A Senior research fellow at the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) Dr. Saeed Boakye has disclosed that the Akufo-Addo government will continue to borrow due to the insufficient fiscal space it is operating in.
Speaking to Francis Abban on the Morning Starr, Dr Boakye said “if the country does not borrow it, cannot manage its affairs; of course the government was able to make some savings of about GHC4billion through capping revenue, through capping the statutory fund, but this ghc4billion, much of it is so to enter into the new expenditure item they brought on board.”
He added: “Because of that, there isn’t much fiscal space that government is working with, so borrowing will continue, in fact, induce borrowing. Not that you borrow because you have certain investment to do, but you are borrowing because you are forced to, that one the country hasn’t been able to come out of it yet,” he stressed.
His comment comes ahead of today’s mid-year budget review.
Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is expected to present the mid-year budget review statement and Economic Policy to Parliament today July 31, 2017.
This will be the second time the finance minister will be appearing in parliament to submit a budget statement since his appointment
It is constitutional for the finance minister to present the financial state of the economy before the beginning of the second half of the year.
Some of the key areas that Mr. Ofori Atta is expected to touch on is revenue shortfalls, the impact of declining commodity prices on economy, government debt levels as well as progress with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).