Senior Vice President and Policy Analyst with Imani Center for Policy and Education, Kofi Bentil, ahead of the 2023 Mid-Year budget presentation to parliament has cautioned the government against what he describes as a “politically inspired” budget.
According to the private legal practitioner, the country’s economy is currently in a ditch hence it is imperative for government to take advantage of the mid-year review to tackle the challenges holistically.
Kofi Bentil made this statement on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, when he spoke at the George Ayittey Memorial Lectures organized by the Africa Center for Entrepreneurship and Youth Empowerment (ACEYE).
The George Ayittey Memorial Lectures was a three-day event that took place on four university campuses in Ghana namely; University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), University of Professional Studies-Accra (UPSA), Academic City University College and University of Ghana.
The lectures aimed at delving into the legacy of Professor George Ayittey, a Ghanaian economist, educator and author to explore the public and academic impacts of the ideas of the visionary leader and their relevance to Africa’s current economic situation.
Speaking to the media, Lawyer Kofi Bentil who was one of the speakers of the memorial lectures noted that a lot of havoc has been done to the Ghanaian economy hence there is a need for drastic measures to be taken by the government in order to restore the economy back on track.
He said, “the special thing about the mid-year budget is that we are presently in an IMF program. The terms of the program are not even clear. We have wrecked our economy. We have experienced catastrophic failures. We have gone through things that we have never seen before in this country where gov’t securities have had to be declared DDE. We have seen senior citizens demonstrate.”
He, therefore, noted that he will be very disappointed if the government presents a budget that is aimed at gaining political advantage in the upcoming 2024 elections but not to ensure the recovery of the tattered economy. He added that such a politically inspired mid-year budget review will be terrible for the entire economy.
“It will be sad if we don’t use this budget to try and restore economic health. It will be terrible if this budget comes back and it is another politically inspired budget with one eye looking at the election, inexplainable expenditure items, and generally things that do not address the present economic catastrophe and seek to restore us to economic health. So my expectation will be that this budget will focus on the fact that we have a serious problem at hand that must be addressed,” Lawyer Kofi Bentil indicated.
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta is expected to present the 2023 Mid-Year budget review to parliament next week.
