The government and its development partners have begun a five-day meeting in Accra to explore areas in which the partners can provide budgetary support for Ghana. The meeting is being held under the Multi-Donor Budgetary Support (MDBS) programme, which began in 2003 and under which the partners have contributed loans and grants to support the country's budget. They have also worked with the government to accelerate reforms and strengthen budget formulation, execution and management. In a speech read on his behalf by a Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr. Seth Tekper, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, acknowledged the likely effects of the global credit crunch on the economy, noting that added to that difficulty was the fact that in 2008 the broad budgetary performance was below expectation due to lack of fiscal prudence. "In the first half of 2008, global food and crude oil price shocks led to higher inflation and fiscal deterioration. We did not respond adequately by curtailing expenditure even as the prices for our exports held rather well," he said. The crisis, he said, presented a window of opportunity for Ghana, in the sense that the country was being forced to take a critical look internally, with the aim of improving revenue generation, expenditure management and diversification of exports. Dr Duffuor said the policy thrust of the 2009 budget was to reduce deficit to sustainable levels, improve the current account situation to ease pressure on the exchange rate and work towards a single-digit inflation. He added that the government was determined to enforce fiscal discipline, reduce significantly unproductive recurrent expenditure and improve tax and non-tax revenues. "Nonetheless, we intend to accelerate and expand infrastructural development in the roads, energy and water sectors on a priority and productive basis. We shall partner the private sector and donors to achieve accelerated growth and provide employment for our people," he said. Dr Duffuor said the government intended to increase total revenue from GH¢4.8 billion in 2008 to GH¢5.94 billion in 2009 and added that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had been invited to take a comprehensive look at the country's tax structures and revenue administration. The Head of the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID), Mr. Mike Hammond, noted that Ghana could not escape the impact of the global financial crisis and urged the government to put to good use funds that would flow from the donor community. He said the MDBS was aimed at reducing poverty through die generation of equitable growth and pledged to continue to support Ghana's development process. Source: Daily Graphic