Govt confident of turning things around, Dr Kumah
Govt confident e-levy would be passed deputy finance minister
A Deputy Finance Minister, Dr John Ampontuah Kumah, has said that government decided to slash the budget because of the delay in the passage of the E-levy and suspension of the bench mark discount reversal.
Speaking on Asaase radio’s ‘The Asaase Breakfast Show’, the deputy minister hinted the delay in the implementation of these revenue measures would affect the projected revenue and therefore the need to reduce the government’s expenditure.
“For instance, because the E-Levy has delayed and even the reversal of benchmark value has delayed, government has announced that first quarter release to all MMDAs will be discounted by 20%."
“So, there is clear commitment, you raise and you spend. You don’t spend what you don’t have. So, we are going to ensure that we stay within the strict measures of the revenue raised,” Asaaseradio quoted.
He, however, noted that the government was confident the levy would be passed and once the level is passed the government would have enough revenue to pass its projects.
The deputy minister added the government was confident of bring the nation back on track with regards to the economic progress.
“We believe we will pass E-Levy, we believe once E-Levy is passed we will stay within budget targets, …it is ok to have positive ratings from all the agencies, it only shows confidence.
“But with or without confidence, we as Ghanaians and managers of this economy, we are very confident of what we are doing and we believe we will put this nation on track just as we have done all these whiles,” he said.
Deputy Finance Minister, Dr John Ampontuah Kumah