Government has begun preparing the 2016 Budget to guide the country's finances in the election year.

The early preparation is to afford the Ministry ample time to put together a comprehensive financial statement.

A statement issued by the Finance Ministry today says various ministries, department and agencies will begin discussions on their various policies for the 2016 budget.

The preparation comes days after Finance Minister Seth Terkper presented a policy statement which reviewed government’s spending for this year.

Joy Business' George Wiafe said the policy hearing will be in collaboation with the National Development Planning Commission.

The following is the full statement from the Ministry.

The Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), will begin Policy Hearings with Ministries, Departments and Agencies from Monday 16^th March, 2015. The Policy Hearings are part of the 2016 Budget Statement and Economic Policy preparation process.

2.  The purpose of the policy hearing is to discuss MDA’s policy objectives as outlined in the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA II), to avoid policy duplications and identify common areas in a sector for collaborative policy interventions and funding. This is the first time the policy hearings are being organised separately from the Technical Hearings, which is a difference approach from the practice of organising both hearings at the same time in recent years. The policy hearings have been structured on sectoral basis beginning with the Administration Sector.

3. The hearings are scheduled from 16^th to 30^th March, 2015 and are going to be jointly chaired by the Minister for Finance and the Director-General of the National Development Planning Commission