The Minister of Finance, Seth Terpker has stated that government will next year borrow more from the domestic and international market to meet the estimates in the 2016 budget statement and economic policy.
Mr. Terpker said some of the sources of finance to include treasury bills, bonds and loans from commercial banks adding that the Ghana Revenue Authority and the development partners would increase funding.
Presenting the 2016 budget statement and economic policy of government last Friday, Mr. Terpker said government is also cutting waste to help ensure prudent use of resources.
According to him, government has created thousands of jobs for the youth of the Ghana through the various projects that are being undertaken.
“The fixed and mobile telephony and internet subscriptions as at August 2015 stood at over 33 million and 17 million, respectively …About 18,000 housing unit are at different stages of completion; and …we are bring on stream 845 MW of power to add to the generation capacity by the close of the year and providing the necessary investments and guarantees to permanently address our perennial power generation shortfall.”
“These investments have not only provided critical social services to improve the lives of our people, they have resulted in the creation of tens of thousands of jobs for the youth,” he said.
Mr. Terpker added that “notwithstanding these successes, we are mindful of the fact that some risks to the budget and medium term macroeconomic projections persist and new ones could emerge.”
Government has promised to spend within budget in 2016, in contrast to the rife spending of previous governments in election years.
The Finance Minister said Ghana’s economy will grow at a rate of 4.1 percent by December 2015, compared to an initial projection of 3.5 percent. Ghana in 2014 achieved a 4.0 percent growth rate.
The estimation he said is largely due to government’s home-grown policies and the International Monitory Fund’s (IMF) programmes, which have brought good gains at consolidating the economy.
“There are clear signs that our consolidation efforts are yielding positive results making the economy more efficient.
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