Budget review: ‘GH¢20bn cut in expenditure way more than enough’ – Abena Osei-Asare

A Deputy Finance Minister, Abena Osei-Asare has justified the GH¢20 billion cut in expenditure saying it is enough for the country in its current state.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta presenting the mid-year budget review in Parliament on Monday said the government was proposing a downward revision of the Appropriation from GH¢227.7 billion as presented and approved in November 2022 to GH¢206 billion in line with Regulations 24 sub-regulation (3) of the Public Financial Management Act Regulations 2019 (L.I. 2378).

He explained that the country in the first six months of the year had seen improvements in tax revenue and was on course to meet its targets for the year, but oil revenues had fallen short of expectations due to changes in global prices.

“We will, therefore, undertake a downward review of expenditures to align with the underperformance of some of our revenue handles. This will impact the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) and thus reduce the 2023 Appropriation,” he added.

Responding to whether the cut was enough for the country in an interview with Bernard Avle on Point of View on Citi TV on Monday, Mrs Osei-Asare said that “When you look at the year’s goods and services, it is less than GH¢10 billion. The whole MMDAs, their goods and services for the whole financial year is less than GH¢20.”

“So, if you ask that, is the GH¢20 billion enough, it is way more than enough looking at the situation in which we find ourselves.”

The Deputy Finance Minister further said that the government could not also contract the economy more as doing so could hamper a lot of things from taking place.

“You cannot also contract the economy to a certain extent. When you do that, nothing happens, nothing goes on,” she stated.