Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta is in Parliament to present his third budget in government, the first outside the purview of the IMF. The Minority has predicted doom and hell for the budget, but the government says the 2019 budget will offer hope.

Ken Ofori Atta

 In his usual white attire, the Finance Minister is in the house and begins his presentation of the budget.

He says that government has made some strides but we are not there yet.

“We still have a long way to go. We are paying for the years the locusts have eaten. We are moving forward in the right direction. We are on course to exiting the IMF.”

“There is evidence of macroeconomic discipline that was lacking in previous years.”

As a result, there has been 

Declining economic growth that fell from 14 percent 2011 to 3.7 percent in 2016;

Declining growth in agriculture and negative growth in industry;

Rising unemployment that resulted in the formation of the Unemployed Graduates Association;

High Fiscal Deficits reaching 9.3 percent of GDP in 2016; 

Fast-rising Public Debts which pushed the debt-to-GDP ratio to 73.1 percent at the end of 2016; 

Fast-falling Cedi, affecting even the meagre profits that street hawkers struggle to make;

There were weak and unstable banking systems. Ghanaian businesses were working to pay electricity bills and diesel because of the dumsor.  In under two years, we have changed some of these things.”

“A change in the management of the economy from incompetence to competence; a change from macroeconomic instability to stability; change from a weak banking system to a more stable banking; change from a manual process at the ports with its attendant corruption to electronic process; a change from dumsor to that of power; a change from sole sourcing to competitive bidding which has saved the country billions of cedis. A change from graduate unemployment to employment with the NABCO programme; a change from a dead colonial railway sector.”

“We have implemented the following policies: abolished excise duty on Petroleum, reduced Special Petroleum Tax, abolished Special Import Levy. These policies and many others are pointing to a stable economy.”

“Economic Growth which declined to 3.4% in 2016 is now 8.5% in October 2018.”

“The government is on course and we shall not return to Egypt,” he says.

With the successes chalked over the last two years the 2019 budget will; 

Speak to the needs of Ghanaians

reflect a commitment to building human capital

Provide hope for job creation and protect the public purse

This is the budget that small businesses will be happy about.

Budget 2019: MACRO ECONOMIC FIGURES AT A GLANCE FROM 2016-2018