The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has disclosed that the government led by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo budgeted GH¢200 million for free water and electricity for lifeline consumers but ended up spending GH¢143 million.
Utility consumers enjoyed free water supplies from April until the end of the year and this forms part of measures to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced that the government would absorb the water bills for all Ghanaians.
The relief packages were to bring financial and social relief to businesses and Ghanaians as well.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, Ken Ofori-Atta accounting to Ghanaians how the government spent the COVID money gave a breakdown.
He said in the area of free water and electricity for lifeline consumers, GH¢200 million was made available for free water and electricity for lifeline consumers, out of this, GH¢143m utilized.
He stated that Though our response was bold and decisive and compassionate, it has also been costly. Mr. Speaker, you will recall that on 30th March 2020, I made a statement to Parliament that the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy of Ghana following the implementation of the coronavirus alleviation programme commenced.
Furthermore, during the presentation of the 2020 mid-year budget fiscal policy, I indicated that the supplementary request included the programme funding of GH¢19.3billion from various funding sources to support the budget both directly and indirectly. On the expenditure side, an amount of GH¢11.16billion was programmed for COVID-19-related expenses. The difference of GH¢8.14 billion was programme to provide for the shortfall in revenue.
In 2021, the budget programme of a total amount of GH¢4.6billion for COVID-19 related expenses. It is worth noting that the Ministry of Finance mobilizes the needed financial resources while the various COVID-19 interventions and related expenses were implemented by the relevant sector ministries and agencies, he added.
Ofori-Atta also disclosed that the government mobilized in excess of eighteen billion Ghana cedis in its fight against COVID-19.
He indicated that the amount is made up of all the programmes and policies the government has engaged in since the start of the pandemic in 2020.
Mr. Speaker, at this juncture, I wish to dispel the notion that there have been inconsistencies in government data on COVID-19. His Excellency the President intimated during that State of the Nation Address on 30th March 2022, that we had mobilized about Gh¢17.7 billion since 2020 to fight the pandemic.
We have subsequently reconciled the data and I can report that as of end-May, 2022, we have mobilized GH¢18.19 billion to mitigate the effect of the pandemic. Again, when His Excellency the Vice President indicated on 7th April 2022 at the National TESCON Conference that the government had spent GH¢8.1 billion on COVID-19, it was within the context of expenditures for 2020 as I have already indicated, he stressed.
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS