Government says it has directly or indirectly put an amount of 12.2 billion cedis into the pockets of many Ghanaians since 2017 through its major initiatives and social interventions.

Delivering the 2020 Budget statement in Parliament on Wednesday, the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori Atta disclosed that the Free SHS policy has saved parents a total of 1.8 billion cedis over the last three years.

“Planting for food and Jobs has saved farmers a total of 844 million cedis over the last three years for subsidized fertilizer and a total of 357 million cedis have been put in the pockets of teacher trainees within the last three years in the form of allowances.”

He said nursing trainees have also received a total of 336 million cedis in the form of allowance within the last three years while government continues to subsidise fees for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) which has saved parents a total of 65 million cedis over the last two years. 

Mr. Ofori Atta further mentioned that the electricity tariffs reductions effected by the PURC effective March 15, 2018 resulted in savings of 1.8 billion cedis for a year for residential and non-residential customers which is money in the pockets of many Ghanaians.

“The over 350,000 jobs that have been created in the public sector including the 100,000 NABCO graduates has provided total earnings to them of 2.9 billion cedis and that is money in their pockets.

“Speaker, we should also not forget that government has through the financial sector clean-up, saved the deposits of 4.6 million depositors who would otherwise have lost their deposits,” he added.

Comparing this achievement to the previous Mahama administration, Mr Ofori-Atta said the current government has done more in three years than its predecessor.