Ghana’s Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is seeking Parliament’s approval to spend nearly GHC86 billion on programmes and initiatives in 2020.
This amount is about 21% more of what the government is likely to spend for this year.
The Minister made this known when he presented the 2020 budget in Parliament on Wednseday (November 13, 2019).
Mr Ofori-Atta in his presentation said that GHC21.7 billion nearly 25% of the planned expenditure, will be used to pay interest on the government’s debt. About GHC23billion of the total amount will be spent on wages and salaries.
The government hopes to spend more than 50% of what it spent on infrastructure in 2018.
The government allocated 9.7% (GHC8.3 billion) of the budget for goods and services this includes arrears clearance.
The government is hopeful that it would generate GHC67.1 billion in revenue in 2020 even though it has missed its revenue targets in the last four years.
Mr Ofori-Atta said it is possible to meet the revenue target for 2020 because of expected improvements in tax compliance and reforms in revenue administration.
Meanwhile, Mr Ofori-Atta has reiterated that the Akufo-Addo-led government will not overspend in 2020 which is an election year.
Previous governments have overspent in election years despite similar promises. But the Finance Minister said this government is committed to controlling the election-year budget deficit especially since it has passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act
Next year’s deficit is estimated to be GHC19 billion, representing 4.7% of GDP. This deficit will be financed from both domestic and foreign sources.
The foreign financing of the deficit will amount to GH¢10.6 billion while domestic financing will amount to GH¢8.3 billion.
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