The government under President John Mahama must show commitment to fiscal discipline and credibility to complement monetary discipline being pursued by the Bank of Ghana, executive secretary of the Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA), Dr Joe Abbey has stated.
�With a huge deficit staring us in the face, it must hold the line and assure Ghanaians that it would avoid succumbing to any more election pressures which bring nothing but more spending,� he said.
In a recent interview with The Finder, Dr Abbey described as a good signal government�s message to investors in and out of Ghana that it would vigorously pursue the policies of the late President.
He, however, maintained that �the remaining and crucial task is for government to lead the way by sending a clearer message that we would be more restrained in our fiscal behaviour and watch the excesses in our spending behaviour.�
According to him, moving Mr Amissah-Arthur from the Bank of Ghana to join government as a Vice President was a strong signal for continuity, maintaining, however, that much would depend on government�s expenditure patterns in the light of the recent presentation of a supplementary budget to Parliament.
Government, prior to the demise of late President Mills, came up with a supplementary budget which indicated that the country�s spending expectations had to be revised upwards, including higher expenditures that were not budgeted for.
Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor in a mid-year review of this year�s budget statement asked Parliament to approve an amount of GH�2,613,407,346 as supplementary budget .
The amount is meant to meet expenditure in areas of fiscal commitment made last year, payments of deferred wages resulting from the phased migration of public-sector workers onto the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP), utility and fuel under recoveries as well as other expenditure measures such as debt-servicing cost and transfers to Districts Assemblies� Common Fund.
According to Dr Joe abbey, �This is the thing that we�ve been worried about, that our election year excesses still haunt us though it�s not solely a Ghanaian problem.�
Dr Abbey pointed out that the call for fiscal restraint was a national one and not limited only to government.
�We can�t leave it to the government of the day alone; all of us need to say that we are committed as a nation to assure people who think well of us that we will be restrained in our demands and expenses,� he said.
According to him, the issues that reflect our election years involve the wage bill, which is now bigger than what had been provisioned for and then the continued subsidy for energy.
He stressed the importance of unity within the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), saying that the unity that characterised the aftermath of the President�s demise should not be a flash in the pan.
�We should resolve to learn from that unity that was displayed all over the country and other political parties must join and behave properly towards each other instead of the accusations, insults and acrimony.�
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