The Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta has revealed that Ghana is losing over GHc1.2 billion through corruption at the various ports in the country.
According to Mr. Ofori Atta, government is working tirelessly to punish and deal with all criminal activities at the ports to save the country some money.
“Ongoing investigations at the ports have unearthed significant under-declaration amounting to short payment of some GHS1.2billion, inclusive of penalty.
“We are determined to tackle that criminal culture and expect clients and examination officers to carry out their activities with diligence and honesty or face the consequences,” Mr. Ofori Atta said when he presented the 2017 mid-year budget review on the floor of parliament on Monday July 31.
The Finance Minister also stated that the previous Mahama administration left a weak and poor economy for President Akuf-Addo. He, however, added that the NPP government is not daunted by the shocking statistics left for the Akufo-Addo government and will all it can to turn the economy around.
“Mr Speaker, we inherited a weak economy characterised by high fiscal deficit, 9.3 per cent of GDP on a cash basis against the then-target of five per cent on cash basis. A primary deficit of 1.4 per cent of GDP against a target surplus of 1.2 per cent, a high debt-to-GDP ratio of 73 per cent of GDP, high inflation of 15.4 per cent, low credit to the private sector, high interest rate, 91 per cent treasury bill rate at 16.4 per cent, weak domestic revenue mobilisation, low external reserves of 2.8 months of import cover, policy reversals including some unconstrained expenditure, seven billion of our standing commitments and un-discharged obligations and weak economic growth of 3.5 per cent – the lowest in 15 years.
“But Mr Speaker, permit me to reassure this august house that the Akufo-Addo government is not daunted by this statistics that were passed on to us.”
