kojo explained, reviewed the government’s Post-COVID-19 Program for Economic Growth (PC-PEG) “and was satisfied” with it.
