On Monday, July 31, 2023, Ghana’s Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Ken Ofori-Atta presented before parliament a review of the 2023 Budget and Economic Policy of government.
Highlights of the minister’s presentation included the revision of government’s appropriation downwards from GH¢227.7 billion as presented and approved in November 2022 to GH¢206.0 billion.
The minister while announcing no new tax measures also told parliament that government was not going to require a supplement to the budget.
On the issue of the performance of the economy, Mr Ofori-Atta while admitting to the challenges faced by the economy announced that the country has made a significant turn towards recovery.
On Sunday, August 6, 2023, Mr Ofori-Atta appeared as a guest of state broadcaster GBC’s Talking Point program where he discussed further contents of the mid-year budget and key economic issues.
“If I look at 2022 where we were with regards to the escalating prices that we saw, inflation moved to 54% or so, exchange rate declined by 50%. It was really a time of great despondency and uncertainty and then we were not clear where we were going to be with the IMF... so confidence had really sapped and the international market had also closed down on us.
"So then, we looked at today and then we see where inflation has fettered down to 42.5%... from 54% in December to 42.5% is a clear indication. I think one of the issues as Ghanaians is that we work hard to bring down inflation to 7.9%.
"People say we don’t eat inflation so it doesn’t matter and suddenly we are educated of the need for macro-economic stability,” he justified his “turning the corner comment” in parliament.
Watch the minister’s full interview below:
GA/SARA
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