Finance Minister, Ghanaians look up to you

Last Monday, the new Minister of Finance made a firm commitment to Ghanaians, pledging to help create wealth and improve the lives of all Ghanaians.

He promised to help improve people’s lives by ensuring economic freedom. He also pledged to clean up the country’s public finances and manage the enormous debt inherited in order to create the needed fiscal space, invest in critical infrastructure, while empowering the private sector to create jobs.

Obviously, as the person in charge of the country’s public purse, his words of hope and encouragement should pass as welcome relief for the entire Ghanaian populace and the investor community.

Much as the Daily Graphic would not want to sound pessimistic about the resolve of the Finance Minister to deliver on his promise, we have also not lost sight of the various challenges, both at the macro and the micro levels, which may pose as stumbling blocks to his efforts.

We live in a country saddled with huge debts which are suffocating the entire economy. For instance, the country’s total debt is estimated at GH¢120 billion, which is about 72 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Inflation presently stands at about 15 per cent and interest rates are hovering around 30 per cent on the average. The cedi is also yet to stabilise and the private sector is struggling.

We are told by economic analysts that out of the revenue that will accrue to the government this year, more than 99 per cent will be used to pay interests on the huge debts, the emoluments of public sector workers, including the restoration of allowances to nurse and teacher trainees, as well as settle statutory payments which have been in arrears for many months.

The situation does not only sound alarming but also most unfortunate and it is against this background that the government needs to be careful about how it intends to implement some of its manifesto promises, including the numerous tax cuts which are intended to give businesses, particularly those in the private sector, breathing space.

We are aware that the people expect the government to meet their aspirations and will not take any excuses should it fail to deliver. However, we wish to join in the caution sounded by many economic think tanks to the effect that the managers of the economy need to be careful about how they go about implementing the government’s programmes.

The Daily Graphic expects the government to make its full intentions known about how it will actualise the various promises in its manifesto in its first budget statement, hopefully next month.

But, before then, we also want to challenge the Finance Minister to aggressively start working to block the loopholes in the country’s revenue generation system to enable the entire country to benefit from taxpayers’ contributions to the economy.

The problem with the country concerns the lack of funds and, therefore, ensuring that we rake in more will help reduce the financial headache that has bedeviled our progress.

The Finance Minister can be assured of the Daily Graphic’s utmost support, but we shall not hesitate to remind him of any deviation from the promises the governing NPP made to the people when it was in opposition.