The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta on Wednesday, 15th November, 2017 presented the 2018 Budget Statement and Economic Policy to Parliament of the Republic of Ghana.
The second budget presented this year is under the theme “Putting Ghana back to Work”. It aims at initiating social development policies and coordinating programmes which focus on creating good fiscal environment for the private sector to thrive and create employment opportunities.
The Finance Minister presented on the floor of Parliament the 2017 Sectorial Performance and Outlook For 2018.
Ministry Of Food and Agriculture
Under the agriculture sector, the minister indicated that the launching of “Planting for Food and Jobs” aims at creating jobs for most of the youth in Ghana.
He again indicated that 500,000 farmers are yet to be registered and 2,700 extension agents were recruited to support the programme.
He further stated that government will construct 50 small dams and dugout for additional 147 hectares of irrigable land for crop production.
Another important field of agriculture the minister talked about is the cocoa sector. He said that the government has projected crop size of 850,000 tonnes of cocoa and has maintained the producer price of cocoa at GH¢7,600 per tonne in spite of a 30% decline in international cocoa prices.
Ministry of Energy
Under the energy sector, the minister stated that government will increase the installed generation capacity by about 487MW (Cenpower; 340MW, Early Power Phase 1; 147MW) to meet the growing demand of electricity.
He further stated that rural electrification will connect 1,796 communities to the national grid under the programme in the year 2018.
He indicated that 50,000 solar lanterns will be procured for distribution to poor off-grid rural households.
Ministry of Business Development
The Finance Minister said that there is an on-going construction of Green House Estate which comprises of 75 units at Dawhenya in the Greater Accra Region.
He indicated that the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP) and the National Business Plan Competition have been launched.
He stated that in 2018 Government will develop and implement a comprehensive National Entrepreneurship Policy and continue to facilitate and support private sector business entrepreneurial development.
Ministry of Education
The Minister under this sector indicated that the Capitation Grant was increased by 100% from GH¢4.50 per capita to GH¢9.00.
The Minister again informed Parliament about the implementation of the Complementary Basic Education (CBE) Programme and further expansion to 14 more districts to benefit an estimated 40,000 out-of-school children in 2018.
The minister stated that the implementation of the free Senior High School programme was able to absorb 353,053 first year students.
He further explained that a projected 52,000 trainees will benefit from the Teacher Trainee Allowance in the 2017/2018 academic year.
Ministry of Health
The Finance Minister in his speech under the health sector said the restoration of the Health Trainee Allowance covered 54,840 trainees from 77 Public Health Training Institutions nationwide.
He again indicated government’s willingness to focus on activities directed at reducing mortality, especially maternal and neonatal, disability and improve the quality of life, through increasing access to quality health services and improving efficiency in governance and management of the health system in 2018.
Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources
Under this sector, the minister indicated that the Dam Safety Regulations LI 2236 was adopted to support the development, management, commissioning and decommissioning of diverse water storage facilities throughout the country to enhance the implementation of the “One-Village-One-Dam” initiative
He again informed Parliament that government will provide 200,000 household toilets and 20,000 Institutional latrines through the “Toilet for All” agenda in 2018.
Energy Sector Policy Initiatives
The Finance Minister addressed other critical policy initiatives under the energy sector. He indicated that the government in 2018 will work towards keeping the lights on at affordable rates to consumers particularly industries and small businesses through reform and policy interventions over a two-year period.
In his speech, he stated that consumers will be expected to benefit from reductions in electricity tariffs.
The expected average tariff reductions across various customer categories are Residential -13%, Non Residential-13%, Special Load Tariff- Low Voltage-13%, Special Load Tariff -Medium Voltage-11%, Special Load Tariff -High Voltage 14% and High Voltage Mines-21%.
