The Minority in Parliament has described the mid-year review of the 2014 Budget as a foreboding of further economic hardships for Ghanaians.
The Minority Spokesperson on Finance, Dr Mark Asibey-Yeboah, told the Daily Graphic that “on the score of the variables”, as presented by the Finance Minister, there was no hope that the economic conditions of the Ghanaian would improve.
He said the Finance Minister had, at the beginning of the year, promised that inflation would be kept at nine per cent by this time of the year but it had now risen to more than 13 per cent.
The rate of exchange of the cedi to the US dollar, which was GH¢ 2.2 in January 2014, was now GH¢3.4, while the budget deficit had also risen sharply, he said.
Any promise of a brighter future by the minister, in Dr Asibey-Yeboah’s view, did not deserve to be treated seriously.
The CDB loan
The spokesperson said prior to the signing of the documents for the China Development Bank (CDB) loan, the Minority had advised the government not to go for a loan with a commitment fee as high as one per cent, as contained in the agreement
“That was because by the terms of the agreement, the government would have, by the end of this year, paid $70 million on the undrawn balance, an amount that was exorbitant.
“The government, however, ignored the advice,” he said.
He said it was refreshing now that the government had decided to reduce the amount sought under the CDB agreement but advised it to negotiate for a lower commitment fee to save the country millions of dollars.
Request for extra spending
Dr Asibey-Yeboah described the request by the Minister for Finance for more money to spend as reflecting the “character of the government” and said as a result of huge spending, the budget deficit would continue to rise.
He described the Mahama administration as one which continued to “borrow more, spend more, tax more and have nothing to show for it”.
