Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen, has disclosed that digitization drive in the country will remain crucial in the 2022 budget in a bid to help government generate more revenues.
According to him, due to high debt levels in the country, it is imperative for government to focus on “revenue maximization”, an area he believes government is lagging behind. He explained that clearly there’s “room for growth” as government has set up a “revenue assurance ministry” within the ministry of finance to focus on trying to plug revenue leakages.
“We also feel like the digitisation drive is putting in place the foundation to be able to formalize the economy and create the basis for us to be able to generate more revenue. But it is a fundamental cornerstone or anchor of our budget into 2022, the importance of digitization in deepening and widening the revenue sources”.
Mr Charles Adu Boahen
Speaking at the Stanbic Breakfast Meeting, held today, November 2, 2021, on the theme, ‘Budget 2022: Insights and Recommendations’, Mr Adu Boahen acknowledged that the country continues to struggle with “high debt levels” and “interest rates”.
Due to the “elevated debt levels in 2020”, the Minister of State at the finance ministry stated that the country’s “fiscal space continue to be eaten up by high interest expense”. As such, there is the need to look at how government can reduce the cost of borrowing.
Highlighting on some key features of the 2022 budget, Mr Adu Boahen noted that the budget will address the challenges regarding interest rates which he reckons has had an impact on the ability of the private sector to borrow at an attractive rate to “fund and expand” the economy.
Mr Adu Boahen explained that addressing challenges with regards to job creation, particularly among the youth, will equally be topical in the budget. He indicated that the current economic environment has endeared government to find ways to create a more “entrepreneurial society”.
“So, on the back of that, this budget is focused on expenditure rationalization and optimizing the implementation of flagship and strategic programs…”
Mr Charles Adu Boahen
Attaining herd immunity to achieve productivity
Commenting on the vaccination rate against COVID-19 in the country, Mr Adu Boahen urged the public to get inoculated with the stock of vaccines currently in the country. He insisted that the importance of “herd immunity” through an “aggressive” vaccine rollout campaign should not be underestimated.
“Our people can only be productive if they are healthy… Workforce is still partially working from home and not everybody is in the office. Therefore, I do not believe that our productivity levels have gotten back to where they were prior to 2020. So, it’s important that we get everybody immunized [and] vaccinated so we can get back to normal as quickly as possible”.
Mr Charles Adu Boahen
The budget, Mr Adu Boahen noted, will as well centre on “returning our GDP growth to levels around 5%” in the medium term. He intimated that this can be achieved by looking into investing in the productive sectors of the economy.
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