Financial Analyst, Sydney Casely-Hayford has cautioned the Finance Minister against providing only figures during the presentation of the 2015 budget report in Parliament on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cA budget is not about numbers. It\u2019s not something that you come and you just rattle numbers\u2026If you do that, you reduce the budget to simply an arithmetic exercise and that is not what the budget is supposed to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Finance Minister, Seth Terkper will on Wednesday present to Parliament, the budget statement and economic policy<\/strong> <\/span><\/a>for the government for 2015.<\/p>\n [contextly_sidebar id=”DubQudqFB9UClVMuZ0WaYgXAkAx08OPL”]Government is expected to announce some major austere measures to be implemented in 2015 following demands from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).<\/p>\n The Minority has warned the government not to omit the implications of the bailout programme with the IMF<\/strong><\/span><\/a> form the budget statement.<\/p>\n Speaking on Eyewitness News<\/strong>, Casely-Hayford pointed out that a budget statement is to enable citizens to determine \u201cwhether or not you [government] have a grip on the future of the country on a year to year basis.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt has to be a report that will hold people accountable for what they actually claim they will do over a period\u2026so I am not looking forward to hearing the numbers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n According to the Financial Analyst, the Mahama-led government has been unable to fulfill its set targets which were announced in the 2014 budget statement.<\/p>\n He admitted that the government \u201calways has a lot more information than we have\u2026but I don\u2019t think that this government has performed well even at the mid-term stage.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that the \u201cindicator of success or failure is always the way the people on the streets perceive the policies that government puts in place.\u201d<\/p>\n Expectations<\/strong><\/p>\n The Financial Analyst said he is expectant that the budget statement will include measures aimed at increasing the revenue base and reducing government expenditure.<\/p>\n He stated that it is imperative for the government to increase the revenue base and by devising mechanisms which will bring the informal sector into the formal economy.<\/p>\n \u201cIf government does that, I am sure it will be able to bring in something close to about GHC 2billion per anum.\u201d<\/p>\n Casely-Hayford also mentioned that the government must produce \u201ca very, very practical way on which it is going to control its expenditure.\u201d<\/p>\n He proffered tow solutions including taking a critical look at the education and health sectors and also figure out the private sector can be brought on board to help these two critical sectors of the economy.<\/p>\n He added that the Mahama administration must properly decentralize the economy to allow Districts and Municipalities and Metropolises to take responsibility for their expenditure.<\/p>\n The Financial Analyst was optimistic that if these measures are considered by government, \u201cwe will start getting back on track.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not going to be done in a year or two so they have to brace themselves up for a lot more criticisms but a lot more solutions can be done if we start today,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By: Efua Idan Osam\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
\nFollow @osamidan<\/a>
\n