Cabinet, after a three-day meeting at Peduase Lodge has approved a blueprint expected to put Ghana’s economy back on track in the post-pandemic era.
In the blueprint, known as the Post COVID-19 Economic Recovery Programme, the Nana Akufo-Addo administration’s priority is to pursue policies and programmes that will build a robust economy and create more jobs.
Briefing the media on the development, Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said the blueprint will among other things focus on Ghana’s fiscal regime and macroeconomic situation.
“If our stability has been shaken because of the need to stretch our resources to respond to COVID-19, and if the fiscal anchor which was the deficit that we were trying to bring down to 5% [has not materialized], and if we are now watching it become clear from the Bank of Ghana figures that are coming in that our debt to GDP ratio is getting worse because of the COVID-19 programme, then you can bet that these two will become some of the key parts of the post-COVID economic recovery programme.”
The minister said the government is looking to invest massively in the government’s flagship programmes as well as sectors of the economy that will stimulate the economy and ensure a quick recovery in a way that will ensure growth and also create more jobs.
According to Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the cost of the Economic Recovery Programme will be announced in the 2021 budget expected to be presented to parliament by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu on Friday, March 12, 2021.
Meanwhile, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah says the government is considering widening the tax net and increasing existing taxes to internally mobilize resources to fund the post-covid economic recovery programme.
