The People’s National Convention (PNC) has expressed mixed feelings about the 2022 Economic Policy and Budget which was presented to Parliament by Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance.
It said the party received the budget with mixed feelings because it came with a mixture of some good and bad news.
“Sustaining the flagship policies and programmes such as the free Senior High School, Livelihood Enterprise AgainstPoverty, Digitisation Agenda, Jobs and development initiatives such as the Nations Builders Corp, Youth Enterprise Agency, Youth in Afforestation and NAELP is commendable,” the PNC said.
A statement signed and issued by Janet Asana Nabila, the General Secretary of PNC, described as good news introduction of a new programme, dubbed You Start initiative which if implemented would go a long way to alleviate suffering of the youth.
It said the Business Incubation Centres must be established by implementing agencies to review and assess proposals, selection for funding must be devoid of party politics,
upon selection, financing should be done by the banks to minimise risk of misappropriation and non-payment of loans to successful applicants.
The statement said the new business owners under the initiative must be coached and mentored overtime to ensure sustainability and value for money invested, figures regarding macroeconomics variables, such as inflation rate, debt to Gross Domestic Product, primary balance, amongst others had not been favourable.
It said attribution to COVID-19 pandemic on the economy put questions on claim of strength and resilience of economy before pandemic, because people arefacing difficult times due to rising cost of living, farmers lamenting about inadequate basic farm inputs, traders complaining of high cost of doing business and they expected prudent measures to alleviate their plight.
“For the PNC, the introduction of the E-Levy coupled with proposed 15 per cent increase in fees by state institutions will not ease suffering of the masses, the rates are too high and will discourage citizens from transacting businesses electronically and the government should negotiate with telecommunication companies to either abolish or reduce charges for persons initiating transaction but those who withdraw cash using mobile transaction should pay the full levy.
“Ghanaians should not be taxed for being efficient in cashless, the government must sustain increasing usage of mobile money transactions by huge percentage of unbanked Ghanaians, making it more attractive with affordable charges and not exorbitant ones which underscores policy of digitisation and inclusiveness,” the statement said.
Commenting on the proposed abolishment of road tolls, the statement said road toll collection points were a nuisance, caused unnecessary traffic, and made movement of goods and rendering of services from one point to another costly.
It said removing them should take into consideration revenue collectors at toll booths and bridges and called for alternative livelihood programmes for them who were mostly women and the physically challenged.
The statement assured the citizenry that a future PNC government would institute measures to plug leakages in the economy to increase revenue mobilisation, pursue programmes to rope in more working Ghanaians to pay direct taxes thereby reducing tendencies to indirectly levy them on almost all essential goods and services.
It said a future PNC government would prioritise expenditures to stimulate progress, growth, development and ensure local productions of basic needs thereby cutting down on imports to implement pro-poor policies to eradicate poverty. -GNA
