Month: November 2022

Dr. Ato Forson, Ranking Member on the Committee of Finance has charged government to refence the pensioner in its debt restructuring strategy, and promised fierce resistance from the Minority towards it if it is brought to parliament.

Mr. Ato Forson who was contributing to debate on the 2023 budget Statement and Economic Policy of government on Tuesday said the Finance Minister in presenting the Budget statement created the impression that he was going to engage stakeholders particularly international bondholders, domestic bondholders and the Ghanaian public on the matter of debt exchange (debt restructuring).

However, not long after the presentation, one of the deputy Ministers of Finance, John Kumah announced that the government of Ghana is going to do debt restructuring for domestic bondholders in terms of interest, which implies domestic bondholders will receive zero interest in 2023. In the year 2024, they will get 5 percent of their interest and in 2025 they will get 10 percent of their interest; and going forward they will extend the tenure by 10 years.

According to him, he is surprised that this arrangement is being implemented at the time inflation is in excess of 40 percent; “how do you expect a bondholder not to get interest?”

He accused government of introducing financial repression in the economy and the impact on this is severe.

“Mr. Speaker, can you imagine when a pensioner using his lifetime pension has invested in government bonds and he is only surviving on the coupons, interests that he gets, only for the Ministry of Finance to all of a sudden announce to us that in the year 2023 they are not going to pay interest. Mr. Speaker, how do you expect that pensioner to survive?” and questioned how those pensioners will pay their hospital bills.

“We cannot allow the pensioner to pay for your mismanagement particularly the vulnerable people, Mr. Speaker, that we’ll resist it”.

He cautioned that foreign bondholders are not necessarily foreigners, “they are Ghanaian banks, Ghanaian institutions and Ghanaian businesses that have bought Ghana’s Euro bonds and so if you are treating them, treat them well and be mindful that whatever happens in terms of the ‘haircut’ is going to affect the economy also going forward.

He warned that banks will struggle under this arrangement, businesses will go down, and the repercussions if care is not taken will affect all of us.

Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.com

A deputy Minister of Finance, Abena Asare has called on the Minority Caucus to support government take the country out of its current economic challenges by helping to pass the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government as presented to Parliament by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.

Madam Asare who was contributing on the first day of debate on the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government said the quicker the House is able to pass the budget, the better for the country.

She said Ghana’s economic situation is worrying as the country has no access to the international capital market, and with our currency depreciating by almost 54 percent.

“The quicker we do something about it, the better. And it is in this region, or it is in this light that we are asking our colleagues on the other side to support government with the revenue measures that we have stated in paragraph 212 – 222 of this year’s budget.

Mr. Speaker, we cannot keep the ball down the road because every delay that we delay in passing out this revenue measure means we are pushing Ghana down the drain. As it stands now, our tax revenue to GDP ratio is 11 percent way below that of our peers which is around 18 percent, Mr. Speaker; so clearly, we need to do something about it; we need to raise more revenue to help us push the development agenda and also to stabilize the economy and make things better for our citizenry”.

She is hopeful the reform measures put forward by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA); both administrative and some in technology driven would help increase our tax to GDP ratio to about 18 percent in the medium term and also improve on the way we collect our taxes.

She said measures to make tax collection more efficient are not the only way to improve revenue hence the need to raise some form of taxes to support our fiscal consolidation. That is why is important for the Minority to support the tax measures.

She debunked Dr. Ato Forson’s accession that VAT is currently 21 percent stating that it is rather 12.5 percent, and “government is hoping that the 2.5 percent increase would be passed to help raise 2.7 billion Ghana cedis for development.

She described the VAT as the more sustained way of collecting revenue as it has benefited successive governments under the fourth Republic.

She appealed that we have moved beyond the 1995 events of the VAT, and that both sides of the House should see consider the 2.5 percent increase in VAT devoid of any partisan consideration to make sure we move revenue up for our nation.

Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.com

The Ranking Member on the Committee of Finance, Ato Forson has chastised government for not demonstrating and leaving by its own policy suggestion of moving Ghana’s economy from taxation to production.

Contributing to the debate on the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of government on Tuesday, November 29, 2022, Mr. Ato Forson said government per the 2023 budget statement is rather moving from taxation to more taxation.

He accused government of not being consistent and meticulous with its policy measures, stating that the government is treating its tax policy as though it was a sock they can put on and remove at will.

He said government has introduced 23 tax measures. “Mr. Speaker this is a government that treats policy like socks; policy is not socks for you to put it on and take it out when you want. I’m begging you, if you want to introduce tax policy, you think about it, you do proper analysis before you make a position. You don’t introduce tax policy and 12 months down the line you bring it back. Mr. Speaker, that is really something that we should question the competence of the people that are making this decision. The mismanagement is so clear”.

He also asserts that there is a 2.5 increase in VAT. “Mr. Speaker, you agree with me that 2.5 percent VAT means that our VAT rate would be 21 percent. Simple put Mr. Speaker; we already have five percent VAT made up of GETFund and NHIL. Mr. Speaker, we have one percent VAT on COVID Levy already; if you are to add all of them Ghana’s VAT would be 21 percent statutory rate”

He explained further that this is different from the effective rate which would be about 22 percent, adding that it is the worst in Africa, and that no country in the entire Africa has VAT rate in excess of 20 percent.

He contend that the VAT increase is coming at a time that inflation has gone up percentage change almost 300 percent, from 13 percent to 44 percent and still climbing up.

He thus advised that the tax measures are not the solution to the getting the country out of the economic difficulty. “This tax policy must not be countenance. This tax policy must be thoroughly debated, scrutinized before a decision is would be made on it”.

Mr. Ato Forson hinted that the Minority would make a position on the tax policy in due course, adding that they believe this is not the time to heap more taxes on the ordinary Ghanaians at the time that prices of goods and services have gone up by 300 percent, “it should not be allowed”, he emphasized.

The ranking Member on the Finance Committee was also not happy about the scrapping of the 100 Ghana Cedis threshold for the E-Levy, and contend that it would affect the poor who initially government argued would be protected.

He assured that when it comes to the scraping of the 100 Ghana cedis thresholds for the E-Levy, the Minority would fight it with all their strength and might to protect the poor.

He said the quest by government to also increase the upper limit of personal income tax to 35 percent, when it goes through the income tax would go up. He reminded the House that the government brought this same tax some time ago and within 8 months scrapped it off, now it is back”. Other taxes include reversal of bench mark value, he added.

Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.com

The place of teachers in educating, training, and instilling discipline in children for a better future cannot be overemphasized, and that is why it is always in place to appreciate their contributions at all times.

It is in view of this that the Member of Parliament for Sissala East, Issahaku Chinnia Amidu knowing the relevance of teachers in the educational process is instituting teachers award scheme to appreciate and motivate hardworking teachers to give off their utmost best for the betterment of child development in the area.

The MP who expressed hope that by close of the year the event would take place said the process is ongoing with the help of the directorate of the Ghana Education Service.

The award scheme however, is just one aspect of interventions the MP is involved in to uplift education in the constituency.

While he supported the renovation of the education directorate, other assistance including purchase of car tires were also made to allow for easy movement for monitoring and other administrative works.

A number of infrastructure developments also sprung up. Through his community assisted programme, two schools have been built at Tanvelle, and Katenia, while additional two are in the process to be constructed. Furniture was also provided and distributed to schools.

In all these, the main objective of ensuring improvement in their result of the asic Education Certificate Examination in the area was not lost on him, As such some attention was also given directly to the students.

Mr. Amidu supported the orientation of BECE candidates to adequately prepare them for their examinations to ensure they do not fumble when confronted with the examinations.

Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament for Nkawkaw has initiated a move to brighten the principal streets of the municipality.
Currently, about 500 pieces of led streetlights are being fixed throughout the principal streets of the municipality and is hoped to be completed by close of this month.

The MP is being proactive to ensure the safety of the constituents particularly at night hence ensuring that there is good visibility in the municipal capital, particularly so when the Christmas season is just around the corner.

To ensure the entire constituency benefits from the project, the MP earlier distributed about 800 pieces of streetlights to individuals and assembly members, hence the new development is also to augment the good initiative he started.

Meanwhile, Mr. Joseph Frempong also facilitated the provision and fixing of Solar lights in 10 rural communities including Atawase, Asempaneye No1 to No6, Yawkrom, Boadukrom and Yaasekrom.

Ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament for Akim Oda Constituency in the Eastern Region Alexander Akwasi Acquah has inspected ongoing works on the construction of the Akim Oda stadium.

He assured the contractor and management of all the necessary support from his office and urged them to make sure the project is completed within the stipulated time.

According to the MP, inspections would be made regularly to ensure smooth progress of the project.

The MP recently presented GHc100,000.00 to the management and team of Kotoku Royals Football Club to commence first phase of renovation works of the Akyem Oda Sports Stadium to enable the team to return from Cape Coast Sports Stadium to play on their home soil.

Ghanamps.com