President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has admitted that the road to economic recovery will be long and hard for Ghana but his administration has s
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has admitted that the road to economic recovery will be long and hard for Ghana but his administration has started on a good footing by accepting the country is in a difficult place.
Mr Akufo-Addo said difficult decisions that will get the country out have been taken.
As part of the measures to deal with the challenges facing the economy, President Akufo-Addo reduced the salaries of all his appointees by up to 30 percent.
Mr Akufo-Addo said this during a meeting with Council of State members at the Jubilee House in Accra on Tuesday March 22.
He said “The Minister for Finance is going to have major engagement with the nation on Thursday where he is going to be in the position to lay out specifically the measures that we have taken or we intend to take to correct or put the ship of sail better.”
Mr Akufo-Addo further observed that the challenges that are facing Ghana are similar to those pertaining in many countries around the world.
He noted that it is no secret that Ghana is going through economic turbulence. He said the government has the ability of finding solutions to the challenges.
“It is no secret that our economy is going through difficult times. It is also no secret that we are not alone in that exercise. The many of the phenomena that we are facing are phenomena that are apparent in many other parts of the world but that doesn’t therefore mean that government is impotent in trying to find solutions,” the President said.
The Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta also announced some measures to tackle the problems.
Mr Ofori-Atta announced on Thursday March 24 that with immediate effect, the government has imposed a complete moratorium on the purchase of imported vehicles for the rest of the year.
He said this will affect all new orders, especially 4-wheel drives.
“With immediate effect, Government has imposed a complete moratorium on the purchase of imported vehicles for the rest of the year. This will affect all new orders, especially 4-wheel drives. We will ensure that the overall effect is to reduce total vehicle purchases by the public sector by at least 50 percent for the period,” he said.
“Again, with immediate effect Government has imposed a moratorium on all foreign travels, except pre-approved critical/statutory travels; Government will conclude on-going measures to eliminate “ghost” workers from the Government payroll by end December 2022;
“Discretionary spending is to be further cut by an additional 10%. The Ministry of Finance is currently meeting with MDAs to review their spending plans for the rest of the three (3) quarters to achieve the discretionary expenditure cuts; ii. these times call for very efficient use of energy resources.
“In line with this, there will be a 50% cut in fuel coupon allocations for all political appointees and Heads of government institutions, including SOEs, effective 1st April 2022,” he added.
COMMENTS