Deputy Finance Minister, Abena Osei Asare, has outlined in the simplest form for all Ghanaians how the Akufo-Addo government is going to salvage Ghana from her economic recession.

Making reference to the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta's address during a press briefing on Thursday, March 24, 2022 where he highlighted some measures taken by the government to resolve the challenges confronting Ghana, Hon. Abena Osei Asare was without doubt that these measures will solve the problems of Ghanaians.

''Despite the global crisis that's affected us, these are the avenues we're creating to help and live within our means ensuring that the we meet the target that we set for the year 2022 in the budget," she said in an interview with Nana Yaw Kesseh on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'' while clarifying the measures to Ghanaians.

She noted that there are four expenditure items that the government is looking at addressing and these items, she mentioned, are compensation and pension, interest rates, goods and services, capital expenditure.

She revealed that the government is setting aside a sum of 37 billion cedis for these expenditure items.

Hon. Abena Osei Asare further explained that there are three other things that the Finance Ministry has formulated to help government in generating revenues to cushion the economy and relieve Ghanaians.

She mentioned exemption and e-levy bills awaiting parliamentary approval as well as fees and charges, stressing, "the government is using this bill to introduce efficient measures which will reduce the amount we spend on exemptions every year. The next thing is the e-levy which the government was looking at to give us close to about GHc7 billion. When you add all these three revenue handles, we would get a little over 8 billion but, till date, Parliament hasn't yet approved it for us to commence it''.

The Deputy Finance Minister, who doubles as Member of Parliament for Atiwa East, added that the cut on fuel coupons by 50 percent will help the government to generate about 62 million cedis which will also go a long way to help the nation.

Also, the $2 billion financial arrangement by the government is another step to remedy the economic situation, she alluded to and revealed that the Ministry has held a meeting with the finance stakeholders to develop a road map to strengthening the forex sector, hence the need for the $2 billion.

''It's a fact that world prices have gone up and affected everything but the other second thing contributing to the fuel price increments is the lack of regular supply of forex because, in the foreign exchange, they use dollars to buy the fuel. So, if the government can assure them that, regularly, they will get forex to buy their things, it will help a lot and even without the government doing everything but giving them regular supply of forex, it will go a long way to bring down prices.

''Today, by God's grace, the measures we have introduced have been accepted in good faith and has calmed the market down. Today, when you look at the performance of the dollar compared to previous times, it has calmed down now. From yesterday till today, we are told that it has dropped from 7.9 to 7.4 and it is hovering at that rate," she stated.

Hon. Abena Osei Asare furthermore disclosed that the government has adopted measures to encourage industrialization which she believed is a key factor to the progress of Ghana.

''We want to encourage our local production and consume what we produce. Already, we know we have car manufacturing companies in this country helping to expand our industrial sector. So, we want to concentrate on the local production.''

She implored Ghanaians to rally behind the Akufo-Addo administration, promising the government will never let them down.

Expenditure Cutting Measures

The Finance Minister, delivering a speech at the press briefing, listed some measures by the government to resolve the economic challenges which he noted are as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia/Ukraine conflict.

The Minister mentioned:

1. Discretionary spending is to be further cut by an additional 10%. The Ministry of Finance is currently meeting with MDAs to review their spending plans for the rest of the three (3) quarters to achieve the discretionary expenditure cuts;

2. these times call for very efficient use of energy resources. In line with this, there will be a 50% cut in fuel coupon allocations for all political appointees and Heads of government institutions, including SOEs, effective 1st April 2022;

3. with immediate effect, Government has imposed a complete moratorium on the purchase of imported vehicles for the rest of the year. This will affect all new orders, especially 4-wheel drives. We will ensure that the overall effect is to reduce total vehicle purchases by the public sector by at least 50 percent for the period;

4. again, with immediate effect Government has imposed a moratorium on all foreign travels, except pre-approved critical/statutory travels;

5. Government will conclude on-going measures to eliminate “ghost” workers from the Government payroll by end December 2022 among other measures.