The 2022 Mid-Year Budget Review has been submitted to Parliament for approval by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.
The government’s estimated economic growth rate projection for 2022 has been revised from 5.8 percent to 3.7 percent, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta revealed when presenting the mid-year budget to Parliament for approval.
He claimed that as of June 2022, inflation had risen to 29.8 percent as a result of global events including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In the light of the significant changes in the global environment and our own unique challenges, we have revised our economic growth estimate for 2022 to 3.7% down from 5.8% as stated in the 2022 budget.
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta
In addition, he declared the end of the Nation Builders Corps program and the reinstatement of tolls on the Tema-Accra Motorway in the future.
Read the full statement here
The Fate of the Nation Builders Corp Program
The Akufo-Addo-led administration unveiled NABCo in 2017 as a component of a job development strategy. The program, which originally had a three-year duration but was later extended for an additional year, aimed to engage 100,000 recent graduates.
Although participants were asked to continue working, the program was claimed to have concluded in October 2021. The government claims that GH 2.2 billion was invested in the policy, however, a number of the corps claimed that the government was not paying their allowances.
The NABCo program will terminate on September 1, 2022, and the government stated during the introduction of the 2022 budget that the remaining NABCo trainees will gradually be absorbed into the YouStart program and a Digital inclusion initiative.
Government’s policy is to support dynamic young entrepreneurs to access training and funds to build their businesses and become a significant pool of job providers for their fellow young people
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta
Reinstatement of Road Tolls
Despite eliminating road tolls, the Ghanaian government plans to reinstate them on newly constructed roads.
This is part of a strategy to raise money to cover the construction of new roads through a Private Public Partnership Agreement under the Ghana Investment Infrastructure Fund (GIIF).
This information was disclosed by the finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, on July 25 at a parliamentary hearing on the 2022 mid-year budget.
Criticisms of the Budget Review
Cassiel Ato Forson, the ranking member of the Finance Committee in the House of Representatives, is unimpressed with the administration’s mid-year review of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy.
According to Mr. Forson, the budget does not provide any promise for resolving Ghana’s economic issues.
We have a country that is in crisis economically, everything is not working yet the Minister responsible for Finance appeared before us and said nothing. He failed to address the very concerns of the ordinary Ghanaians
Cassiel Ato Forson
The Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam MP further said, “This government, all that they know is solve every problem with debt. I call it one problem, one loan. That is what this government is practising. Today, our public debt is in excess of GH¢400. The Finance Minister failed to tell us we cannot pay our debts… unfortunately, what we witnessed today is nothing but incompetence”.
Isaac Adongo, the lawmaker for Bolgatanga Central, has also charged the Finance Minister with fabricating economic data. The MP claims that Ken Ofori-Atta is unprofessional and lacks sound judgment for fabricating numbers to make Ghana’s economy appear stronger than it actually is.
When I tell you that man is a danger to us, you think that it is personal. No serious ethical person will do what he came to do. That you are cooking your numbers, you are adding to the expenditure, your revenues are not performing; your expenditures are going up because your interest payment is more…You are paying more COLA. As a matter of fact, your economy is not performing because your GDP is struggling but artificially you are able to get a high GDP to suppress the deficit.
Bolgatanga Central MP, Isaac Adongo
He added that Ken Ofori-Atta was digging the grave to go to jail because the numbers he presented were going to be properly audited.