Deputy Finance Minister, Dr. Alex Ampaabeng has confidently projected that Ghana is on track to meet its inflation target rate of 15% at the end of the year.
Speaking at the Eastern Region Townhall Meeting in Koforidua on Tuesday, Dr. Ampaabeng cited positive economic indicators, including a 6.7% growth in the industry sector, to support his belief that Ghana is on course to achieve its 15% ± 2 budgetary targets.
“Currently, our growth, as I said, is 4.7, and it is interesting to know that industry in the first quarter grew by 6.8 percent, which is almost what the pre-pandemic era we were recording was, indicating that things are really working. When you have the industry performing, that is a strong indication that the economy is on the way to rebounding.
Inflation, as I said earlier, is trending downward.”
“It is still very high at 20.9 percent, make no mistake with that, and we do accept it, but benchmarking to the 54 percent we had in 2022, the country has done tremendously well, and I have every confidence in saying that by the time we get to December 2024, we will meet our budgetary target of 15 percent plus or minus two.”
He added that the government has strengthened its buffers with its gross international reserves standing at 3.1 months of cover and a positive trade balance.
“We have built very strong buffers to make sure that we have no issues with imports, and currently our gross international reserves stand at 3.1 months of cover. And as I said earlier, we have a positive trade balance there.”
Dr. Alex Ampaabeng also stated that the government is committed to implementing the IMF PCPEC program, introducing an independent fiscal council, and collaborating with the Bank of Ghana to ensure key gains are achieved through the implementation of fiscal and monetary policies.
“We are also going to work and will continue to work with the Bank of Ghana in implementing the fiscal and monetary policies to ensure that the key gains that we have achieved, we actually continue to hold on to that and even continue to do better. We are also going to stay focused on implementing the IMF PCPEC program to ensure that all the gains that we have achieved so far stay on track.”
“My minister has also hinted that we are working on reinstating the fiscal rule and also introduce a fiscal council, an independent fiscal council, to ensure that there is robustness in our PFM overall.”
He further reaffirmed the government’s commitment to ensuring transparency in public finance management and controlling government expenditures ahead of this year’s general election.
“We are going to hold the line to our budget. Even though we are in an election year and Ghana has so much history of bloated budgets in an election year, the message from my boss to you all in Koforidua and those watching me across the country is that under the leadership of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, and in the finance ministry under the leadership of Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, Ghana will hold on to the line, will hold on to the budget, and there will be no budget overruns.”
“That is why we did not seek an extra when we went to parliament. We will stay within our limit and our budgets. We will not use the election as an excuse to overspend like it has been in previous governmental years. This year will be an exception”
Story by: Alexander Kuuku Osei-Baidoo | univers.ug.edu.gh
