FTSE 100 +0.64%
Pound/Dollar -0.32%
Brent Crude Oil +0.06%
Cocoa +0.06%
Euro/Dollar -0.05%

Ghanaian Politics

Government doing a lot to achieve fiscal balance – Richard Ahiagbah to NDC

By : cd on 07 Aug 2023, 11:55     |     Source: myjoyonline

Richard Ahiagba

The Director of Communications of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah has rebuked the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for its constant criticism of the government.

Mr Ahiagbah says the NDC is fond of criticizing the government no matter the efforts being made to address economic challenges.

In a Twitter post on Wednesday, August 2, Mr Ahiagbah said President Akufo-Addo is doing a lot to achieve fiscal balance.

According to him, the Finance Minister mentioned most of these efforts in the 2023 Mid-Year Budget Review, however, the NDC is engaged in propaganda.

“We have turned the corner, and are on the path to macroeconomic stability. The government is being fiscally disciplined. The mid-year budget reported an estimated GHȼ21 billion in expenditure cuts, but somehow the NDC has not talked about this key performance indicator.”

“Please inform the NDC about this significant cut in government expenditure, at mid-year, in case they missed that page.”

“More is being done to achieve the desired fiscal balance to support growth. We are in it together so let’s work together to build back stronger & better.”

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta in presenting the mid-year budget review in Parliament on Monday said the government was proposing a downward revision of the Appropriation from GH¢227.7 billion as presented and approved in November 2022 to GH¢206 billion in line with Regulations 24 sub-regulation (3) of the Public Financial Management Act Regulations 2019 (L.I. 2378).

He explained that the country in the first six months of the year had seen improvements in tax revenue and was on course to meet its targets for the year, but oil revenues fell short of expectation due to changes in global prices.

“We will, therefore, undertake a downward review of expenditures to align with the underperformance of some of our revenue handles. This will impact the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) and thus reduce the 2023 Appropriation,” he added.