Mid-Year Budget Review must show how job initiatives are doing

Business News of Wednesday, 18 July 2018

Source: citibusinessnews.com

2018-07-18

Ken Ofori Atta   PensionKen Ofori Atta, Finance Minister

As Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta prepares to present the Mid-Year Budget Review tomorrow.

Mr. Ofori-Atta is expected to among other issues show, how government is performing so far in its initiatives aimed at creating jobs.

In presenting the 2018 Budget earlier in February, the Finance Minister said the Youth Employment Agency will increase its enrolment levels from about 62,000 to 120,000 this year.

But, it is unclear how many jobs have been created so far under this agency.

This will be one of the major areas Ghanaians will be expecting the Finance Minister to clearly outline how the policy has impacted on ordinary Ghanaians.

Also Ghanaians will be expecting to know how many jobs have been created under specific programmes and projects in the areas of Agribusiness, Green Jobs, Industrial Parks, Business Incubation, ICT, Apprenticeship and Skills Development. All these were captured in page 116 and 117 of the 2018 budget.

According to the Finance Minister, Government is of the belief that these interventions will generate 65,000 job opportunities for the Youth.

Speaking to Citi Business News ahead of the review, Economist Dr. Ebo Tuckson said the government should indicate the current status of some of these initiatives to inform Ghanaians.

“It doesn’t mean he has to tell us how many direct employment has been created because we need to give them some time for them to have a critical assessment of these projects so as to be able to measure the actual jobs that have been created,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Ken Ofori-Atta in 2018 budget also said that the three Technical and Vocational Training Institutions will together train 8,000 person in various vocational trades. He added that NVTI will test and certify 45,000 vocational skills candidates while the MDPI will train 1,400 persons.

But Dr. Lord Mensah holds the view that these policies are long-term hence government must be given some space to implement them.

“It is too early for us to call for those numbers because the macroeconomic successes that we’ve chalked are still in the air. It has not dripped down into the real economy.”

This year’s review has received huge public attention following indications there will be an announcement of tax increases.

Other issues such as government’s expenditure and revenue generation will also be of interest to Ghanaians

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