2024 Mid-Year Budget: It will produce the same undesirable outcome – Haruna Iddrisu

The immediate past Minority Leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, has pooh-poohed the relevance of the mid-year budget to be presented to Parliament by the Minister of Finance, Mohammed Amin Adam.

He said the mid-year budget will not make any difference in the lives of the ordinary Ghanaian.

“It will produce the same undesirable outcome. It will not improve the economy from its current state. It will not lead to reduction in prices of goods and services,” he said on Accra-Based JoyNews on July 23.

Touching on possible sources of revenue that the budget may contain, he said, “We expect them to reintroduce road toll. We told them not to touch it, but they did.”

With regard to the country’s high debt level, the former Minister of Trade and Industry said “Parliament must share the blame for the unsustainable debt situation. We could have helped in preventing it.”

Mr Iddrisu stressed the need for government to cut expenditure to be able to have a balanced budget.

“An alternative to revenue generation is to cut expenditure, there is too much waste in the system,” he suggested.

He further proposed the implementation of stringent measures at the country’s ports to be able to harness the quantum of taxes that needs to be generated.

According to him there is too much leakage at the ports in the name of exemptions. “Let’s police the ports” he noted.

The Minister for Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam (MP), per Section 28 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921), will be presenting to Parliament, the Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2024 Financial Year today.

A statement issued by the Finance Ministry said that the Mid-year review offers an update on the implementation of the 2024 Budget, with insights into the economic and fiscal performance for the first half of the year, including updates on growth measures, revenue, and expenditure performance, financing, debt sustainability, and related matters as well as the IMF-supported Post Covid-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG).

The document will also highlight budget implementation for the rest of the year and a possible review of proposed policies on growth with a focus on SME growth, status on implementation of key government programmes, revenue measures, and expenditure controls, and financing adjustments based on the half-year performance.

Source:onuaonline.com