{"id":468044,"date":"2018-02-27T12:39:43","date_gmt":"2018-02-27T12:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2018\/02\/27\/govt-releases-gh%c2%a21-1-billion-to-support-flagship-programmes\/"},"modified":"2018-02-27T12:39:43","modified_gmt":"2018-02-27T12:39:43","slug":"govt-releases-gh%c2%a21-1-billion-to-support-flagship-programmes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/02\/27\/govt-releases-gh%c2%a21-1-billion-to-support-flagship-programmes\/","title":{"rendered":"Govt releases GH\u00a21.1 billion to support flagship programmes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"medsection1\">\n<!-- End of html generated by this->header() --><\/p>\n<p class=\"floatLeft\">Business News of Tuesday, 27 February 2018<\/p>\n<p class=\"floatRight\"><strong>Source: <\/strong>Graphic.com.gh <\/p>\n<p>2018-02-27<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-left\">\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/24334665.295.jpg\" alt=\"Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta 2018 Budget\" title=\"Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta 2018 Budget\" width=\"295\" height=\"167\" \/><span class=\"image_caption\"><span>Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"noPrint\">\n<div id=\"537626303\" style=\"width:300;height:250;margin:0;padding:0\">\n<p>\t\t  <noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" name=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" src=\"http:\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/afr?auid=537626303&amp;cb=151125813973067\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\"><a href=\"\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/rc?cs=b2ad7fa7fd&amp;cb=151125813973067\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/1519735183_471_ai\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"clear:right\">The government had, as of the end of January this year, released more than GH\u00a21.1 billion to support its flagship programmes.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to fulfilling its pledges to the citizenry, the move is also intended to stimulate the economy, create more jobs, among other things.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing a cross-section of financial journalists in Accra on Monday, the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, gave some insights into the performance of the economy and the commitments made by the government to stimulate economic activity.<\/p>\n<p><b>Disbursement breakdown<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Of the total amount disbursed, GH\u00a291.5 million has been released to support the construction of factories under a plan dubbed: \u201cIndustrialising Ghana from the ground up\u201d, as part of the One-district, One-factory (1D1F) initiative; GH\u00a22.5 million for the free senior high school (SHS) programme and GH\u00a2105 million to support the Planting for Food and Jobs programme.<\/p>\n<p>An amount of GH\u00a2126 million has also been released for the national identification (ID) programme.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of contracts, GH\u00a2400 has been released under the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP); GH\u00a2100 million for the Ghana National School Feeding Programme and another GH\u00a2100 million for the Scholarship Secretariat.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/content.jwplatform.com\/players\/iyd5I2fx-GtVgZhNx.html\" width=\"600\" height=\"350\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\" allowfullscreen=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>Clearing arrears<\/b><\/p>\n<p>In the area of reducing the government\u2019s liabilities, Mr Ofori-Atta said as of the end of 2017, the government had managed to clear about GH\u00a23 billion in arrears, as against the budgeted GH\u00a23.7 billion.<\/p>\n<p>He said as of the end of February this year, an additional GH\u00a2600 million of the arrears had been cleared.<\/p>\n<p>Explaining further, he said the Ministry of Finance had taken a serious view of the report of the Auditor-General that raised red flags over some of the claims made by contractors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are being extremely cautious about what we pay to save the state money which could have ended up in the wrongs hands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Last January, the Auditor-General cancelled more than GH\u00a25 billion in claims from contractors, a phenomenon which had raised eyebrows and forced the government to ensure that payments were properly staggered to prevent either non-existent payments or over-payment to contractors.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta gave an assurance that the claims of those contractors would be sorted out as the months rolled by, adding: \u201cOur strategy, going forward, is to clear the validated stock of arrears in accordance with our 2018 budget programme.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>Macroeconomic updates<\/b><\/p>\n<p>On macroeconomic updates, the government managed to reduce the rate of price increases (inflation) from 15.4 per cent in 2016 to 11.8 per cent at the end of 2017 and further to 10.3 per cent as of the end of January this year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis puts the projection to have single-digit inflation by the end of the year on course,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Explaining how that happened, he attributed the success to the government\u2019s fiscal consolidation and tight monetary policy, noting that the projection of 8.9 per cent end-year inflation was feasible.<\/p>\n<p>On interest rate, he said there were signs of it dropping drastically to hover below 20 per cent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government is also shifting focus to reduce the annual budget gap and rely more on domestic revenue mobilisation as part of efforts to actualise the President\u2019s dream of having a \u2018Ghana Beyond Aid\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/content.jwplatform.com\/players\/OtK4rX2J-GtVgZhNx.html\" width=\"600\" height=\"350\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\" allowfullscreen=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>Debt accumulation<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Mr Ofori-Atta said the government had worked hard to ensure that debt accumulation had seen a significant decline from 47.7 per cent in 2013 to 13.5 per cent as of November last year, \u201cdue to the prudent management of the economy\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He said the government had also changed the debt mix from short-term to medium and term long, adding that \u201cthe cost of debt has reduced to create fiscal space\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He also noted that the market risk, roll-over risk, among other things, were also improving \u201cour ability to meet our debt service obligations\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/content.jwplatform.com\/players\/CfBDIOzw-GtVgZhNx.html\" width=\"600\" height=\"350\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\" allowfullscreen=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>Reforms<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Mr Ofori-Atta said the level of success achieved so far was hinged on a number of factors, including shifting the focus of economic management from taxation to production, streamlining exemptions and automating the ports.<\/p>\n<p>Others are enhanced tax audits, improvement in tax compliance and promulgation of the Earmarked Funds Capping and Realignment Act to cap transfers to earmarked funds to 25 per cent of tax revenues to free fiscal space for development and reduce rigidities in budget.<\/p>\n<p>The rest are the implementation of the Single Treasury Account (TSA) which improved cash flow, enforcement of the Public Procurement Act which significantly reduced sole sourcing, resulting in substantial savings, execution of the zero central bank financing through a memorandum of understanding with the Bank of Ghana and the expansion of the role of the Auditor-General to cover the metropolitan, municipal and districts assemblies (MMDAs).<\/p>\n<p>Mr Ofori-Atta gave an assurance that with the performance so far, in spite of the challenges, the government was poised to ensure that the achievements trickled down to the people to feel them even more strongly in due course.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/content.jwplatform.com\/players\/AxDwKUg0-GtVgZhNx.html\" width=\"600\" height=\"350\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\" allowfullscreen=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/content.jwplatform.com\/players\/mlURclk4-GtVgZhNx.html\" width=\"600\" height=\"350\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\" allowfullscreen=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><!-- uploaded by: 72 updated by: 72 --><\/p>\n<p><!-- Start of html generated by this->footer() -->\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a style=\"display:none\" rel=\"follow\" href=\"http:\/\/megatheme.ir\/\" title=\"\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633\">\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Business News of Tuesday, 27 February 2018 Source: Graphic.com.gh 2018-02-27 Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta The government had, as of the end of January this year, released more than GH\u00a21.1 billion to support its flagship programmes. In addition to fulfilling its pledges to the citizenry, the move is also intended to stimulate the economy, create more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":437543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-468044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}