Government getting it right with management of the economy
Many in the Kumasi metropolis have welcomed the 2018 budget presented to parliament by the Finance Minister as a “good one” and say, the government is getting it right with the management of the economy.
People who spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said they were convinced that the economy was on the right track.
A businessman, Kwame Ofori Donkor, described the decision to reduce electricity tariff as refreshing news to industry.
This, he indicated would undoubtedly help to bring down the unit cost of production, something that would aid the growth of businesses.
Madam Akua Agyemang, a trader at the Kumasi Central Market, said the government’s education intervention had brought significant relief to parents.
Money they would have used to pay the school fees of their children in senior high schools (SHS) could now be saved or spent on other things.
“It is my prayer that God will continue to bless President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for keeping faith with Ghanaians.”
Mr. Kofi Appiah, a parent, said he was excited by the fact that the government would from next year pay for the registration fee of Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates.
A post-graduate accounting student, Nana Osei Bonsu, applauded the fiscal discipline maintained by the government.
He asked that it did everything to avoid wasteful spending and fought corruption head-on.
He said the expectation was that it was going to scale-up the revenue generation drive – ensure that there was efficiency and there was also compliance.
Nana Kwaku Duah, a cocoa farmer, was delighted by the planned farmers’ pension scheme alongside the priority being focused on agriculture.
He expressed optimism that this would inspire many young unemployed people to take to farming.
He called for all to stand solidly behind the government to carry through its development agenda, adding that, it was in everybody’s interest that the economy became resilient and robust.
Miss Akua Afriyie, an unemployed graduate, said it was refreshing to hear the government talk about rolling out a programme to engage unemployed graduates.
She described it as “brilliant” and said if even 30 per cent of the targeted 100,000 unemployed graduates got jobs, it should be something that should make all happy.
Mr. Akwasi Kwakye Piesie, a cobbler, on his part, said he found nothing good in the budget and that it was a “carefully scripted political theatre to dupe Ghanaians into thinking that all is well”.
Source: GNA