The Finance Committee of Parliament has by consensus approved an amount of GH¢1.2 billion for the government to access money from the Contingency Fund to finance the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP).
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The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, on Wednesday, April 8, 2020 presented to Parliament, the policy document on CAP, seeking approval to spend GH¢1.2 billion.
This follows demands by the Minority for the government to provide details of the money requested by the Minister to tackle coronavirus and its impact on the economy.
According to Mr Ofori-Atta, GH¢280 million will go into food packages and hot meals while GH¢40 million will go into the National Buffer Stock Company.
An additional GH¢200 million will be used to cater for bills on water and sanitation, GH¢241 will cover tax waiver for health personnel.
Explaining further, he said GH¢80 million will be spent on the allowance for health staff, GH¢2 million will be used to cover transportation for health workers, GH¢600 million will be disbursed as soft loans to businesses.
Chairman of the Finance Committee, Dr Mark Assibey Yeboah, said his office is writing a letter to authorise the Finance Minister to withdraw the money for spending.
Dr Yeboah said Article 177(1) of the 1992 Constitution mandates the Committee to grant approval of such nature without plenary approval.
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