2019 Budget: "We Shall Walk Our Talk" - Senior Minister Assures Ghanaians

Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo says the Akufo-Addo government will deliver on its promises to make Ghana a better place for Ghanaians.

According to him, the 2019 Budget Statement read by Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta at Parliament on Thursday, November 15, 2018; has brought relief to Ghanaians because of the social interventions laid out in the budget by the Government of Ghana to resolve the unemployment situation in the country.

He lamented over what he believes is deception on the part of the Minority in Parliament that the government isn’t up to task.

Speaking on Peace FM’s 'Kokrokoo' with host Kwami Sefa Kayi, Mr. Osafo-Maafo reminded the Minority of the economic mess they created under the erstwhile Mahama regime saying the previous government reduced Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 8.4%, which they inherited from the Kufour government, to 3.7% despite the country’s oil discovery.

He also noted that inflation under the Mahama government rose to 15.4% but the Akufo-Addo administration, in less than 2 years, has reduced it to 9.5%.

To the Senior Minister, Ghana is doing well and so commended Ghanaians for voting for the ruling New Patriotic Party saying due to the good works of President Nana Akufo-Addo, “your votes have become useful”.

“Growth of 3.7, we have brought it up to 7.6 in the third year. Inflation of 15.4 has been reduced to 9.5…We have a budget that will bring more jobs and relief to the economy. So, it means that necessarily we have to appropriately use the nation’s money to create jobs. Ask yourself that will this budget that Mr. Ofori-Atta read on behalf of President Nana Dankwa Akufo-Addo create jobs? The answer is positively yes,” he said.

He further assured Ghanaians that the government’s “1 District, 1 Factory” vision and all other promises will be well-executed, stating emphatically “we shall walk our talk”.

The Senior Minister also touched on the tax on luxury cars saying it is a good initiative to reduce pollution and high fuel consumptions as well as help generate revenues to enhance economic growth.

Mr. Osafo-Maafo asked the government to formulate a policy that will discourage drivers from driving V8 vehicles in cities stating that “as a government, we have to get a policy that will reduce fuel consumption running in the city by using smaller cars, vehicles for intra-city drive. This V8, originally, it was meant for long distant travelling but now, it’s become the only vehicle available for intra-city. We all have to take a second look and ensure we get a vehicle that we get a policy that will help reduce consumption and pollution”.