Supplementary Budget For Parliament

Dr. Kwabena Dufuor, Finance Minister and Economic Planning

Government will today present a supplementary budget to Parliament to fund its projects this year.

The Finance and Economic Planning Minister, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor will be seeking parliamentary approval as he presents the additional financial plan to the august House.

He will also present the mid-year review of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy for the 2011 financial year.

Though it is not clear how much government will be seeking, indications are that the government will be expected to spend several hundred millions of Ghana Cedis on infrastructural projects such as roads, schools among others.

A statement from the Ministry of Finance noted that developments since the last quarter of 2010 in the economy had resulted in some changes in the assumptions underlying the 2011 Budget and Economic Policy presented to Parliament in November 2010.

Some of these developments, it stated, include the passage of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act and the availability of additional resources.

“This has necessitated the presentation of the supplementary estimates to seek approval for the utilization of the additional resources,” the statement said.

It said the resources will be spent on priority infrastructural and social intervention programmes to enhance job creation.

The mid-year review is also to update Parliament on 2010 outturn, as well as progress for the first half of the year.

The 2011 budget, dubbed “Stimulating Growth with Development and Employment Creation”, was anchored on a medium-term macroeconomic framework (2011-2013). It also prioritized some seven thematic areas of the “Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda”.

Though government was applauded for some key initiatives in budget, it also received criticisms for the inclusion of measures such as the margin of increases in some tax components.

The Minority in Parliament, some civil society groups and other interest groups such as the Christian Council of Ghana and Ghana Pentecostal Council have raised questions about the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Bill 2010 and the Petroleum Management Bill.

By Charles Nixon Yeboah