Finance Minister Set To "Swerve" NDC Minority Group Today???
All attention will be focused on Parliament today as the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta presents the mid-year budget review.
The number one issue on the minds of everyone is whether or not the ruling government will increase VAT/TAX as being speculated.
Earlier this week, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) alleged that the government was going to increase not just taxes, but VAT.
However, by the end of the Finance Minister’s presentation, Ghanaians will know what the true picture is.
Meanwhile, Peacefmonline.com sources at the ministry say though the Akufo-Addo government has not managed to reach their revenue target for the month under review, they have found innovative ways to ensure that the tax net is widened and clearly defined.
Per our sources, unlike how the erstwhile "Mahama administration tried to taxed everything, Nana Akufo-Addo is not seeking to put the tax burden on the poor" as a result, "there is NOT going to be a VAT increment," the source intimated.
Below is the performance of the economy in 2017 as against 2016.
1. Growth rebounded strongly to end 2017 at 8.5% up from of 3.7% in 2016;
2. Inflation moderated to 11.8% down from 15.4% in 2016;
3. The fiscal deficit reduced from 9.3% of GDP in 2016 to 5.9% in 2017;
4. The primary balance improved from a deficit of 1.4% of GDP in 2016 to a surplus of 0.6% in 2017;
5. The gross public debt-to-GDP ratio reduced from 73.1% in 2016 to 69.8% in 2017;
6. Interest rates reduced generally. Interest rates as measured by the 91-day Treasury Bill rate reduced from 16.4% in 2016 to 13.3% in 2017.
In a related development, oneone a that is set to get tongues wagging will be the galloping rate of the dollar against our local currency.
Peacefmonline is reliable informed that Government will puff out its chest by claiming the Cedi has been relatively stable and recorded the lowest depreciation of 2.4% against the dollar for the first 6 months of 2018 compared to 17.2% (2012), 3.4% (2013), 26.7% (2014), 26.1% (2015), 3.3% (2016) and 3.7% (2017).
<<Print>>