<<Print>>

The minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, has pledged Government�s commitment to, and support for, making Ghana�s procurement reforms such as cutting wasteful spending and ensuring accountability in the public sector a success. According to him, the government has realized the significance of efficient and effective public financial management of the sector as the cardinal principle to achieving its socio-economic objectives, particularly in the area of poverty reduction. He gave the assurance in a speech read on his behalf by the acting chief director at the ministry, Prof. Newman Kwadwo Kusi, at a special training session on the Public Procurement Act (Act 2003) for heads of government institutions, state owned enterprises and special constitutional bodies. The meeting was organized by the sector in collaboration with the Public Procurement Authority at Dodowa in the Dangme West district. He noted that, in view of the growing budget deficit, the resultant debt and debt servicing costs among some past financial experiences and current problems confronting the sector; the efficient management of public expenditure by state institutions is imperative.The finance minister, therefore, called for effective budget planning and preparation, execution and cash planning and management on the part of heads of governmental bodies. �A full understanding of the budget planning and preparation is essential, not just to derive expenditure projections but also to be able to advise policy makers on the feasibility and desirability of specific budget proposals, from both social and economic perspectives,� he added. The Chancellor of the Exchequer noted that one of the challenges facing the public sector is budget execution as most government institution continue to procure goods and services for which budget provisions do not exist. Dr. Duffuor urged ministries, department and agencies to allocate funds for the training of procurement authority to consider periodic workshops for government institutions in order to strengthen their capacity to successfully compete for government contracts.