2022 budget will focus on economic recovery from coronavirus - Finance Ministry

The 2022 Budget will focus on expanding the economy’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Finance has hinted.

A statement signed and issued by the Ministry’s Public Relations Unit to the Ghana News Agency said the budget would dwell on “creating a climate-friendly entrepreneurial state to address unemployment and import substitution.”

It further mentioned the digitalisation of the economy, skills development and entrepreneurship as among the key issues in the presentation.

Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance, will, on behalf of the President lay before Parliament, the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government on Wednesday, November 17, 2021.

It is in accordance with Article 179 of the 1992 Constitution and Section 21 (3) of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016, (Act 921).

Ahead of the presentation, some financial and economic analysts, as well as professional and trade organisations, have expressed varied expectations on the Budget.

Whereas some analysts have urged the Government not to introduce new taxes, others have also called for the widening of the tax net to enable the government to meet its revenue targets.

The Ghana Union of Traders Associations (GUTA) has, for instance, appealed to the government to implement policies that would reduce the cost of doing business in the country.

The Institute for Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana has also urged the Government to introduce policies that would ensure efficiency in the country’s tax administration.