Matters arising from 2023 budget

The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, presented the 2023 Budget to Parliament yesterday, in spite of the controversy that had erupted between the Majority and the Minority groups in the House over whether they would allow him to present it or not, and also over his censure. See our front page lead story.

The intense political rivalry in Ghanaian politics sometimes breeds factionalism in the political space, which is a danger to our democracy, as it involves groups pushing their interests, to the detriment of the national interest.

It is important that we pursue a bipartisan agenda in matters of extreme national importance. We must learn to surrender political biases and take a bipartisan stand on issues that promote our national interest.

Last Wednesday, speaking ahead of the budget presentation, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, had said the Minority Caucus in Parliament felt let down and betrayed by the attitude of the Majority group for not supporting the process for the removal of the Finance Minister.

Fortunately, the budget presentation has been successfully done; what remains to be done is the debate in the plenary of Parliament and, subsequently, the passage of the appropriations to allow for the budget implementation next year.

For now, it is gratifying that the budget brouhaha has finally been put behind us.

This is a positive development, especially when the economy is in the woods and any misstep or wrong move will send us farther south as we seek economic recovery.

While we are treading on the path to recovery, we must be seen to be transparent and doing the right things at the right times to bring confidence in the economy in order to experience a much faster turnaround.

There are new initiatives in the budget, the government having introduced measures aimed at boosting the local productive capacity of the country.

This move, which forms part of the government’s seven-point agenda to restore macro-economic stability, is expected to help cut down on imports and their associated pressure on the local currency.

To boost the capacity of local producers, the Finance Minister announced that the government would, among other things, cut the imports of public sector institutions that relied on imports, either for inputs or consumption, by 50 per cent.

He said the government would work with the Ghana Audit Service and the Internal Audit Agency to ensure compliance in that regard.

The Daily Graphic supports the government’s decision to reduce imports by half by the end of next year. Even though the measure is quite radical, it is important that drastic measures are taken in that regard, especially now that our import bill is $10 billion.

No wonder, the Ghanaian cedi has struggled this year, especially to hold out on its own against the major international currencies because of the huge demand by importers.

It is instructive to know that the government has initiated discussions with the Graphic Communications Group Limited to explore the feasibility of producing paper locally, using the by-products of the cultivated rice in the Economic Enclave at Asutuare as raw material.

It is envisaged that the imports of paper will be replaced and more jobs created.

We believe that the decision is long overdue, considering that newsprint and other printing materials are imported, adding to our ballooning bill and also putting pressure on our currency.

We will follow through to see to the final implementation of this laudable initiative because it will potentially change the game for our newspaper and printing industry, as well as those along the printing and publishing value chain, through the creation of jobs.

This initiative must not be allowed to gather dust on the desks of policy makers. There must be a strong commitment to see it through, with clear implementation timelines. The benefits thereof cannot be exchanged for anything.