The 2021 Budget statement of government will be presented in Parliament later today.

The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu will present the budget on the express orders of the President.

Ahead of the reading, Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu was appointed as the caretaker Minister for Finance.

A letter to that effect was delivered to Parliament on Thursday.

The Finance Minister-designate, Ken Ofori-Atta, has not been vetted yet due to health reasons and will be unable to deliver the budget.

The Finance Ministry earlier indicated that Mr. Ofori-Atta had been receiving medical attention in the US after dealing with complications from COVID-19.

The Budget is expected to chart a clear path for the country towards post-C0VID-19 economic recovery.

Ahead of the budget, Cabinet on March 8 approved a blueprint expected to put Ghana’s economy back on track in the post-pandemic era.

In the blueprint, known as the Post COVID-19 Economic Recovery Programme, the Nana Akufo-Addo administration’s priority is to pursue policies and programmes that will build a robust economy and create more jobs.

The government is also considering widening the tax net and increasing existing taxes to internally mobilize resources to fund the  COVID-19 economic recovery programme.

This has received some support from an observer with a tax analyst, Dr. Ali Nakyea, urging the government to, for example, tax Ghana’s digital economy to augment government’s revenue inflows.