The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has called on Ghanaians to rally behind the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy as presented to Parliament.

According to him, the budget particularly seeks to support an entrepreneurial environment as a way of tackling unemployment in the country.

The Minster cited examples of Ghanaian entrepreneurs in the past who built strong industries and created jobs as one of the objectives of the government.

Speaking at the launch of the 73rd annual New Year School and Conference, Ken Ofori-Atta said government was looking at ways to finance, train and raise entrepreneurs in the country.

According to him, the 2022 budget statement is a clarion call on Ghanaians to support the government in its quest to promote entrepreneurship.

“Help get the budget so that we see more of the Siaws, the Sikkens, and the Owusus’ and encourage our youth to participate in this risky venture of becoming entrepreneurs. So this forms the primary reason why the 2022 budget is anchored on building an entrepreneurial nation.”

“Essentially, the budget is a clarion call for all citizens to support the trust of the government’s direction in the medium-term of promoting entrepreneurship.”

The government in the 2022 budget is focused on entrepreneurship in a bid to arrest rising unemployment levels in the country.

As a result, the government is launching another initiative to help young people start and grow small businesses.

The initiative, dubbed, ‘YouStart’ is looking to create 1 million jobs with a seed capital of GHS1 billion and would take effect from March 2022.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, in announcing the plan in the 2022 budget, said the YouStart initiative would be a vehicle for supporting young entrepreneurs to gain access to capital, training, technical skills, and mentoring to enable them to launch and operate their own businesses.

“The YouStart initiative which proposes to use GH¢1 billion each year to catalyze an ecosystem to create 1 million jobs and in partnership with the Finance Institutions and Development Partners, raise another 2 Billion Cedis,” he said.

The Minister also revealed that local banks in the country have agreed to increase their SME portfolio up to GHC5 billion over the next 3 years.

“This, Mr. Speaker, results in an unprecedented historic 10 billion Cedis commitment to the private sector and YouStart over the next 3 years,” he added.