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Business News for Sunday, March 14, 2021
Source: GNA
2021-03-14
Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs
The Government of Ghana, in this year’s budget statement, has announced a more clinical structural focus on President Nana Akufo-Addo’s transformation agenda as the nation builds on the economic advances made so far.
Therefore, the government would continue with the GHG ¢ 100 billion Ghana CARES (Obaatan pa) program, described as the boldest and largest economic recovery program in the country’s history.
Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Majority Leader in Parliament and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, presenting the 2021 Budget Statement to Parliament, in Accra, said: “In this regard, following the GH ¢ 100 thousand million Ghana CARES (Obaatan pa), which is by far the largest and boldest economic recovery program in the country’s history, will allow us to turn the challenges created by COVID-19 into opportunities for socio-economic transformation ”.
The budget statement, with the theme: “Consolidation, completion and continuation” The budget of “Won Ya Wo Hiee” seeks to get Ghana back on a path of fiscal consolidation and sustained growth. “
The presentation, usually made by the Finance Minister, under the authority of the President, was made this year by the Majority Leader because the designated Finance Minister was receiving treatment for Covid-19 related issues abroad.
The Minister said that the Ghana CARES (Obaatan pa) program will foster closer collaboration with Ghana’s private sector, labor, people, development partners and foreign investors.
The ‘Obaatan pa’ program is inspired by President Akufo-Addo’s conviction that “what our ancestors dreamed of, we will achieve!
“If we inherit dreams and visions from our founding fathers, we should leave the legacy of accomplishments and realities to our children and their children.”
He reiterated that the Government cares about the welfare of the people and the need to create wealth.
The Minister said that the GhanaCARES program will accelerate the Government’s digitization agenda to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness in the provision of public services and will revitalize the housing and construction industry to address the severe housing deficit and create employment opportunities.
It would also establish Ghana as a regional hub, leveraging its position within ECOWAS and hosting the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat to focus on manufacturing, financial services, education, healthcare, aviation and logistics, digital services oil, automobile, tourism, hospitality and creative arts.
The GhanaCARES Obaatanpa program will also support the private sector and entrepreneurs to become a powerful engine for job creation and will actively promote local and international investment, including the use of public-private partnerships and enhance the skills of workers in the Ghana through retraining programs on technical and vocational skills.
“Sir. Speaker, the GhanaCARES program implementation arrangements are in place. Clear budgets have been set and milestones developed.
“We will establish executing units in the relevant MDAs and partner with the private sector, academia and other professionals to facilitate and monitor implementation. There will also be regular institutional commitments to ensure that we achieve synergies and track results in a timely manner, ”said the Acting Minister of Finance.
According to the Minister, the budget issue was based on the fact that over the years each new budget invariably contained a series of new projects that would be initiated at the expense of ongoing projects.
“Not only does this put pressure on our finances, it has historically resulted in arrears as many contractors are not paid on time for the work performed and therefore increases the overall cost of these projects.
“The government, therefore, has decided to chart a new direction from the wasteful specter of incomplete public projects scattered across the country.”
He insisted on the need for governments to use limited public funds responsibly and stated that “our goal is to end the culture of unfinished projects.
The Minister indicated that the main focus of the Government for this year is the fulfillment of the existing commitment and the completion of existing projects, adding that the Delivery Tracker, which the Government launched last year to follow the progress of the projects of infrastructure, showed more than 8,700 in progress. projects in all sectors by the end of 2020.
“That is why the President has instructed his Ministers and heads of all other relevant institutions to focus the Government’s infrastructure energies primarily on continuing and, if possible, completing existing projects in 2021. The era of project abandonment viable projects started with public funds must end. .
The Minister said that as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the year 2020 was a difficult period for Ghana and the rest of the world and “never before in recent history has a pandemic caused such dramatic changes in lives and livelihoods simultaneously. .
The resulting crisis has disrupted supply chains and put undue pressure on economic and financial systems, killing businesses and jobs.
He spoke of government interventions in the face of the pandemic and said the nation was not out of the woods yet.
“As such, fiscal consolidation must be carefully balanced with the provision of some specific fiscal stimuli to cushion the impact of COVID-19 on business and facilitate a rapid and robust recovery of our economy, which we aim to achieve through Ghana CARES. “Obaatan pa program”.
However, the statement said nothing about how much the budget would cost.
