Government to prioritise ongoing projects over new ones – Ofori-Atta

The Akufo-Addo-led government has said it will focus on ongoing infrastructure projects rather than starting new ones, as part of a wide array of measures to salvage the economy.

This was announced by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta on Thursday, 24 March 2022 at a press conference held in Accra at which he announced a raft of policies measures to get the economy back on track to pre-pandemic levels.

Mr Ofori-Atta said the government will “prioritise ongoing public projects over new projects.”

He added: “This is to enhance the efficient use of limited public funds over the period by finishing ongoing or stalled but approved projects; reduce expenditure on all meetings and conferences by 50 percent, effective immediately.”

Meanwhile, Mr Ofori-Atta has said the Minority Caucus’ stance on the government’s proposed tax on Electronic Transactions (E-Levy) is warding off investors to the country.

According to him, the opposing stance taken against the E-Levy by the Minority Caucus has affected the passage of the bill.

“Parliament will approve the 2022 budget, appropriation and its expenditure plans and turn to vote against one of the key revenue measures that were being introduced, E-levy. The stance of the Minority in Parliament against the E-levy would gravely affect investor confidence and our capacity to implement our programmes,” the Finance Minister stated.

The Finance Minister’s meeting with the Minority over the controversial e-levy ended inconclusively.

The Minority stood its ground and entrenched its position to kick against the passage of the e-levy.

The Finance Minister was hoping to convince the Minority to reach a consensus on the passage of the E-tax but was unsuccessful.