The adoption of the Ministry of Finance's $2 billion budget has been put on hold by Parliament.
According to Minority, the Ministry's unwillingness to respond to questions on the allocation of $1 billion for resource mobilisation is the cause of the suspension.
1 billion has been set aside for resource mobilisation out of the 2.4 billion that the Finance Ministry has been given.
James Klutse Avedzi, the deputy minority leader who raised the issues, stated that the House cannot approve the allocation until satisfactory explanations are given as to what precisely that sum will be utilised for.
"I requested information regarding this allotment, but as of right now, I have not gotten it, therefore we are unable to answer your question. We need more information about the $1 billion budgeted for resource mobilisation.
, we haven't gotten it," he declared.
Additionally, Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu supported his deputy's argument that the allocation is unfair.
"Our stance is that the government should reduce spending, so we are not persuaded. Why do you need to mobilise resources for GHC 1 billion? As far as we are aware, resource mobilisation refers to the efficient and effective collection of taxes.
Therefore, if the Ministry of Finance cannot provide a convincing justification, we believe that this should be part of the budgetary cuts made in order to save the nation this GHC 1 billion. What does 1 billion need to do with resource mobilisation? Isn't it GRA's responsibility to mobilise resources by assembling taxes.
Why are you paying the Ministry of Finance this money? To what end?" he questioned.
However, Abena Osei Asare, the deputy minister of finance, said that the allocation is essential for the Ministry's operation.
The fund, in her opinion, is required to improve institutional capability for economic management.
We broke down the amount and showed that GH5.2 million of it will be used to improve institutional capability for economic management. We also noted that this budget includes funds for the Financial Sector Development initiative, where we would maintain and run the basic banking system. That is 79 million Ghana cedis.
"The Ghana Development Finance initiative, which is being operationalized by the development bank, will also require roughly GH 110 million.
According to her, the GIFMIS ICT infrastructure system will also be modernised and will require some resources.
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