Support govt’s financing requests to facilitate smooth economic recovery – Finance Minister

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has urged Parliament to support the government’s financing requests to ensure a smooth recovery from the pres­ent economic challenges.

He will, therefore, imple­ment the necessary fiscal adjust­ments after the debt operation is completed and present it to Parliament for consideration and approval.

Presenting the state of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme in Parliament, Mr Ofori-Atta said the country would recover from the current economic crisis sooner rather than later as indicated by Presi­dent Akufo-Addo.

He expressed confidence that with the conclusion of the Domestic Debt Exchange pro­gramme, the economy would ex­perience stability in the exchange rates, inflation and interest rates, bringing businesses and families some respite.

“With the successful comple­tion of the DDEP, we believe that with the sustained support of Ghanaians and this august House, we will recover from this economic crisis sooner rather than later as indicated by H.E President Akufo-Addo. I am con­fident of this that the Lord who has begun this good work will carry it on to completion as Phil. 1.6,” he said.

“We will, therefore, encourage Parliamentarians to support the government secure the Board’s approval for the IMF programme to restore macro-economic stabil­ity, ensure debt sustainability as well as provide critical social protection for the benefit of Ghanaians,” he said.

The Finance Minister also urged Parliament to pass all the outstanding revenue bills which are necessary for effective Bud­get Implementation as well as boosting our efforts at increasing our Tax-to-GDP from less than 13 per cent to the sub-Saharan average of 18 per cent.