Minority vows to oppose 2022 budget
Parliament commences debate on 2022 Budget
The Ranking Member of the Finance Committee in Parliament, Cassiel Ato Forson, has said Ghana’s economy is in crisis as they have diagnosed it of “stagflation”.
According to him, stagflation is a situation where there is slow growth and joblessness resulting in the rise in unemployment in the country.
He adds that the rise in unemployment is alarming and has become a threat to national security.
“The economy is in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and requires immediate attention. Mr. Speaker, permit me to diagnose the malaise of the Ghanaian economy. The Economy of our beloved country is suffering from STAGFLATION WITH ACUTE DEBT OVERHANG SYNDROME - “SADOSES”," he said
“Rising inflation due to skyrocketing increases in fuel and food prices. Unemployment rising at an alarming rate and becoming a national security crisis because of the negligible impact of real sector growth on employment generation,” he added.
He urged government to address the current economic crisis by seeking help from IMF to save the country of critical expenditure.
“Mr. Speaker, I would urge the government to seek the right prescription and dosage for the “SADOSES”.
"This government had the opportunity to address the huge debt overhang by accessing the Debt Service Suspension Initiative put together by the IMF under which we would see our debt service suspended to give us some much-needed breathing space and channel the savings into critical expenditure.
"There would not have been the need to impose the draconian and killer taxes this government has heaped on us to survive. This government chose instead not to take advantage of this because they would have been required to maintain fiscal discipline. They chose rather to overspend in order to win the 2020 elections and this is why we are in this mess.” He concluded
On the 17th of November 2021, the Minister of Finance of Ghana, Hon. Ken Ofori-Atta presented to parliament, the 2022 national budget.
Among the policies expected to be implemented is the Electronic levy (E-levy), which involves the introduction of taxes on electronic transactions such as mobile money (momo) transactions in the country.
Fees and charges of government services have also been increased by 15%.
