2019 Budget Statement

139 | The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2019 Financial Year

● Use of Third–Party Data: Mr. Speaker, the National

Identification Scheme when fully deployed, will provide

government with a database to help with revenue

administration. But even before that, and to add to the

benefits from the NIA, we will in 2019 make use of third–

party data sitting in various databases in both private and

public sector for tax administration purposes. The DVLA,

the Lands Registry, the Courts, the Financial Institutions,

the Law Enforcement Agencies, SSNIT, to mention a few,

are repositories of useful tax data. We will use these

databases to rope more persons into the tax net and tax

them accordingly.

232. Local Government Revenues and Finances: Mr. Speaker,

in 2019, the central Government will partner MMDAs to enhance

revenues mobilised at the local Government level. This

partnership will be in the following areas:

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140 | The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2019 Financial Year

● property registration, and property data management;

● the use of a simplified inexpensive tool for property valuation;

● the setting up of a system for the generation and distribution of

bills; and

● the setting up of a system for the efficient collection of property

rates and other rates.

233. In additions, the Ministry of Finance will strengthen its oversight

over public revenue management in our MMDAs. An electronic

payment platform will be put in place to automate the collection

and administration of rates in all local government entities and

to give central government a comprehensive view of the

finances of MMDAs.

234. Internally Generated Funds of MDAs: Mr Speaker,

improved governance of internally generated funds of

ministries, departments, agencies and all statutory and

constitutional bodies is still top of government priority. As
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141 | The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2019 Financial Year

provided for in the new Fees and Charges Bill that will be placed

before Parliament before close of the year, the fees and charges

of all MDAs and regulators will come under greater scrutiny of

Central Government. At the moment, some MDAs receive their

fees and charges through commercial banks that lodge these

revenues in full at the BoG. The BoG then transfers the

appropriate amounts to the relevant MDA. In 2019, government

will expand this arrangement to all fees and charges on behalf

of the MDAs and regulators.

235. Government’s digitisation and Cashless initiative continues. All

Government Entities will be able to receive electronic payments

by the end of Q2 next year. This is a pre cursor to all

Government Entities making payments electronically on the

journey to the Government going cashless. This will greatly

increase transparency and efficiency of cashflows to and from

142 | The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2019 Financial Year

Government and better aid cash management of all

Government Entities.

236. Deployment of Nation Builder’s Corps (NABCO): Mr.

Speaker, the implementation of many of the interventions

mentioned above will require more energetic hands. As part of

our strategy to enhance revenue mobilisation, GRA has been

assigned ten thousand officers from the NABCO who will be

deployed to support the implementation of these measures and

strategies. In particular, they will be helpful in identifying and

registering potential taxpayers, collection of property rates, and

follow up on debtors. The young men and women of NABCO will

in the process become a pool of officers from whom government

could recruit substantive officers to support revenue

mobilisation.

237. Mr. Speaker, the numbers on tax exemptions in Ghana’s

economy are disturbing. In the last eight (8) years, tax

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exemptions (import duty, import VAT, import NHIL and

domestic VAT) in the economy have grown from GH¢391.90

million (0.9% of GDP) in 2010 to GH¢5,269.99 million (2.6% of

GDP) in 2017.

238. It is important to indicate that these figures do not include

exemptions from the payment of corporate and individual

income taxes, concessions on tax rates, petroleum tax reliefs,

customs tax exemptions enjoyed by diplomatic missions, and

processing charge exemptions at the ports.

239. Over the same period, about six different studies have been

conducted into Ghana’s tax exemptions regime by the Revenue

Policy Division of the Ministry of Finance, International Monetary

Fund (IMF), Organisation for Economic Cooperation &

Development (OECD), GIZ and the World Bank. All these studies

have concluded that, (1) the growth in Ghana’s tax exemptions

144 | The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2019 Financial Year

and reliefs is unsustainable, and (2) the benefits Ghana’s

economy gets from these exemptions and reliefs are doubtful.

240. Worse still, Mr Speaker, tax exemptions in Ghana have

invariably provided the opportunity for abuse. But even without

the irregularities, the exemptions in themselves, deny the

country of much needed revenue, resulting in low revenue

collection and reporting. These cannot be allowed to continue,

which is why we have committed to reform the tax exemptions

regime. The draft policy has been completed and will be

presented to Parliament during 2019 to be passed into law.

241. Mr. Speaker, in 2019 in accordance with the Earmarked Funds

Capping and Realignment Act, 2017 (Act 947), the Ministry of

Finance will review all our earmarked funds and update them to

bring them in line with our current economic realities and

priorities.

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Expenditure Management Programme

242. Mr. Speaker, extensive stakeholder consultations on the draft

regulations for the Public Financial Management Act, 2016, (Act

921) (PFMA) are underway. The regulations will include explicit

provisions for numerical fiscal rules and it is expected that the

regulations will be passed in 2019.

243. Mr. Speaker, the Ghana Integrated Financial Management

Information System (GIFMIS) utilisation expansion programme

was pursued in earnest this year. The GIFMIS financial module

was expanded to cover four Statutory Fund Agencies and has

also been deployed to 216 MMDAs. The budget module

(Hyperion) has also been coded to track the SDGs.

244. To improve overall efficiency in payroll management,

Government has initiated procurement processes to outsource

payroll management. Pilot implementation will begin with one

MDA in 2019.

146 | The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2019 Financial Year

245. Mr. Speaker, to strengthen cash and treasury management,

Government is in the process of designing a cash management

solution that will provide an automated cash flow forecasting

model to assist MDAs/MMDAs in forecasting their cash

requirements and broaden Government’s utilisation of the

Treasury Single Account (TSA).

Protecting the Public Purse

246. Mr. Speaker, a key priority of H.E. the President is to protect the

public purse by, among others, enforcing resolute efficiency in

expenditure of public resources. To this end, Government has

recently released guidelines regulating Board allowances for

State Enterprises and Agencies. The guidelines eliminate

monthly allowances for Board members and provides caps on

sitting allowances.

247. Mr. Speaker, Government under the leadership of the Office of

the Vice-President and Office of the Senior Minister, and in

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consultation with the relevant professional institutions, has

produced standardised designs and costs of various public

infrastructure projects in Health, (such as CHPS, Polyclinics,

District Hospitals and Regional Hospitals); Education (school

classrooms, dormitories, and science laboratories); as well as in

Roads. The standardised designs and costs will guide

procurement of contractors for the delivery of these categories

of infrastructure in order to ensure value for money.

248. Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, in 2019 the Ministry of Finance will

operationalise an Efficiency and Innovation Unit to lead an

effort in Government to introduce efficiencies and control costs

in important cost drivers, including: standardisation and

centralisation of vehicle and IT procurement, travel

expenditure, and allowances to public officials.

249. Mr. Speaker, our nation has invested huge amounts of money

in State-Owned Enterprises, but we have not been reaping

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benefits commensurate with our investment, due mainly to

inefficiencies and weak governance in the sector. To frontally

turn around this situation, Government after a comprehensive

study of the sector will soon present to this august House, a

draft bill to address the problems in sector.

Fighting Corruption

Office of the Special Prosecutor

250. Mr. Speaker, in line with Government’s promise to protect the

public purse, His Excellency the President remains committed to

the fight against corruption. The Special Prosecutor’s Office

which is established under the Office of the Special Prosecutor

Act 2017 (Act 959) is one of the highest priorities of

government. In this budget, the Special Prosecutor’s Office has

been allocated an amount of GH¢180 million from GoG with a

commitment to provide additional resources during the course

149 | The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2019 Financial Year

of 2019 to enable the Special Prosecutor’s Office to carry out its

mandate.

251. Mr. Speaker, as I noted in the Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review

Statement to this august House, there is the need to restructure

and strengthen the Internal Audit Function in the public sector

to play its expected role in ensuring effective risk management,

control and improvements in governance processes in the public

sector.

252. The Ministry of Finance is currently supporting the Internal Audit

Agency to conduct extensive stakeholder consultations as part

of the key processes that will lead to restructuring the Internal

Audit Agency. This will help to align the activities of Internal

Auditing to national objectives.

Capping the Ghana Stabilisation Fund

253. Mr. Speaker, Government seeks the approval of Parliament to

maintain the cap on the Ghana Stabilisation Fund at US$300

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million, in line with Section 23(3) of the PRMA, to continue with

the liability management strategy.

Securitisation of GETFUND’s Receivables

254. Mr. Speaker, Cabinet has given no-objection for GETFUND to

secure up to US$1.5 billion long-term financing, and same has

been laid before Parliament. The amount will be used for critical

education infrastructure, on the back of a portion of VAT

receivables as prescribed in Act 581 and will be issued in three

(3) tranches of US$500.00million.

2019 Sovereign Bond Issuance

255. Mr. Speaker, Government is committed to its objective to

borrow at “least cost” and at the minimum prudent level of risk.

Consistent with this, Government intends to issue sovereign

bonds of up to US$3 billion, to be used to finance critical

infrastructure projects and for liability management

151 | The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2019 Financial Year

Government will explore the possibility of issuing one or a

combination of the following bonds based on market conditions:

Eurobond, and Green bond.

Century Bond

256. Mr. Speaker, Government announced its intention to issue

longer dated sovereign bonds this year as part of our bilateral

engagement with other countries. Our phase of massive

economic transformation requires a more ambitious financing

arrangement, and the capacity to retire about half of the

country’s existing debt which were issued during a high interest

rate environment during the previous administration.

257. The decision to raise these ultra-long-term bonds is not

intended to derail our debts sustainability path, but rather to

enhance it. If we really want to uplift ourselves out of this hand-

to-mouth existence and put our country Ghana on a firm

trajectory of growth and prosperity, we will need to source long

152 | The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2019 Financial Year

term affordable financing to invest in strategic infrastructure

over the medium to long-term.

258. We shall issue sovereign bonds of longer tenor either as green

bonds or Eurobonds on the international capital markets and

also structure a Sovereign Century Fund for our bilateral

investor partners.

259. The Sovereign Century Fund shall engage on a bilateral basis to

raise long term concessional financing to underwrite our other

commercial infrastructure needs through GIIF, GIADEC, PPP

projects and other entities as well as liability management.

260. We inherited over GH¢120 billion of debt at very high interest

rates. Even though we have brought down interest rates

considerably we are still saddled with a sizeable amount of

expensive debt. As such, in 2019, we will spend over GH¢16

billion of our revenue (over 26.6%) on interest payments. This

amount can be considerably reduced if we refinance our debt at

153 | The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2019 Financial Year

much lower interest rates. A ten percent reduction in the

interest rates translates into over GH¢1.6 billion in savings;

almost enough to pay for Free SHS in 2019.

261. Mr. Speaker, the Ghana Century bond program will help provide

us with the wherewithal to refinance these expensive liabilities.

It is an important bulwark for Ghana’s post IMF status; it

indicates a country with a long-term plan, a country that can

program its infrastructure needs, a country that can provision

for adequate foreign exchange reserves.

SOCIAL INTERVENTION POLICIES

262. Mr. Speaker, our focus in Government over the last 22 months

has not just been restoration of macroeconomic stability. We

have implemented a number of flagship policies as well as social

intervention policies that have reduced the suffering as well as

enhance the aspirations and opportunities of ordinary

Ghanaians.

154 | The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2019 Financial Year

263. The Akufo-Addo Government has eased the burden of hundreds

of thousands of Ghanaians and invested in the future of our

children with the introduction of the Free Senior High School

program. For the first time in our history, the whole of Ghana is

enjoying Free SHS. Under free SHS, students are entitled to;

● Free Meals (Both boarding and day)

● Free boarding accommodation

● Free textbooks

264. Mr. Speaker, the Free SHS in 2017 provided over 90,000

additional teenagers an opportunity to get senior high school

education and improve their opportunities for work in the

future.

265. Mr. Speaker, in 2018, as a result of the innovative double track

system, we have been able to accommodate 181,000 more

students who otherwise could not have access to secondary

education.

155 | The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2019 Financial Year

266. Mr. Speaker, the introduction of free SHS has also provided

immediate cash benefits to the parents:

● For a parent with a boarding SHS student, you save

GH¢2,015.22

● For a parent with a boarding TVET student you save GH¢

2,115.22

● And over a 3-year period a parent with a boarding SHS student

would have saved nearly GH¢ 6,045. (or about 60 million old

Cedis). The savings is about 120 million old Cedis if you have 2

children going through the free SHS.

267. Mr. Speaker, we increased the school feeding programme from

1.6 million children to 2.1 million children, and also increased

the amount spent on each child by 25 percent.

268. Mr. Speaker, in the area of LEAP, we have added more than

150,000 households to the programme thereby improving their

livelihoods.
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156 | The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2019 Financial Year

269. Mr. Speaker, Furthermore;

● We have increased the share of the DACF to persons with

disabilities from 2 percent to 3 percent

● We have more than doubled the Capitation Grant (From

GH¢4.5 to GH¢10.0)

● We have Restored Teacher Training Allowances

● We have Restored Nursing Training Allowances

● We have reduced Electricity tariff – 17.5 percent for

households and 30 percent for businesses

● We have cleared the GHC 1.2 billion arrears inherited under

the NHIS and the NHIS is working again.

● We have provided food crop farmers with subsidised (50

percent subsidy) fertiliser under the planting for food and jobs

program. This has resulted in increased output and lower food

prices.
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157 | The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2019 Financial Year

● We have provided jobs to 100,000 graduates under the Nation

Builders Corps (NABCO) across every constituency in Ghana

Expanding Social Security Coverage to the Informal

Sector

270. Mr. Speaker, retirement income security is a right of every

Ghanaian and not only formal sector workers. His Excellency,

the President has demonstrated his commitment to expanding

social security to cover the informal sector by charging the

Board of SSNIT to ensure the inclusion of informal sector

workers. I am pleased to announce Mr. Speaker that SSNIT is

working with Government to develop a policy framework to

provide informal sector workers with a voluntary fully funded

personal pensions scheme to be launched in 2019.

271. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask one question. Can anyone recall

the social intervention policies that the social democratic NDC
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158 | The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2019 Financial Year

introduced in its last eight years in government to mitigate the

hardships of Ghanaians?”

272. Mr. Speaker, the evidence shows that when it comes to social

policies to protect the poor and vulnerable in Ghana the

Government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo has indeed a

remarkable record.

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SECTION SIX: CONCLUSION

Marching Boldly Towards Ghana Beyond Aid

273. Mr. Speaker, with December, 2018 as the last test date, we are

on track to successfully complete and exit the IMF ECF

programme. We have clearly demonstrated our competence in

managing Ghana’s economy in the past two years that we have

been in Government. We will remain steadfast in this resolve.

To this end we are putting in place a number of legal and

institutional measures to ensure we do not revert to the bad

days of macroeconomic mismanagement.

274. Mr. Speaker, one of the key measures we are institutionalising

is the Social Partnership among Organised Labour, Ghana

Employers Association, and Government which we believe will

provide avenue for the partners to deliberate on significant

development matters and providing relevant solutions.

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275. Further, the 6 Strategic Pillars in the 2019 budget put us in a

position to advance boldly towards Ghana Beyond Aid. In this

budget we are:

• making an unprecedented push in infrastructural expansion;

• modernising agriculture, increasing production, and reducing

our dependence on imports for food;

• forging ahead with a bold and comprehensive industrialization

plan that adds value to our agriculture and natural resources,

and leverages our rising population of educated youth;

• strengthening our domestic revenue mobilization and taking

strong measures to enforce efficiency in public expenditures and

protect the public purse; and

• building on and strengthening our social interventions in order

to ensure that no one is left behind as we transform our

economy and march boldly to a Ghana Beyond Aid.

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276. Mr. Speaker, the future is indeed very bright as we embark on

big ticket projects and programmes as part of our resolve to

transform the economy and better the lives of Ghanaians. Mr

Speaker:

o we are implementing the Sinohydro project which will provide

additional US$2bn in road, rail, and other infrastructure;

o the Aker oil Field will start producing in 2021 and will

eventually add about 100,000 barrels of oil per day to Ghana’s

crude oil production. In addition, ExxonMobil is coming on

board soon to explore and produce crude oil in the Deep Water

Cape Three Points;

o the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation

(GIADEC) will be established to develop an integrated

aluminium industry;
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o Ghana is attracting international car manufacturing giants such

as Nissan, Volkswagen, SinoTruk to set up auto assembly

plants to produce vehicles.

277. Mr. Speaker, as you know, H.E. the President constituted a

Committee to draw up a Ghana Beyond Aid Charter. The

Committee comprises representatives from a wide cross-section

of Ghanaians, including Government, organised labour, the

private sector and employers, and the youth. Work on the

Charter and on the detail contours of the Ghana Beyond Aid

agenda is well advanced, and the Committee will present its

report to the President before the end of the year. Following

that there will be consultations with Ghanaians before revising

the Committee’s work for eventual submission to Parliament for

debate.
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278. Mr. Speaker in March 2017, I presented the first budget of a

President who had re-energised the nation and inspired hope

in:

• The millions of Ghanaians who went to the polls and voted him

into power;

• Youthful Ghanaians who believed that their lives would be

turned around;

• Expectant Parents who believed that their burdens will be

eased;

• Hundreds of children who believed and hoped that they will

have opportunity to improve their lives through education;

• University graduates who believed that they might have

opportunity to wake up in the morning, dress up and show up

for work;
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• Businesses who believed that interest rates would come down

so that they can borrow and expand their businesses and

employ more people;

• Dying businesses that required some stimulus to live again like

the bones in Ezekiel;

• Ghanaians who had sat in darkness and wanting to see light;

• Our Development partners who believed that they can revitalise

their partnership with us; and

• The international investor community and also in the IMF,

whose programme with Ghana had derailed.

279. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to announce that those who believed,

have seen their dreams and aspirations come to fruition:

• 100,000 trained graduates who have been home for years,

despondent without hope, now have the opportunity to

contribute to our national development;

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• 271,000, 16 –18-year olds who would have been thrown onto

the streets but for free SHS are now seated in classrooms

getting an education and gaining training to give them a better

future;

• And as the Bible says, for those who sat in darkness, they have

seen a great light. This is in spite of the deep challenge and the

grievous harm that has been done through questionable take or

pay contracts, for which we will have to pay some $600 million

annually whether we switch on the light or not. But we have

resolved to do so;

• Nurses and teachers who believed that the government will

come to their aid, we have met their aspirations and hope; and

• Over 1.5 million depositors who but for the timely intervention

of Government would have lost their businesses and their life

savings and deposits of over GH¢ 9 million.
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280. Ghana’s international profile is now on the rise; in the last year,

the President has hosted several Heads of State and

Governments, as well as high profile international dignitaries.

Global Leaders and investors are lining up now to pay serious

attention to Ghana.

281. Mr. Speaker, we are proud of what we have accomplished in 22

months and are certain and resolved to deliver a future that

meets the hopes and aspirations of our people through this

budget and into the medium term.

282. Mr. Speaker, this story of hope continues. This budget meets

the expectations of Ghanaians for better infrastructure and

housing, increased economic activity through unprecedented

investment in industrialization and agriculture, expanding job

opportunities for entrepreneurs, and rising incomes.

283. In the next 26 months, we are determined to address:

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• The hope of farmers whose food crops are getting rotten

through expanded storage facilities; improved marketing and

the intervention of the Ghana Commodity Exchange;

• The challenges faced by communities that lack access to potable

water and continue to drink water from streams;

• The lack of ambulances for our pregnant mothers and sick

relatives;

• Transportation challenges through better roads and rail

networks;

• The challenges faced by our market women who have to sell

their wares on the dusty ground and in the scorching sun by

providing improved markets and stalls;

• The difficulties faced by fisher folk by providing them with

landing beaches, cold storage facilities and thereby improving

their incomes;

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• Meeting the spiritual needs of our people with the promotion of

the Ghana National Cathedral.

284. Through this budget, we will frontally address the sanitation

challenges faced by many of our towns and cities.

285. In this 2019 budget we have chosen to sacrifice and build for

the future; we have chosen to invest in people; we have chosen

to boldly tackle the infrastructural needs of the people with a $2

billion facility next year. We have chosen to make our rich oil

resources more accessible to credible investors through

competitive bidding and we aim to hit, God willing, a million

barrels of crude oil production within a matter of a decade. It

may sound ambitious, but we are confident in the plan that we

have. We know that Ghana’s rich bauxite resources have the

potential to deliver over $500 billion in revenue and create tens

of thousands of jobs along the value chain, if we stick to the

President’s vision and commitment to build an integrated
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aluminium industry, as spelt out in the law. We know that the

Ghana industrialisation project is ready for that long-awaited big

take-off. It is not by sheer accident that the big multinationals

in the automobile industry are signing up to set up

manufacturing hubs in Ghana. It is not by accident that we were

the fastest growing economy in the world last year and still

growing strong.

286. We have chosen 2019 as the year to begin some landmark

redevelopment projects that will stamp Accra’s growing

reputation as the main city for business and holiday travellers

in our region and beyond. Three of these major multi-billion cedi

redevelopment projects are namely the Marine Drive, Trade Fair

Redevelopment and the Energy City. Ghana, Mr Speaker, is

working again and will work for the benefit of the people and to

the Glory` of God.

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287. We have chosen to be bold in devising a budget that deals with

the past; delivers opportunity in the present, while investing

responsibly into the future. We will not heed the voices

encouraging us to eat the seeds that need to be harvested for

the future. We shall not be discouraged by the voices that seek

to play down the gains that we constantly continue to make.

We pledge not to repeat the mistakes of the past; so long as

the majority of Ghanaians continue to keep faith with our

leadership.

288. The 2019 National Budget addresses the past. Exiting the IMF

programme is a great achievement towards fiscal sovereignty

but not from eternal fiscal discipline; expenditures on SHS is

expensive but a responsible investment that provides

incalculable future returns on our greatest asset – our children

– the next generation of Ghanaians who will inherit the future

that we create today. In this budget, we have invested in

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MASLOC so that small businesses up and down the country can

have additional cheaper access to credit. We were also

challenged that in looking at the past and into the future we

could not ignore the urgency of today—the development and

delivery of electricity, inputs for agricultural expansion, health

care and better roads and infrastructure. 2019 is a budget that

better enables us to balance the decisions of the past and the

needs of today with the pillars and foundation needed to build

a better tomorrow.

289. We also recognize that building national prosperity is not the

exclusive domain of Government. If, we are to win in pushing

Ghana Beyond Aid then every single one of us must own it; be

citizens in developing our nation and not just mere spectators

with strong opinions only as our contribution. I thank all the

productive communities of Ghana and all Ghanaians for the epic

sacrifices and contributions you make every day. I particularly
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thank the community of faith whose intercession and prayers

for this nation are unceasing. The Government recognizes and

appreciates the role you play in fulfilling the biblical mandate in

Matthew 25 to “feed the hungry, clothe the naked, take care of

the sick and visit the prisoner.” Government’s partnership with

you to lift the vulnerable and needy is stead-fast and

immovable.

290. I believe, that with faith as our shield and God-loving Ghanaians

as partners, the promise of God in Genesis 12:2-3 will also be

ours: “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make

your name [Ghana] great… And in you all the families of the

(earth) [Ghana] shall be blessed”

291. Mr. Speaker, in the Spirit of the season, I declare that by this

budget, we bring Glad Tidings of Great Joy, of Hope, Relief and

a Renewed strength. Indeed, Emmanuel God is with us!!!

292. God Bless us all and our dear country, Ghana!