Former Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has commended the Mahama-led government for continuing the Akufo-Addo government’s gold purchase programme, thereby aiding the appreciation of the cedi.
He said that as patriotic citizens, the Minority Caucus will give the necessary commendations to the government when it is doing the right thing, and critique it in good faith.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah, who is also the NPP Member of Parliament for Ofoase Ayirebi, made the remarks during a debate on the Mid-Year Budget Review on the floor of Parliament on Monday, July 28.
To sustain the Ghana Cedi appreciation against the US Dollar and other major trading currencies, Mr Oppong Nkrumah suggested that the government must make sure exporters invest the forex earnings into the local economy.
He also advised the government to refrain from “dumping dollars onto the trading market since such artificial suppression is not sustainable.”
Mr Oppong Nkrumah said: “We want to commend the government for continuing with the gold purchase programme, inflation reduction programme and following our fiscal critique.
“However, government is not spending, and they’re calling the failure to spend fiscal discipline. There is a difference between fiscal discipline and failure to meet fiscal targets,” Oppong Nkrumah said.
The MP, who is also a former Works and Housing Minister, criticised the government’s failure to release funds for goods and services and development projects, noting that such actions would have dire consequences on the country’s economy in the medium to long-term planning.
The lawmaker cited many government’s flagship programmes that lacked funds to take off and mentioned the national apprenticeship programme, women’s development bank, one million coders programme, agriculture for economic transformation agenda, and the “big push” infrastructure programme as cases in point.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah entreated the government to desist from repackaging existing development programmes, which were started by the previous government and giving them new names.
The Ofoase Ayirebi lawmaker urged the government to abandon its plans to roll out eight new tax measures, noting that such “panic revenue-raising measures” would increase inflation and erode the gains made so far in stabilising the Cedi.
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