President John Mahama has vowed to exercise strict fiscal discipline in 2016.
The country has been battling for years to contain its spending during election years with its expenditure during this period going overboard.
Ghana’s budget deficit projection for 2016 has been pegged at 5.3 percent.
Early this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned the country may not be able to contain its deficit being an election year.
A number of civil societies have also expressed similar fears.
President Mahama however last year said his government will not over spend despite labor agitations among others.
Reiterating his assertions on Thursday 25th February, 2016 when he was delivering his state of the nation address to lawmakers, President Mahama said his administration will exercise strict fiscal discipline this year to transform the negative narrative of Ghana.
‘Ghana is expected to achieve a budget deficit as low as 5.3 percent to GDP under the IMF which provides a tighter fiscal space than originally anticipated; it is within this contest that we must practice an even greater degree of fiscal prudence in 2016, the bane of our economic management has been the cyclical huge election year budget deficit; it is an unfavorable narrative for which Ghana has become famous,”
“I have assured the nation and our partners that my administration will exercise strict fiscal discipline even in this election year in order that we can transform this negative narrative of our country,” President Mahama said.
By: Vivian Kai Lokko/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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