Finance Minister presents mid-year budget next week
The Ministry of Information has told Citi Business News the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta will be presenting the mid-year budget review to parliament next week.
The Information Ministry is however yet to announce the day.
The Finance Ministry has already told Citi Business News government will be introducing new tax measures to boost domestic revenue mobilization.
But speaking to Citi Business News ahead of the presentation, Economist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr. Ebo Tuckson was of the view that the Finance Minister can use the opportunity tell Ghanaians how the various tax measures announced at the beginning of the year are working.
He pointed out for example that it will be prudent to outline how the Tax Identification Number is encouraging voluntary tax compliance among Ghanaians.
“These are very good initiatives aimed at generating revenues. I’m not sure we can assess the impact now. I expect him to tell us about the impact at the end of the year when he presents the 2019 budget. For now, he can tell us how it is working”
Dr. Tuckson observed that it will be important to do that to encourage others to contribute to domestic revenue mobilization.
Touching on other major government initiatives such as the One District, One Factory project, and Planting for Food and Jobs, Dr. Tuckson stated that it is too early to ascertain the full impact of such projects on the economy.
“We need to give this government sometime before we talk about the impact of some these laudable government initiatives will have on the economy as a whole. The Planting for Food and Jobs, and the 1D1F policy will take some time for them to have the necessary impact,” he said.
He, however, stressed that the Finance Minister can provide some estimates on the number of people that have been affected so far by some of the major policies rolled out by the government.
“What I expect the Minister Finance to do is to let us know the status of these initiatives. He doesn’t necessarily have to tell us direct employment that has been generated. We need to take our time to measure the direct jobs. Anything that he will tell us will be estimated”.
Source: citibusinessnews.com
