The Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, says there must be a collaborative effort to deal with the continuous depreciation of the cedi against the dollar.
Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, Mr. Iddrisu said, “We must also as a country including those of us in the NDC begin looking for answers as to how to deal with the continuous depreciation of the cedi. We need to work to expand exports, we need to work to preserve foreign exchange in this country.”
Meanwhile, the government intends to raise an additional GH₵11 billion by imposing new taxes in the 2024 Budget.
The Member of Parliament for Yapei-Kusawgu, John Jinapor, made this known, underscoring that “We just met the Minister of Finance at the Finance Committee and the minister indicated that he intends to raise an additional GH₵11 billion which is about 1 percent of GDP but we have told him that we think that the people have been taxed so much so it will be inappropriate to come with new taxes rather the minister should look at cost cutting.”
“I think that it is improper and unacceptable to further come out with new taxes and increase the tax burden on Ghanaians,” he added.
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, is scheduled to present the government’s 2024 Annual Budget Statement and Economic Policy to Parliament on Wednesday, November 15, 2023.
Ahead of the presentation, there have been calls for the government to significantly reduce its expenditure to rescue the ailing economy.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dalex Finance and Leasing Company Limited, Kenneth Thompson, issued a warning last week of a looming economic downturn in 2024 if the government continues its current pattern of ever-increasing and large expenditures.
Source:Fiilafmonline/CitiNews
