Gov�t Must Maintain Fiscal Discipline �EDC

The Government has been advised to continue to maintain the fiscal discipline in the management of the economy which has ensured its relative stability within the first three quarters of the year. However, that should not be done at the expense of the productive sectors of the economy because of its 'impact on the growth of the economy. Mr Michael N. A. Cobblah, Country Representative of the Ecobank Development Corporation (EDC), who was speaking to the media after a forum at the instance of the EDC to discuss the new pension scheme, also called for efficient and prudent project management to ensure that the Government got value for money. One major challenge that analysts have cited as a major cause of the country's development woes is the lack of monitoring and evaluation of government's projects. This has resulted in huge moneys being paid out to contractors who have nothing to show for the work they were supposed to have done. In other instances, the moneys voted and released for specific projects have been diverted into unproductive areas of the economy and, in most cases, for political expediency. That, Mr Cobblah described as most 'unfortunate and noted that until the practice was halted through proper monitoring and evaluation, the economy would stagger when it was expected to grow. The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) has provided the opportunity for many companies which have been financially challenged to raise additional capital to shore up their businesses. Mr Cobblah stated that in recent times, the GSE has faced many challenges and stressed that his potential must not be allowed to wither away, particularly at a time when a new pension scheme was expected to take off, and added that this required that managers of the pension funds look for more investment avenues. Mr Cobblah, therefore, called on the Government to ensure that further divestitures were made through the stock exchange to increase activities of the GSE and to provide various options for investments. "It is necessary for the Government to support the stock exchange to grow, because the benefits to the economy are enormous and' should not be missed," he added. Mr Cobblah said with the new board for the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) in place, it should make a conscious effort to use the GSE as the main avenue to divest state assets to increase its activity. The issue of revenue mobilisation and the need for the government to widen the tax net also came up. In the last three quarters of the year, internal revenue mobilisation from the three revenue collection agencies: Customs, Excise. and Preventive Service (CEPS), Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Value Added Tax (VAT) Service Have recorded a negative variance of 3.3 per cent. On its implications, Mr Cobblah said there was the need for the government to "cut its coat according to its cloth" so as not to spend beyond its budget. As if this was contradictory as far as Government spending was concerned, he was quick to add that, "this should not mean that the government should not spend in the productive sectors because of its strategic reasons and impact on the economy". Another sensitive area' he touched on was fuel prices and the utilities. He stated in no uncertain terms that there was no need for the government to undertake a wholesale subsidisation programme. "The government should not subsidise fuel holistically because such a move favours only the rich in society at the expense of the poor", Mr Cobblah added. To him, Ghanaians should be made to pay. for the full cost of what they consumed so that the Government would have funds to undertake development projects that would be beneficial to everybody.