According to him, the components of the budget indicates the government’s commitment to realizing all the promises it made to Ghanaians during the 2016 election campaign period.

[contextly_sidebar id=”SfJUQ0QoZZjN2jg6bIK2NWf9m9dWh6A1″]Dr. Bawumia made the comments when he attended a Muslim intercessory prayer at the Central Mosque in Accra, as part of events to mark the country’s 60^th anniversary.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, during the presentation of the 2017 budget statement and economic policy, announced that the government has earmarked various amounts for the implementation of flagship programmes such as one-district one-factory, and one-village one-dam.

It had also allocated some amount as seed money for the Zongo development fund, and the free Senior High School policy.

The Minister also announced that the government had abolished a number taxes including those on the importation of spare parts and the 1% special import levy.

But Seth Tekper, a former minister for finance under the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC), expressed dissatisfaction with the budget statement, raising a number of questions including government’s decision to scrap levies on ‘kayayei’ only, when other people in that bracket also pay the same levies.

He also raised concerns that the scrapping of taxes on the importation of spare parts will result in dumping of inferior goods in the country. But in a rebuttal, the Vice President, Dr. Bawumia, said all the plans announced in the budget will help make the lives of Ghanaians better.

He also assured that, the government intends to implement more policies that will promote the country’s development.

“This is just the beginning. There is more to come from the president, Nana Akufo Addo, and so we are asking for your prayers for the President and Ghana.”

“The President wants us all to live harmoniously and work hard to achieve the dreams that he has for this country.”

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @jnyabor

The post 2017 budget presents new sense of hope – Bawumia appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The sector hit 7-year low record by contributing only 19% to the country’s GDP, down from the 2009 contribution of 31.8%.

Others sectors, industry and services, however, saw a significant performance in the year 2015, and also contributing more to the country’s total GDP.

The infographic below presents an outlook of the performance of key sectors of Ghana’s economy as announced by the then finance minister, Seth Tekper, in his 2016 budget statement and economic policy address before parliament.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @jnyabor

The post Ghana’s 2015 economic highlights under Mahama [Infographic] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Finance Minister Seth Tekper confirmed this in an interview on the Citi Breakfast show on Friday [November 25].

Some labour unions in the country including the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) and Ghana Medical Association (GMA) earlier this month threatened to embark on a strike if government did not immediately transfer their pension contributions to their private fund managers.

The Chairman of the Forum of Public Sector Labour Unions and Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG, Dr Isaac Bampoe told Citi News, “our demand was that the second tier should be transferred to our custodian banks but as we speak now, nothing has been done”

But according to the Finance Minister, the government is actively working to address their concerns.

Seth Tekper told host Bernard Avle that the demands of the labour unions could not be exactly satisfied because their demands called for the elimination of the validation process is against public financial management practice.

“What the labour unions are saying is that the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) is a regulatory  institution and is not an implementing agency and therefore, when the money is received by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department it must be paid to their banks directly.”

“We are saying, when you do that, you are removing a very important element of public financial management which is validation. The Controller is not equipped to do the validation, so can we bring in SSNIT for example, that is equipped to do the  validation before the payment.”

“Yes we are owing, there is a schedule for payment, and we are on it,” the minister said.

According to Seth Tekper, the value of the monies will not be lost while a lasting solution is being sought.

“We are taking steps. We are not keeping it [monies]. The Auditor General does the validation; we have brought them on board because they do all forms of audit which often delays because of the various validations they do; they are helping us with payroll and others. We are straining the internal audit agency to some of these things.

“We are saying that given that, it is a regular flow that comes in all the time, what you need is an institution that can do the validation with that expertise,” he said.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @jnyabor

The post Auditor General validating pension for unions – Seth Tekper appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.