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2020 Budget Statement and Economic Policy

2020 Budget Statement and Economic Policy

Right Honourable Speaker, Honourable Members of Parliament, on the authority of His Excellency the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, I beg to move that this august House approves the Financial Policy of the Government of Ghana for the year ending 31st December, 2020.

Mr. Speaker, on the authority of His Excellency the President, and in keeping with the requirement of Article 179 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, and Section 21(3) of the PFM Act 2016 (ACT 921), may I respectfully present the Budget  Statement  and  Economic  Policies  of  Government  for  2020  to  this Honourable House.
 

I also submit before this august House, the 2019 Annual Report on the Petroleum Funds, in accordance with Section 48 of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011 (Act 815), as amended, and a Report on the African Union 0.2 percent Import Levy.

 

Mr. Speaker, in substance, 2019 has been a very good year for Ghana. This is the year that one can confidently say that God’s blessing of the hard work is beginning to manifest, putting us on a positive trajectory for a proper lift. I say so because:

  • We have won some painful but necessary battles for God and country;
  • We have quietly but incontestably achieved significant structural changes for the economy;  
  • We  have  stabilized  greatly  the  macro-economic  turbulence  that  was  all  too regular a feature in the management of the national economy;
  • We have delivered on our flagship programmes;
  • Mr Speaker, the gains made so far are significant.   

It is proper to put this budget into perspective to understand how far we have come. On Thursday, 2nd March 2017, I had the honour and privilege to present the first budget of President Akufo-Addo to this House. At that time, as you may recall, the economy  was  in  a  very  bad  shape,  suffocating  under  a  mixed  weight  of  debts, arrears, very high cost of living, high youth unemployment and the worst growth rate since 1994. Moreover:   

  • Growth in agriculture was declining;
  • Industry growth was in the negative;
  • Interest rates were high;
  • The banking system was weak;  
  • Unemployment was rising; and
  • Businesses and households were working mainly to pay off their utility bills.

Mr. Speaker, this poor state of public finances,  weak policy implementation and lack  of  policy  credibility  resulted  in  Ghana  requesting  an  IMF  bailout  in  August 2014. The economic model being practiced at the time was a simple, unexamined formula  of  tax,  borrow  and  spend  without  a  focus  on  production.  The  previous government resorted to some draconian fiscal measures; notably the increase in the tax burden on many items and activities, including condoms, cutlasses as well as ‘kayayie’.