Reports coming from parliament indicate that the 2023 budget statement has been approved.
It is reported that the budget was approved without controversy as it happened a year ago in Parliament.
During the debate in Parliament that day, the Minority asked the government to embark on heavy expenditure cuts in order to deal with the challenges facing the economy.
The Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu said some of the tax handles of the government would suffer if the administration does not cut spending
“It is the demand of this group that there most be major expenditure cuts otherwise some of your tax handles will suffer in our hands. For instance, GHS1.4billion allocation to contingency vote , we shouldn’t give him that,” he said.
The Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu for his part said “Some roads have begun, Intention is to ensure that they don’t deteriorate, they are not left unattended to.”
Votes in favour of the budget fell neatly along party lines.
Opposition lawmakers criticized plans to restructure Ghana’s debt and increase consumption taxes without offering significant spending cuts.
Proponents of the budget argued that the public are already undertaxed, and that the country’s debt burden leaves them no choice but to restructure.
During a presentation detailing the restructuring strategy on Monday, Samuel Arkhurst, Ghana’s treasury and debt management director, said the budget’s finer details would need to be revised following the debt exchange’s launch later this month.