Finance Minister presents government’s “Yes We Have” budget
The Ghana government today November 16, 2011 presented its 2012 budget statement to the people through parliament.
The budget, read by Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffour contained some of the successes chalked by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government in 2011 so far.
Upon assuming power in January 2009, President Atta Mills and his government promised to improve on the key indicators of the country’s economy.
The achievements, span from removal of schools under trees to the moving of the economy from fragility to robustness.
The Finance Minister made the following remarks on the floor of parliament.
Dr Duffour said the theme for this year’s budget, “Infrastructural Development for Accelerated Growth and Job Creation” appropriately captures the essence of our aspiration for the medium term. “The 2012 Budget is designed to address the infrastructural deficit in order to sustain growth, create more employment opportunities, improve incomes and improve the standard of living of our people, thereby reducing poverty.”
“We promised Ghanaians a Better Ghana and we have significantly delivered on this promise,” he said.
“We promised to remove schools under trees, and we are very much on course!”
“We promised to remove inequities in incomes through the single spine, and we are very much on course!”
“We promised to move the economy from fragility to robustness, yes we have!
“We promised to significantly expand the economy, yes we have!
“We promised to arrest inflation, yes we have!
“We promised to arrest the rapid depreciation of the Cedi, yes we have!
“We promised to provide free school uniforms and exercise books, yes we have!
“We promised to deliver skills training and jobs to our youth, yes we have!
“We promised to expand the school feeding programme, yes we have!
“We promised to provide school computers and Maths and Science scholarships, yes we have!
“We promised to establish the Public Private Partnerships (PPP) policy, yes we have!
“We promised deeper competition in the telephone industry, yes we have through Mobile Number Portability!
This is the government’s last budget presentation before the 2012 general elections.
By Ekow Quandzie