By:? Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh
Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor
Ghanaians from all walks of life are anxiously waiting for the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, to wave his magic wand from his plush black briefcase, and assure the 24 million people of heavier pockets and high living standards next year.
The Finance Minister will present the 2012 Budget Statement to Parliament tomorrow morning, which be the last budget of the current National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, whose first term officially ends in January 2013.
The Mills-led government knows that next year, which is an election year, is a significant moment, not just because of the elections, but for the economy, the ever-enlarging public debt, which is likely to throw the country back into Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) status, high unemployment, an increasing public wage bill, continuous industrial actions, infrastructure deficit, massive corruption, and insecurity in the country.
Ghana?s economy, which has been described as the fastest-growing in the world, with a growth rate of 6.2% this year, and by 5.9% in 2012, compared with 1.6% for the Eurozone this year, falling to 1.1% next year, cannot translate this impressive growth into job creation.
Ghana, the second world?s largest producer of cocoa, began producing oil in commercial quantities in late December 2010, and is expected to hold elections for both Presidential and Parliamentary next year. However, economists, analysts, civil society organisations, the business community, and the general public are lamenting that the government was likely to misapply the oil resources in a highly-charged electioneering period.
When the Business Chronicle hit the streets of Accra, Ghana?s capital city, to find out what were the expectations of Ghanaians, the paper was marveled at the high expectations, as Ghanaians wait for what hope there was for the much-trumpeted ?Better Ghana? agenda, as the Mills? led government draws down the curtains of its economic and social transformation agenda in its last budget statement tomorrow.
Coming on the back of a ?Stimulation growth and Job creation budget?, it appears the government?s economic policy for 2012 would look at how to improve on this by creating more jobs, and also bringing down the budget deficit.
The presentation of the Budget Statement before the New Year has become a permanent feature in recent years.
The move is to ensure that the executive secures the necessary approvals from Parliament before it begins the execution of its policies the ensuing financial year, to allow for a smooth take-off.
A retailer at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Mr. John Yeboah, wants the government, in its last year, to devote more resources to job creation, as well as fulfilling its untouched promises made to the good people of Ghana in the 2008 elections.
He asked the government to address the perennial water shortages in Accra and other cities of the country, adding, ?Most Ghanaians in urban centres spend large amounts of money in the purchase of water.?
Francis Lartey, self-employed, told the paper that the government should allocate a large chunk of money for agricultural mechanisation, and also set up seed money for young people like him who want to go into farming.
This, he said, would motivate the teeming youth to go into cash crop, and livestock rearing.
Madam Habiba Alhassan, a porridge seller at Adabraka, urged the government to provide affordable houses for the urban poor.
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