MEETING OBJECTIVES OF BUDGET '08

THE Finance and Economic Planning Minister, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, yesterday presented the 2008 Budget and Financial Statement of the government to Parliament, with an assurance that far-reaching measures had been outlined in the budget to accelerate growth and secure the stability of the economy.
The 2008 economic policy, dubbed, “Budget for a Brighter Future”, aims at enhancing agricultural financing and a national transportation policy, the promotion of alternative energy sources, improving regulatory structures for doing business and the establishment of the School Feeding Fund.
The economic policy, which is the last for the Kufuor administration, intends to facilitate wide ranging reforms to deepen the stability of the economy which has been going on since 2001 and leave a lasting legacy for successive governments to build on.
While Members of Parliament (MPs) on the government side commended the Finance Minister after the delivery of the almost two-hour budget statement, their colleagues on the other side of the House described it as “a pile-up document aimed at deceiving the people”. No matter the label that is given to the budget by MPs, the concerns should include how the government will be able to harness the resources of this country such that the ordinary man on the street can lead a more fulfilling life.
It must be stressed that budget statements are mere economic projections. Their objectives can only be attained through self-discipline, transparency in the management of public resources and hard work. Ghana and most Third World countries find themselves in more challenging situations because of globalisation where countries that attempt to adopt the self-reliance model of development face possible boycott of their products.
Faced with this dilemma, some schools of thought call for local solutions to the economic challenges, instead of relying on the donor communities to prescribe harsh conditionalities which, in most cases, do not work.
Last year, the Ministry of Finance described the economic policy of the government as a Good News Budget. Whether at the end of this year the 2007 budget would have attained the objectives of the government will be difficult to determine because the country is still battling with a high unemployment rate, budget deficits, unattractive lending rates and a high cost of living. But no matter the hardships, the economy under this regime has admittedly chalked up a lot of successes, but there is still more to be done.
But, if all Ghanaians commit themselves to the task of attaining the objectives in the 2008 budget, the seeming despair in some Ghanaians can be changed to smiles and hope. What is necessary now is for all the economic gurus, particularly in Parliament, to make inputs into the economic policies, with the view to attaining the best for the country. The people expect an economic turn around for the future betterment of generations.
The Daily Graphic, therefore, calls on our Honourable MPs to desist from the usual polemics and seek consensus on the 2008 economic blueprint of the government so that when the implementation process begins next year, the goals will be achievable. We are, however, not oblivious of the fact that politics is a contest of ideas and Parliament offers the conducive platform for the trading of ideologies to gain the favour of the electorate.
However, we are also of the opinion that since all MPs have the interest of their constituents at heart, they will support the government’s economic policies. Parliament must not shirk the responsibility to interrogate the basis of the economic policy, but it must do so in the spirit of holding the purse string of the government with the sole objective of promoting transparency and accountability in the use of public funds.