IEA worries over excess in government expenditure

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has expressed concern over persistent deficit emanating from recurrent expenditure and called on government to put in place immediate measures to address the situation.

“The skewed nature of budgets in favour of recurrent expenditure and against development spending is a something that should worry all of us”, Dr John Kwakye, Senior Economist at the IEA told journalists in Accra on Tuesday.

He said the expectation is that more allocations of resources are channeled to the sectors that have the greatest potential to make an impact on long term growth and employment.

Giving an overview of the 2012 budget on recurrent expenditure, Dr Kwakye said government overspent on wages and salaries by 18 per cent and spent more than targeted on goods and services by 37 per cent.

Similarly, on interest payments, government exceeded its target by 11 per cent and again went overboard on others, undefined items, by 25 per cent, he added.

Dr Kwakye said this trend cannot be allowed to continue because it is not sustainable and asked government to invest more in infrastructure, energy, human capital, technology create more employment opportunities and income.

He said government should directly support the manufacturing sector through affordable credit, energy and relevant infrastructure as well as through conducive trade policies, including those that avoid dumping of subsidized products in Ghana.

Dr Kwakye also called on parliament to properly interrogate issues arising in the 2013 budget adding that there is the need for reform in order to contain the budget deficit and to reorient the budget to support economic growth and development.

He suggested the need to legislate some measures of fiscal discipline to prevent election year fiscal profligacy.

Source: GNA