Government is protecting public purse as promised – Akufo-Addo

General News of Wednesday, 17 January 2018

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2018-01-17

Nana MediaPresident Akufo-Addo addressed the media earlier today, January, 17,2017

President Akufo-Addo says his administration is working diligently to protect the public purse by putting forth effective and efficient measures to ensure value for money in all its activities.

He said this was needed as he met a “huge public debt in a country with its macroeconomic fundamentals in disarray.”

The President told journalists at his Meet the Press forum to mark his one year in office, “we had to do things differently, and those were my marching orders to all members of the government.

“We have rapidly had to grow and expand the economy, and that can only happen when the fundamentals are in place. The Economic Management team has risen to the challenge and demonstrated that doing things differently achieves positive results.”

He said his government has been managing things differently, protecting the public purse and ensuring that the state gets value for money in all of its activities.

Speaking to the figures, the President observed that, in 2016 the Public Procurement Authority had 622 sole source requests. Out of that number, 98% (577) were approved with 25 rejected.

Also, he said there were 592 requests made for restricted tenders, and 99.15% (587) were approved with five rejections. A grant total of zero savings was made through the procurement process.

“In 2017, our first year in government, 394 sole sourcing requests were made, out of which 223, that is 56.6% were approved, and 171, that 43.6% were rejected. There were 346 requests for restricted tenders, and 167, that is 48% were approved, and 179, 52% were rejected.

“The savings made over the year, as a result, amounted to GHC145 million. As my own mathematics teacher use to say, you cannot argue with figures, and such figures surely provide the incentive to open out government procurement”.

Regarding the country’s debt condition, President Akufo-Addo said the work of the Economic Management team has yielded positive results.

“Real GDP growth has rebounded, recording a growth from 9.3% in the first quarter of 2017, against a figure of 3.5% for the same period in 2016. Latest information indicates that inflation is at 11.8%, down from 15.6% at the end of December 2016.

“The debt situation has improved, with the annual average rate of debt accumulation of 36% in recent years, declining to about 13.6% in September 2016. As a result, the public debt stock as a ratio of GDP is 68.3% against the annual target of 71% for 2017, and end 2016 actual figure at 73.1%,” he said.

Addressing the issue of unemployment, the President also said government is on a good course in stabilizing the economy, to enhance business growth and subsequently create more jobs.

قالب وردپرس