Government commits GH ¢ 100 billion to Ghana Cares Obaatanpa program for next four years

Economic news for Sunday March 14, 2021

Source: GNA

03/14/2021

The government of Ghana, in this year’s budget statement, announced a more clinical structural focus on President Nana Akufo-Addo’s transformation agenda as the nation builds on the economic gains achieved so far.

The government would therefore continue to pursue the GH ¢ 100 billion Ghana CARES (Obaatan pa) program, described as the boldest and most important economic stimulus package in the country’s history.

Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Majority Leader in Parliament and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, presenting the 2021 budget statement to Parliament in Accra, said: “In this regard, continue the Ghana CARES program (Obaatan pa) GH ¢ 100 billion, which is by far the boldest and most important economic stimulus package in the country’s history, will enable us to turn the challenges created by COVID-19 into opportunities for socio-economic transformation.

The budget statement, on the theme: “Consolidation, Completion and Continuation” The “Won Ya Wo Hiee” budget aims to put Ghana back on the path of fiscal consolidation and sustained growth. “

The presentation, usually made by the Minister of Finance, under the authority of the President, was made this year by the Majority Leader because the designated Minister of Finance was receiving treatment for matters related to Covid-19 at the foreign.

The minister said that the Ghana CARES program (Obaatan pa) would foster closer collaboration with the Ghanaian private sector, workers, the population, development partners and foreign investors.

The “Obaatan pa” program is inspired by President Akufo-Addo’s conviction that “what our ancestors dreamed of, we will achieve!

“If we have inherited the dreams and visions of our founding fathers, we should leave a legacy of achievements and realities for our children and their children.”

He reaffirmed that the Government cares about the well-being of the people and the need to create wealth.

The Minister said that the GhanaCARES program will accelerate the government’s digitization program to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of public service delivery and revitalize the housing and construction industry to address the severe housing deficit and create jobs.

It would also establish Ghana as a regional hub, leveraging its position within ECOWAS and as the host of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat to focus on manufacturing, services finance, education, health, aviation and logistics, digital services, petroleum, automotive, tourism, hospitality and the creative arts.

The GhanaCARES Obaatanpa program will also help the private sector and entrepreneurs to become a powerful engine of job creation, and will actively promote local and international investments, including the use of public-private partnership and improve the skills of Ghanaian workers through retraining programs focused on technical and vocational skills.

“Mr. President, the modalities for the implementation of the GhanaCARES program are in place. Clear budgets have been established and milestones established.

“We will create delivery units in relevant MDAs and establish partnerships with the private sector, academia and other practitioners to facilitate and monitor implementation. There will also be regular institutional commitments to ensure that we achieve synergies and monitor results in a timely manner, ”said the interim finance minister.

According to the minister, the theme of the budget was based on the fact that over the years each new budget invariably contained a host of new projects to be launched at the expense of existing ones.

“Not only does this put a strain on our finances, but it has always resulted in arrears, with many contractors not being paid on time for the work performed, thus increasing the overall cost of these projects.

“The government has therefore decided to chart a new direction from the specter of wasted unfinished public projects scattered across the country.”

He insisted on the need for governments to responsibly use limited public funds, saying that “our goal is to end the culture of unfinished projects.

The minister said the government’s main goal for this year was to meet the existing commitment and complete existing projects, adding that the Delivery Tracker, which the government launched last year to track progress infrastructure projects, showed that more than 8,700 were underway. projects in all sectors at the end of 2020.

“This is why the president has instructed his ministers and the heads of all other relevant institutions to focus the government’s infrastructural energies primarily on the continuation and, if possible, the completion of existing projects in 2021. The era of the The abandonment of viable projects started with public funds must end.

The Minister said that following the COVID-19 pandemic, the year 2020 has been a difficult time for Ghana and the rest of the world and the world and “never before in recent history has a pandemic been triggered such dramatic changes in lives and livelihoods simultaneously.

The ensuing crisis disrupted supply chains and put undue pressure on economic and financial systems, killing businesses and jobs.

He spoke about the government’s responses to the pandemic and said the nation was not out of the woods yet.

“As such, fiscal consolidation must be carefully balanced with the provision of certain targeted fiscal stimuli to cushion the impact of COVID-19 on businesses and to facilitate a rapid and strong recovery of our economy, which we aim to to achieve thanks to Ghana CARES “Obaatan pa Program”.

The statement was silent on the cost of the budget, however.