Stephen Amoah, a member of the Finance Committee in Parliament, has disclosed that government may not introduce new taxes or levies in the Mid-Year Review and Supplementary Estimate.
According to him, government’s posture will be geared towards adopting measures at stimulating production and growth in support of the economic recovery process.
Additionally, Mr Amoah further explained that the motive of government in the budget will place high premium on job creation.
His comments follow the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta’s presentation of the mid-year budget review in Parliament today, Thursday, July 29, 2021.
“One will have opted for taxes because of the debt to GDP ratio… [And] our debt levels. But then considering the existing hardship, the Covid-19 that has slowed productivity, that has slowed trading activities, that has slowed industrial activities, one would have also said that if you want to tax again, you will deepen the hardship.
“That’s why I’m saying that I’m expecting pragmatic Mid-Term policies and I think my government will not make any serious fiscal changes in terms of our taxes.
“Government will rather look into areas that will create more jobs and also look into strengthening production to generate taxes rather than going straight to also impose additional taxes on the people. I don’t think my government will do that”.
Stephen Amoah
Meanwhile, government is expected to announce projects and programmes to create one million jobs over the next few years.
The 2021 Budget, which was themed ‘Economic Revitalisation through Completion, Consolidation and Continuity’, sought to carefully balance fiscal consolidation and facilitate the recovery of the economy following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Parliament approved GHS129 billion for the services of the government for the 2021 financial year.
Trade and industry sector expectations
Among the sectors which will be under review is the Trade and Industry sector. The 2021 Budget highlighted a few policy measures and programs that would help to increase the employment rate in the country.
Policies highlighted included the African Continental Free Trade Area, ‘1 District 1 Factory’, Digitisation of the economy and the ‘e Ghana COVID-19 Alleviation and Revitalization of Enterprises Support (Ghana CARES) Programme’.
These, government explained, were measures to provide alternative employment pathways for graduates.
It will be recalled that President Nana Akufo-Addo recently in his Eid message noted that government will be announcing projects and programmes under the CARES programme in the upcoming mid-year budget. This, he noted, will help in creating about one million jobs over a three-year period.
Following this, the President expressed government’s determination to “pursue our agenda for jobs creation”. To this end, it will give opportunities “for our youth to nurture their talents for the development of our country”.
“As has been well-publicised, a few days ago, the Ministry of Finance granted financial clearance to the Ministry of Education and the security services for the recruitment of some 11,800 people to beef up their operations. It does not end there. We will through interventions, to be set out in the mid-year budget review, announce plans for the creation of some one million more jobs under the Ghana CARES ‘Obaatampa’ project over the course of the next 3 years”.
President Akufo-Addo
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