He said the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo administration presented a twenty-one billion Ghana cedis expenditure cut in the 2023 Mid-Year Budget Review.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said this is a move that has to be commended by well-meaning Ghanaians.
“I think one of the first things to note is that the appropriation has been reduced by GHC 21 billion and I think for those who pay attention to fiscal policy or to the fiscal framework, that is a good thing except that GHC 10 billion of that is somewhere around interest payment and the rest is spread across the various expenditure lines.”
“Nonetheless, it’s a reduction in the appropriation of the government expenditure and I think that it is something that should give people some comfort, that we are doing well to stay within the deficit constraints that we have imposed upon ourselves. But there are a lot of lessons that I think we need to learn moving forward and one of them for example deals with bolstering their relative stability that the Minister speaks about,” he said.
While acknowledging that a portion of the reduction was allocated to interest payments, the Information Minister emphasized that the overall decrease in expenditure signals the government’s determination to streamline its financial resources and prioritize development initiatives.
He underscored the need to learn from the current economic landscape and make informed decisions to support the country’s economic growth.
Nkrumah emphasized that the government remains steadfast in bolstering financial stability, which was a key theme highlighted by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta during the budget presentation.
He highlighted the importance of this fiscal discipline in achieving economic stability and adhering to deficit constraints set by the government.