NDC gov’t missed all IMF targets – Prez. Akufo-Addo

SONA-2017-620x406President Nana Akufo-Addo has revealed that Ghana missed nearly all targets set for the country under  the International Monetary Fund(IMF) Extended Credit Facility program of US$918 million .

According to him, government missed the targets due to financial and fiscal indiscipline in the management of public funds.

Delivering his first State of the Nation Address in Parliament, President Akufo-Addo blamed the erstwhile John Mahama administration for  expending beyond the budget, after it experienced a similar budget overrun in the 2012 election year.

He stated for example that government missed a budget deficit target of 5.3 percent to 9 percent in 2016.

“The previous government promised Ghanaians that the reckless public expenditure that characterized the 2012 election year would not be repeated in 2016. Mr. Speaker, the promises to the Ghanaian people were however not kept. In fact, virtually all the targets under the IMF programme as at December 2016 have been missed. Fiscal indiscipline once again reared its head in the 2016 election year”, he said.

He disclosed that, total projected expenditure for 2016 was GHS43.9 billion, representing 26 percent of GDP, but actual expenditure amounted to GHS 50.3 billion, representing 30.2 percent of the GDP.

“The full facts of the situation have not been put before the Ghanaian people, it appears from what we are finding out that some GHS7billion of arrears and outstanding payments were circumvented by the very public financial management system that was put in place to prevent such occurrences,” he added.

He assured that the expenditures are currently being audited to ascertain how the public funds were used.

President Akufo-Addo further disclosed that, revenue performance was poor, with the actual target at 33.2 billion, representing 19.9 percent of GDP, while the targeted revenue was 39.9 billion, representing 22.7 percent in 2016.

He stated that, the country’s debt as a percentage of the GDP has also hit 74 percent, representing GHS122 billion.

Economy won’t collapse under my watch – Nana Addo President Nana Akufo-Addo however stated that, he will not allow Ghana’s economy to collapse under his watch, despite inheriting a challenging economy from the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.

The President revealed that, the “reality of Ghana’s finances are quite stark as a result of policy choices.”

According to him, “we find ourselves in the situation where Ghana’s total revenue is consumed by three main budgetary lines. Wages and salaries, interest and payments and amortisation and statutory payments.”

These three items alone, according to him, account for 99.6 % of Ghana’s revenue.

-Citifmonline

ABOUT: Nana Kwesi Coomson

[email protected]

An Entrepreneur, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communications Executive and Philanthropist. Editor-in-Chief of www.233times.com. A Senior Journalist with Ghanaian Chronicle Newspaper. An alumnus of Adisadel College where he read General Arts. His first degree is in Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (major) and History (minor) from the University of Ghana. He holds MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Energy with Public Relations (PR) from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who studied at Clark Atlanta University in USA on the Business and Entrepreneurship track.

View all posts by: Nana Kwesi Coomson  

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ABOUT 233TIMES

233times is a Ghanaian media house which serves as a major source of exclusive interviews ,music and video downloads, news and more.

233times reports on major events,news covering entertainment, politics, sports, business, technology, etc from within Ghana, Africa and beyond.

We have a platform for the amateur artistes to portray their staggering talents ...more...

CONTACT US

For further enquiries, please contact us via our contact us page link: CONTACT

WE ON SOCIAL MEDIA. FOLLOW US


To advertise with us or make enquiries, please visit 233times.net/advertise or call Selorm (Selorm) | Selorm (Nana Kwesi)