The Minister of finance, Ken Ofori Atta has asked the Minority to stop taking economic policy directions from social media as the gospel truth.
In his view, the Minority may end up embarrassing themselves if they kept making such speculations as political tools.
The Finance Minister gave the advice during the mid-year review of the 2018 budget in Parliament Thursdays.
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This was after the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) claimed government intends to increase Value Added Tax (VAT).
The speculation generated a lot of controversy with many including civil society groups calling on the citizenry to reject any such intention.
But Ken Ofori Atta on the floor of House stated unequivocally that government has no intention to increase VAT.
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Rather, they intend to widen the tax net and ensure the rich and affluent in society pay more to enable them undertake the social intervention programmes for the poor.
The Finance Minister indicated that the economy remains robust in spite of headwinds, particularly in relation to the challenges with domestic revenue mobilization.
“Inflation is a far more devastating act than anything that can be enacted by the legislature and the Executive; I can report that inflation is going down”, he noted.
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Ken Ofori Atta said though the New Patriotic Party (NPP) inherited a distressed economy, fiscal deficit declined one year after the implementation of the same IMF programme the previous government was implementing.
“The government managed to pay 6 billion cedis of outstanding claims inherited. The regime has also invested in the future of the people and provided over 90,000 people access to education and improved future prospects of children”, he added.
The Finance Minister stressed that the overarching goal of our macroeconomic policy is to deepen macroeconomic stability, grow the economy, create jobs and ultimately move the country beyond aid.
