The government has no intention to spend "excessively" just for election purposes next year, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, has declared. Rather, he said, the government would focus on limited but critical and high impact-yielding projects in the energy, road, water and housing sectors. “I want to assure you that although it will be an election year, the government is resolved that it will maintain the same discipline we exercised in 2004 in 2008 as it is in no one’s interest to overspend in an election year,” he stressed. Mr Baah-Wiredu was speaking at the third trade and industry forum in Accra on Wednesday. The forum serves as a platform for captains in industry to provide inputs into government’s budgets. It is also used to deepen dialogue between the government and private sector players with the view to finding solutions to the challenges hindering the performance of the private sector. Mr Baah-Wiredu said over the past six years, the macroeconomic performance had improved significantly, adding that “the economy is still robust and resilient and has been able to withstand major external shocks over the past two years.” For instance, he said, the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had grown from 3.2 in 2000 to 6.2 last year, while inflation had dropped from around 50 percent to about 10.5 percent as of July, this year. He said the government expected the positive trend to continue in the coming years, and indicated that the President had directed that the ministry exercised fiscal discipline. On the energy situation, Mr Baah-Wiredu said the government had made a lot of effort to address it, which compelled the government to restructure its budget. So far, he said, the government had spent GH¢222,031,632 on the energy crises from January to date, pointing out that this affected other critical areas of the budget. Mr Baah-Wiredu said preparation for the 2008-2010 budget had started, while the government had concluded the policy hearings and was at the end of the technical discussions of the 2008 budget. According to him, his outfit wanted to conform to the Budget Calendar and present the budget to Parliament by the middle of November, this year. Mr Baah-Wiredu urged private sector operators to meet their tax obligations to enable the government to implement its programmes and provide the much needed infrastructure for the growth of businesses. Participants at the forum commended the government for maintaining the macro-economic stability in terms of reduction in inflation and interest rate. They, however, asked the government to give more tax reliefs and incentives to operators, especially local companies, to enable them to produce quality products to compete favourably with foreign ones. The President of the Governing Council of the Private Enterprise Foundation, Mr Wilson Atta-Krofah, said achieving the stated goals of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and a $1,000 per capita income required an annual growth rate of between six and eight per cent. He, therefore, appealed to the government to improve the competitiveness of the private sector to enable the country to achieve those goals. The Minister of Trade, Industry, Private Sector Development and President’s Special Initiative, Mr Joe Baidoe-Ansah, reiterated his ministry’s commitment to developing a vibrant, technology-driven and competitive trade and industry sector. That, he said, was crucial to creating more employment and propelling economic growth, particularly for rural communities and other vulnerable groups. The Minister of Manpower Development, Youth and Employment, Nana Akomea, stressed the need for the private sector to give input into the national budget, adding that the government saw the private sector as an integral part of the economy. Nana Akomea, who is also the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism, said the growth of the private sector was significant, since it created more job avenues for the youth and eased the burden on the government. Source: Daily Graphic