Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
As part of the Akufo-Addo government’s post-COVID-19 economic recovery efforts, managers of the economy will come out with creative revenue mobilization measures to fund projects earmarked for execution as well as other social intervention initiatives.
This was disclosed to journalists yesterday by the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, ahead of the presentation of the 2021 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, slated for tomorrow in Parliament.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah stressed the need for the government to increase its revenue streams in order to embark on useful projects for Ghanaians.
According to him, the government needs creative revenue mobilization measures that will enable it roll out its policies for the 2021 fiscal year.
“Between 2017 and 2019, we made great gains in our economy, as the President outlined in his address to the nation. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has dealt a very big blow to the economy. One of its devastating effects is that it has gravely hampered growth.
“The consequence is that growth has suffered, and our debt situation has gotten worse, and COVID is a significant reason. The implication is that over the next four years, we have to gradually start what the economists call fiscal consolidation by trying to reduce the debt burden,” he said.
Extra work
He explained that what this means is for the government to work to raise some more revenues to fund some of the country’s debts as well as fund the already existing expenditure, and to ensure that the ever-growing needs of Ghanaians are attended to.
“So, as we are getting ready for the Budget, now is a good time to have a conversation around fiscal measures or revenue measures. What can we do to be more efficient in raising revenue from some of the old revenue measures? Are there new revenue measures that we can consider?” he asked.
Ghana’s economy was on a smooth rise between 2017 and 2020, recording improvement in various areas such as growth in Gross Domestic Products (GDP), micro economic stability, single digit inflation and stability of the cedi. However, the influx of the coronavirus pandemic dealt the Ghanaian economy a blow, eroding the gains government recorded.
Come together
Touching on ways the country can surge forward from the COVID induced setback, the Information Minister called for an ‘all hands to be on deck’ approach to tackling the challenge.
He said the country needs a concerted effort from relevant stakeholders on revenue measures that would help put the economy back to its previous state before the COVID hit the country’s shores.
“I am encouraging that now is the time for academia, civil society groups, people across the political divide who have an understanding of managing the economy and its related matters to come together and begin to explore what will be the best revenue measures that will not burden the people but help us to raise some more revenue to clean up the challenges that we are facing currently,” he stated.
