Waiting for today’s Budget Statement

  Today is budget day. Ordinarily, a budget reading is one of the key moments in the history of any nation. This morning’s presentation by the Minister of Finance, Mr. Kenneth Kuntunkununku Ofori-Atta is important for several reasons. It is the first fiscal policy outline to be presented by the Government of Nana Addo Dankwa […]

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Today is budget day. Ordinarily, a budget reading is one of the key moments in the history of any nation. This morning’s presentation by the Minister of Finance, Mr. Kenneth Kuntunkununku Ofori-Atta is important for several reasons.

It is the first fiscal policy outline to be presented by the Government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the fifth President of the Second Republic.

The fiscal policy outline will give Ghanaians a fair idea of where President Akufo-Addo and his New Patriotic Party administration intends to move this country. To state that expectations are high, is to virtually beg the issue.

Both the people of Ghana and the international community are waiting on the budget to have a fair idea about how this administration intends to explore the potency of market forces to restructure this battered economy.

With domestic and international loan financing taking a chunk of resources available to this nation, the Chancellor of the Ex-Chequer and his technocrats would have to perform some magic to steady the distressed ship of state.

What has added to the usual pressure on the budget day this morning is the number of promises made to Ghanaians on the campaign trail.

We are told, for instance, that the much touted Free Second Cycle Education begins in September. Many are looking up to the budget to indicate where the money for this laudable idea is going to come from.

There was a banter of some sort, following a statement from Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo that the New Patriotic Party intended to source for funding from the Heritage fund to execute its programme of free SHS.

The opposition National Democratic Congress was up in arms against that proposal. An official of the Ministry of Finance had to douse the flames by categorically stating that the Government does not intend to raid the Heritage fund.

Everybody is, therefore, waiting on the budget to point to where the money for that proposal would come from.

The distressed energy sector is another contentious issue. When President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo stated at his maiden State of the Nation Address to Parliament recently that, the previous government left a gargantuan debt of US$2.5 billion in its endeavour to end Dum-so, the statement created an uproar as the Minority caucus in Parliament vehemently opposed to what it called ‘selective amnesia.’

The NDC in the House argued that the President failed to mention what it described as the huge investment the Mahama administration left. What generated further heat was the new administration’s declaration that in spite of the quantum of the debt bequeathed to the nation, Dum-so was never really banished from the national scheme of doing things.

Barely two months into the new administration, Dum-so is back with a bang. The already stressed out Ghanaian, especially captains of industry, are looking for clues to end the power outages. And that clue is expected to come from the budget statement.

These are not the only reasons why today’s budget is that important to Ghanaians. Other key promises like –‘One District, One Factory’ and ‘One Village, One Dam’, are awaiting fulfillment.  Indications of getting these projects off the ground, have to come from today’s budget.

All these expectations aside, the average Ghanaian is looking for relief from the pangs of hunger, diseases and abject poverty starring us in the face. How this administration intends to address these age-old problems of society is expected from the budget statement. Of course, there is also the promise of creating jobs, outlined on the campaign trail.

The Chronicle is not oblivious of the huge expectation out there on how the new administration intends to fund a number of new ministries introduced into the body politic.

The promise of constructing railway lines from Accra and Takoradi in the South, all the way to Paga on the border with Burkina Faso, is exciting the general population. But how this laudable idea would be executed, remains a state secret.

Everybody is looking up to the budget for clues as to how the new portfolios on Railways, Creation of new Regions, Business, Sanitation and others would be funded at a time the government has promised to abolish what it calls ’nuisance taxes.’

There is every reason to look forward to today’s budget statement with bated breath.

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