Mr Ken Ofori Atta, the Minister of Finance, says he
has cautiously supervised the country’s fiscal operations and has not
been reckless in the management of finances.
He said this when he appeared before the Ad-hoc Committee of Parliament
on Friday, set up by Speaker Alban Bagbin to probe the allegations for
the motion of censure raised against him by the Minority.
He, however, said the government’s “strenuous efforts to protect the
public purse is what has helped.”
Mr Ofori-Atta insisted that he had, as required of him, always presented
government revenue and expenditure propositions to Parliament, which had
in turn raised no concerns.
“On all occasions, I have come to Parliament to present the annual or
mid-year budget, I have discussed all propositions of government in
revenue and expenditure and financing, and on all these occasions, I
have received approval as Parliament subsequently passed appropriation
bills on them,” he said.
“Every key expenditure made has been supported by this house. Indeed, we
also saw the dire consequences when the house, for months, refused to
pass a major revenue generation item introduced by the Government to
support the financial stability of the economy.”
Mr Ofori-Atta told Parliament’s Ad-hoc Committee that “Parliament’s
delay in passing the E-levy has cost the country.”
The Minority in Parliament are calling for the dismal of the finance
minister over the poor handling of the economy.
The cedi has seen its value drop by over 50 per cent compared to the
United States dollar in the first ten months of this year.
The development had since placed the cedi as one of the worst in the
world according to ratings by Bloomberg.
Fiscal recklessness leading to the downward trend of the cedi was one of
seven grounds raised by the Minority to demand the dismissal of the
finance minister.
Per the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released by the Ghana
Statistical Service (GSS) on Wednesday, November 9, the country’s
inflation rate has hit an all-time high of 40.4 per cent in October 2022.
The data said food and non-food inflation also rose to 43.7 per cent and
37.8 per cent, respectively.
GNA
