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A member of Parliament’s finance committee, Dr Stephen Amoah says the government has what it takes to create a million jobs for young people in the next two and a half years.
Speaking on PM Express on Monday, Dr Stephen Amoah said that while the government may generate enough revenue, borrowing to undertake this project cannot be called bad.
“We are still collecting income. I don’t think raising $ 100 billion is too important for a serious government to focus on (jobs). I know our budget revenue generation has two main weapons, taxes and debt. The situation we find ourselves in, the income, we may not reach our benchmark, so inevitably and uncontrollably we will have to rely on debt and there is nothing wrong with that if you don’t have money. another option. So we must not create jobs? he asked.
According to him, in the years to come, these jobs created will eventually provide the government with sufficient tax revenue to settle its unpaid debts.
“It’s pretty good for a long-term goal, to create jobs today, jobs could develop industries, you generate income to stabilize the economy.” It is the best mechanization to harmonize your tax policy parameters. It is happening all over the world. Can’t say that because there is a problem, you can’t generate income, and your debt stock grows so you just sit idle and die? You won’t be creating jobs? No, what you need to do is not increase the burden on people and that is why we are not trying to take taxes away from them, ”he explained.
But former deputy information minister Felix Kwakye Ofosu called the Akufo-Addo-led administration’s goal of creating a million jobs for young people impossible within two and a half years. to come.
Also speaking on the show, he argued that the country’s growing stock of public debt made it a Herculean task for the government, with the exception of Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, revealing that the government would not borrow to undertake this initiative.
“In 2016, when the nuclear power plant was everywhere screaming and condemning us (NDC) for allegedly mismanaging the economy, our deficit was 6.3%. It is possible to manage the pandemic and control the economy. Even without the pandemic, in 2018 the deficit was 7%, in 2019 it was 7.5%. Higher than what they came to meet.
“For the Minister of Finance to come to Parliament and say that he will create a million jobs and say that he will not borrow to do so is an almost impossible task to achieve,” he said. he declared.
Nonetheless, Nhyiaseso constituency MP Dr Amoah was optimistic that the government could create the job opportunities promised as it created more jobs in the agricultural sector at the start of the pandemic.
“When we said we were going to do free SHS, our brothers said it was not going to be possible but now it is possible,” he added.
Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, presenting the 2021 Mid-Year Review of the Government’s Budget and Economic Policy Statement and Supplementary Estimates for the year, revealed that government spending exceeded total revenue generated from January to June of this year, by GH ¢ 22.3 billion.
However, he said the country’s transformation agenda is still ongoing, thus committing the government to create one million job opportunities for young people in the next two and a half years.
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