Deputy Finance Minister-designate, Thomas Nyarko Ampem, given the dwindling external aid from major donors to Ghana, said; “It’s about time we plan our lives without aid”.

He referred to the recent cancellation of funding support from the United States of America through USAID, which would create a funding gap of $156 million for Ghana this year.

Answering questions during his vetting before the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Monday, Mr Ampem said he would support the substantive sector minister to leverage digital technology systems to rake in revenue for the state.

The nominee pledged to leverage the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) platform to prevent procurement breaches and, therefore, would support the sector minister to help the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to control expenditure and improve transparency and accountability.

The GIFMIS platform is a software system that helps government to manage public finances in Ghana.

The nominee said he would support the sector minister to increase the tax revenue to GDP ratio from 13.8% to 18% and bring down inflation from 23% to 8 per cent plus two or minus two.

The nominee expressed his commitment to support the sector minister to implement key indicators spelt out in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

Mr Ampem said he would support the sector minister to leverage electronic digital technology to aid the various Assemblies to collect market tolls efficiently.

On the 24-hour economy policy, the nominee said private companies that would be enrolled onto the policy would receive a reduction in electricity tariffs when working during the night.