Lecturer at the Department of Economics at the University of Ghana, Dr. Adu Owusu Sarkodie has described the budget presented by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta for the first quarter of 2021 as a “transitional budget” for the next government that will come into power after the elections.
In an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show, he explained that usually, budgets have set goals on what the government intends to do. However, with this particular budget it only “prepares the way for the party that will win the next elections”.
“This budget is to prepare the way for the one who will win the election. Because we don’t know who will win, the NPP Government cannot prepare a budget for the whole year. When that is done, anyone who wins will be bound by the budget. And I am not sure if the NDC wins power, they will be willing to do that. So this is a transitional budget for the first three months. So whoever wins will be expected to bring their budget for the remaining three quarters”.
He noted that this type of budget is not novel as the same was observed in 2016, when the Finance Minister then, Seth Terkper towed the same line.
Meanwhile, he believes that it is understandable that such a budget is only to cater for transition of government as it usually takes two to three months for a new government to put its ministers in place.
The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori Atta presented the budget for the first quarter of 2021 to Parliament on Wednesday, October 28.
The statement detailed the projected revenue and expenditure between January and March next year where an amount of GH¢27.4 billion was requested by the Finance Minister from the government intended towards expenditure of the first quarter of 2021.
This practice is in accordance with what the Executive does every election year to avoid spending hiccups in case of a transition in government.
By: Alberta Dorcas N D Armah