ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
Nana Chairman, the fiscal deficit for 2021 narrowed from the 11.7% of GDP in 2020 to a provisional 9.6%.
Similarly, the primary balance narrowed to a deficit of 2.0% down from a deficit of 5.5% in 2020.
After falling to 7.5 percent in May 2021, inflation increased throughout the second half of the 2021, ending the year at 12.6 percent and increased to 13.9% at the end of January, 2022.
Global supply disruptions, global inflation, rising crude oil prices, high fiscal deficits, and some pass-through effects of exchange rate depreciation have contributed to the upward trajectory of inflation.
Nana Chairman, the Trade Balance in 2021 remained positive (1.5 percent of GDP), though smaller than the 2020 position of (2.0 percent of GDP).
The Ghana cedi depreciated against the US dollar by 4.1% at the end of 2021 up from 3.9% despite the impact of the pandemic.
As at 23rd February 2022, the Ghana Cedi cumulatively depreciated by 6.9% against the US Dollar.
We still posted a healthy Gross International Reserves (GIR) at US$9.7 billion, sufficient to cover 4.4 months of imports at the end of 2021.
Nana Chairman, despite the progress made since 2020, several domestic and external factors threaten our economic recovery efforts, particularly: On the global front , we have high inflation, interest rate hikes, high crude oil prices, geopolitical tensions including the Russia invasion of Ukraine all working to increase our external vulnerabilities.
Crude oil prices surged above the US$100 mark for the first time since 2014.
Elevated Debt Burden and High Debt Service .
The debt stock has increased from 61.2% of GDP in 2019 to 79.7 percent at the end of 2021.
Debt service at the end of 2021 stood at Ghs46.6 billion (Interest payment of Ghs33.5 billion and amortisation of Ghs13.0 billion) representing 82.4% of Tax Revenue; Significant Budget Rigidities .
Interest payments, Compensation, and Earmarked Funds constituted about 144% of Tax Revenue in 2021, up from 130% in 2017.
This implies that these three items of expenditures alone eat up all our tax revenues and we have to raise additional 44% from other sources to meet these expenditures; Labour agitations .
There are a number of labour agitations by labour unions which have the potential of impacting negatively on productivity and making compensation payments unsustainable if not well managed.
This conference will certainly provide the platform for addressing all of these concerns; Regional and National Security Concerns which require additional resources to protect national territories against any form of insurgency.
This could derail fiscal consolidation efforts unless other expenditures are curtailed; Delay in passage of the E-Levy .
The impasse in Parliament regarding the passage of the E-Levy and other revenue bills does not auger well for the credibility of the 2022 Budget.
In addition, the low tax mobilisation effort with Tax to GDP ratio at 12.2 percent in 2021 is much lower than the Ghana Beyond Aid/Ghana CARES target of 18-20 percent; Credit Rating Downgrade from Fitch and Moody’s .
Fitch downgraded our credit from B with a Negative Outlook to B- with a Negative Outlook on 22nd January 2022.
Moody’s also downgraded Ghana’s credit rating from B3 with a negative outlook to Caa1 with stable outlook on 4th February 2022, although S&P affirmed Ghana’s credit ratings at B- with Stable Outlook also on the same day.
We must all admit that we have a severe problem on our hands that we must resolve.
For this reason, burden-sharing must be the order of the day.
The government is doing its best to strike a delicate balance.
We must march strides together with Labour Unions and Employers to attain this delicate balance.
We, the Unions and Employers must be in partnership to address the challenge of creating a resilient post-COVID economy.
I say to you with all the condor I can muster that meeting this challenge will require sacrifice.
We have to make certain sacrifices now to restore our Economy and position ourselves well in a post-COVID landscape.
Nana Chairman, to address these challenges, we have deployed some mitigation measures.
These measures include a 20% expenditure cut announced by Government in January as part of measures to achieve Government's fiscal consolidation objectives for 2022, as was echoed in the President’s speech.
This intervention is aimed at ensuring that the fiscal consolidation is expenditure-led even before revenue performs or otherwise, towards ensuring that we meet our fiscal deficit target even if we encounter revenue shortfalls.
To this effect, the 2022 Q1 expenditure allotment ceilings for MDAs have been issued to reflect the 20% expenditure cut.
In addition, an expenditure committee that meets weekly to monitor expenditure performance towards set targets has been institutionalized and operationalised.
The Ministry of Finance has also adopted a more frequent investor/key stakeholder engagements on the economy, including with Labour Unions and Employers to ensure that more information and data on the economy is shared with stakeholders.
Nana Chairman, let me now touch on the recent developments in our labour space and its potential impact on macroeconomic stability and fiscal sustainability.
As you may be aware, some labour unions in recent times have embarked on strike actions to demand better conditions of service.
Nana Chairman, it is not the wish of Government that issues of this nature linger on in our economy.
In addition, I will be the first to admit that conditions of service in the wider public service needs improvement.
However, these should be done within budgetary constraints to ensure that we do not put excessive pressure on our public finances.
Nana Chairman, let me share a few statistics on Compensation payments in Ghana: ​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​ In 2021, Government Spent Ghs31.7 billion to pay for compensation of employees which is made up of wages & salaries, pensions, gratuities, and social security.
This was paid out of a Tax Revenue of Ghs56.5 billion.
The payment for Compensation of Employees absorbed 56.0% of Tax Revenues in 2021.
This ratio is well above the ECOWAS threshold of 35% and above the Sub-Saharan Africa average of 42.7%; This compensation payment of Ghs31.7 billion was made for about 700,000 public sector workers out of a population of 31 million; The fiscal impact becomes worse when we consider the three largest expenditure items, namely, Compensation of Employees, Interest Payments and Statutory Funds.
In 2021, these three items altogether amounted to Ghs81.3 billion representing 144.0% of Tax Revenue.
This means that the total tax revenue is not enough to meet our commitments on compensation, interest payments, and statutory funds as we have to resort to non-tax revenue and borrowing to be able to meet these obligations.
This shows how rigid the budget is and how fiscal space is non-existent or limited.
I will, therefore, like to call on organized labour and associations to be guided by these data on compensation as we negotiate wage adjustments.
We need to collectively work together to increase domestic revenue and grow the economy to provide the fiscal space to improve salaries and monetary conditions of service of workers.
At the same time, we need to link salary and compensation demand to productivity.
I’m glad that there is a whole thematic area on salaries, allowances, conditions of services and productivity which will examine and discuss the nexus among these items.
I will like to use this opportunity to call on the National Tripartite Committee and the Public Sector Joint Standing Negotiating Committee to ensure that negotiations of pay and compensations are based on not just the cost of living and productivity indicators but also the ability-to-pay indicators such as domestic revenue performance and budget constraints.
Nana Chairman, that the NTC and PSJSNC negotiated a multi-year salary adjustment for 2021 and 2022 was a good thing and is within the spirit of the Communique of the Ho Labour Forum in 2013 which advocated for multi-year wage negotiations.
I will also like to commend organized labour and the rest of the social partners for the levels agreed on wage rise for 2021 and 2022 following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy.
I will like to encourage the NTC and the PSJSNC to continue with the practice of multi-year wage negations and subjecting wage demands to budget constraints, thereby contributing to fiscal consolidation in particular and macroeconomic stability in general.
These are necessary to protect worker incomes and promote the right business environment for wealth and job creation.
Nana Chairman, I am hopeful that the ongoing negotiations with the Labour unions together with the outcome of this National Labour Conference will bring us to the point where we find a good balance that enables us to meet the demands of labour without compromising macroeconomic stability, growth and social protection.
Of course, there is much more to do.
Hospitals need to be built under Agenda 111, social welfare programmes need to be expanded, affordable housing units must be developed, and roads should be constructed.
We cannot do all these without the support of Labour and Employers.
The Social Partners should therefore partner with Government to pursue our vision, our vision of an enterprise-driven economy, where the government will: Strengthen the links between education and job market stakeholders; Provide access to finance, skills, and markets for our young entrepreneurs; Resource state institutions to support the ambitions of those who want to pursue enterprise; and Grow the capacity of the private sector to create jobs.
That is the vision all of us can be a part of.
An economy and a country that: Praises entrepreneurship and promotes opportunity for everyone to realise their ambitions; Promotes social justice; Makes the way clear for hardworking Ghanaians and their businesses to do well; and crucially Ensures that our Ghanaian workers are not just “well-compensated” but also possess the skills and productivity to make us competitive in the modern world.
Nana Chairman, let me emphasize that despite a forceful policy response at the onset of the pandemic, the socio-economic impact remains significant.
Fortunately, there are strong signs of recovery which we must all together to sustain as we maneuver this post-pandemic era.
Before I conclude, I will like us to, within the spirit of tripartism, work together to ensure and sustain macro-economic stability for the much needed growth and development to better the lives of the people.
In this regard, we need to: Strengthen the current Social Partnership Council as a platform for building consensus on transformation and development issues; Support the implementation of a National Fiscal Consolidation Plan to enhance and sustain macroeconomic stability for the promotion of growth and development; Support government to eliminate wastage in government expenditures including placing a focus on completing existing projects and enforcing sanctions in the PFM Act; The Social Partners to support Government to enhance domestic revenue mobilization including through broadening of the tax base; Government should continue to pursue positive primary balance and embark on other debt management programmes to promote debt sustainability; The social partners should support Government to create descent jobs through its entrepreneurship programmes especially the Ghs10 billion and 1 million jobs YouStart Programme (3 year programme).
In addition, the GSS and MELR should be supported to produce quarterly employment data to track the success of employment programmes; Government should continue to create the necessary environment to support private sector transformation and development.
In this regard, government should undertake trade reforms and take steps to optimize the gains from AfCFTA.
Government’s programme to support SME financing and skills development should continue.
Thus the establishment of the Development Bank Ghana will provide long-term affordable financing to businesses; The Social Partners should support Government to speed up the establishment and implementation of the National Unemployment Insurance Scheme; The social partners should support government to enhance productivity and reduce the cost of doing business.
In this regard, Government will strive to provide enablers such as technology, attitude programmes, access to power, energy, water and roads, efficient transportation, and training and retraining programmes.
The National Tripartite Committee should establish an annual national productivity week to promote productivity in both the private and public sectors; The social partners should strive to promote the sustainability of compensation payments.
In this regard, Government’s plan to increase the Tax to GDP from 12.2% to 20% in the medium-term should be supported to enable Government create the fiscal for salary adjustment in the medium term.
The social partners should also support Government in its drive to link pay to productivity; The social partners should strive to negotiate a pay band for salary adjustments for an agreed multi-year period; The social partners should support government rationalize conditions of service across the public service; Social partners should work together to ensure that salary negotiations by the end of April for the subsequent year, in line with the PFM Act; Social Partners should support Government to expedite the implementation of the Training & Retraining Programme; ​​​​​​​ Government will programme to resource FWSC, Labour Department and the National Labour Commission to perform their functions more effectively.
Thank you, God bless!
Fellow Ghanaians, good evening.
I first came to your homes on Wednesday, 11th March 2020, five (5) days after our nation’s 63rd Independence Day celebration, a day before we recorded our first two (2) cases, with news of the measures Government was taking to limit the importation of the COVID-19 virus into the country.
Even at that time, it was obvious to me, watching what was happening in Asia, Europe and Latin America, that, if it was not well-managed, it would disrupt our lives and livelihoods.
I, therefore, instructed the Finance Minister, which was announced in Update No.1, to find the cedi equivalent of one hundred million dollars ($100 million), to enable us prepare and mount an appropriate response to the pandemic.
Since then, we have experienced four (4) waves of the outbreak.
One hundred and sixty-thousand, nine hundred and thirty-two (160,932) people have tested positive from the 2.4 million tests conducted, and one thousand, four hundred and forty-five (1,445) people have, sadly, died.
Our comprehensive strategy has entailed living with restrictions that altered our daily routine; we have been restrained from shaking hands and hugging one another; we have had to keep a distance from each other; we have had to put up with the discomfort of wearing face masks every time we left our homes; we have had to endure distress caused by the poking of our nostrils and throats with swab-sticks, each time we underwent a PCR or antigen test; we had to endure, for three weeks, the painful lockdown in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area and Kasoa and the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area and contiguous districts; and we have all borne the brunt of the ravages of the pandemic.
As your President, I saw it as my duty to provide you with regular updates on the situation, the measures government is taking, and to seek your support and co-operation.
That is why I have been a constant feature on your screens these past two years, in the addresses that have now become popularly referred to as “Fellow Ghanaians”, and I thank you for welcoming me so warmly into your homes.
You have listened to me, you have co-operated with Government and with the health experts, you have adhered to the enhanced hygiene and mask wearing protocols, and a considerable number of you have taken the vaccine.
I thank you for the opportunity you have given me to be your President in these difficult times.
I do not take it lightly.
The relative successes we have chalked in winning the fight against COVID-19 have been collective ones, which reinforce my belief that, if we are united, there is no obstacle or hurdle too high to surmount in our quest to build a progressive and prosperous Ghana.
Fellow Ghanaians, undoubtedly, like in every country in the world, the effects of the pandemic have been devastating for us, in Ghana.
We have felt the brunt of COVID-19, with every aspect of national life affected.
I did say at the height of the pandemic that “we know what to do to bring the economy back to life; but what we do not know is how to bring people back to life”.
We, thus, had to take drastic steps to protect lives and livelihoods by suspending, for the years 2020 and 2021, our pursuit of fiscal responsibility, which had made the Ghanaian economy the poster boy of rapid economic growth in the world in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
You would recall that, in response to the pandemic, I mandated the creation of the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme to support households and micro, small, and medium-size businesses (MSMEs).
Its intent was to help minimise job losses, and stimulate economic revitalisation, by mobilising private and public sector finances to expand industrial output for domestic consumption and exports.
To this end, I instituted a GH¢1.1 billion health response package, which was used to procure supplies and equipment, and a relief package for health workers, which included tax waivers, allowances, transportation and COVID-insurance.
Government also found the money to recruit, on a permanent basis, twenty-four thousand, two hundred and eighty-five (24,285) more health professionals.
GH¢1.6 billion was made available to support vulnerable households across the country, which went into food packages and hot meals, and the provision of free water for all, free electricity for lifeline consumers, and 50% rebate for all others.
Some seven hundred and fifty million cedis (GH¢750 million) in soft loans and grants were also disbursed to micro, small and medium sized businesses to help maintain their economic activity.
The Government Statistician tells us that this expenditure has achieved its purpose.
At the height of the pandemic, despite strong opposition in some quarters and the legitimate concern of some parents, we stood firm and were successful in ensuring that the education of our children was not truncated.
We spent some GH¢1.9 billion providing PPEs and hot meals for students, teaching and non-teaching staff, hand washing facilities, training of teachers on COVID, development of content for online classes, and disinfection and fumigation of schools.
This made it possible for students to return in conditions of safety, sit for their respective examinations, and achieve successful results.
Indeed, the spectacular results of the first and second batches of the Free SHS graduates, whom I proudly call the Akufo-Addo graduates, are testament to this.
I want to state, without any equivocation, that should our nation, God forbid, be confronted by such a pandemic again, and I, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, am, by the grace of God, your President, I will not shy away from taking such essential steps to protect you and your businesses again.
Fellow Ghanaians, whilst we count the costs, COVID-19 also inspired our domestic manufacturing capabilities, and deepened our self-reliance.
The pharmaceutical industry, at my instigation, responded positively to the need for domestic production of sanitizers, disinfectants, and liquid soaps.
Furthermore, Government was able to procure some eighty-one million cedis (GH¢81 million) worth of personal protective equipment, such as face masks, headcovers, medical scrubs and hospital gowns from domestic garment and textiles manufacturing companies for health workers, and for students going back to school to prepare and sit for their final examinations.
COVID-19 also highlighted the unequal distribution of healthcare facilities in the country, as we have tended to focus our healthcare infrastructure in Accra, Kumasi and one or two of our other big cities.
As we have seen, epidemics and pandemics, when they emerge, can spread to any part of the country.
There are one hundred and one (101) districts in the country with no district hospitals, and we have to do something about it.
The creation of the new regions also means that Government has to construct six (6) Regional Hospitals for the six (6) new Regions, and a befitting new regional one for the Western Region, and see to the construction of three (3) new psychiatric hospitals for the Coastal, Middle and Northern Belts, respectively, and rehabilitate the Effia-Nkwanta Hospital in the Western Region.
This has led to the formulation and declaration of Agenda 111, the biggest ever investment in the nation’s healthcare sector.
Work is currently underway, and before the end of my tenure of office on 7th January 2025, all one hundred and eleven (111) hospitals would have been commissioned.
Since March 2021, vaccination has become a central part of our strategy to defeat the pandemic.
Our aim has been to achieve herd immunity as soon as possible, and our target has been to vaccinate twenty million of our population.
Our initial challenge was to secure enough vaccines to meet this target.
We have, so far, acquired nearly twenty-nine million (29 million) vaccine doses in the country, having administered some 13.1 million doses as at 26th March 2022.
Whilst appreciating COVAX and other donors in COVID-19 vaccine supply initiatives, and Government also procuring further vaccine consignments through AU and AVATT initiatives, Ghana, Rwanda and Senegal, in partnership with the German biotechnology company, BioNTech SE, are venturing into vaccine development and manufacturing, with the three countries determined to become vaccine manufacturing hubs in sub-Saharan Africa.
We want to achieve self-sufficiency in vaccine production to meet future national, regional and continental needs for health security.
We shall not then, in the future, be at the mercy of foreign vaccine nationalism and geopolitics.
Last year, I set up a Vaccine Manufacturing Committee, under the chairmanship of the world-renowned Ghanaian scientist, Prof.
Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, which will, soon, be transformed by Act of Parliament into the National Vaccine Institute.
We have committed twenty-five million dollars ($25 million) to develop our domestic vaccine production capability, and facilitate the capacity of domestic pharmaceutical companies to fill, finish and package mRNA COVID-19, malaria, tuberculosis and other vaccines, as a first step towards vaccine production.
Fellow Ghanaians, we have reached a critical point in our fight against COVID-19.
Government has undertaken a comprehensive review of the raft of measures put in place to help win the fight against the virus.
This review is premised on the background of rapidly declining infections, the relative success of the vaccination campaign being supervised by the Ghana Health Service, and the increased capacity developed in the public and private health sectors over the last two (2) years.
Indeed, as at Friday, 25th March 2022, the total number of active cases stood at seventy-two (72).
There are no severely or critically ill persons.
Our COVID-19 treatment centres are empty, and the 4th wave appears to be over.
In addition to these very low reported cases is the considerable improvement in the availability and uptake of vaccines by the population.
Whilst we have not achieved our national vaccination coverage target, it is significant to note that reasonable vaccination coverages have been achieved in the hotspots of infections, particularly in the urban areas of Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi.
Government is determined to use all means to increase the deployment of vaccination across the country to achieve our target of vaccinating some twenty million (20 million) Ghanaians by June.
To my Fellow Ghanaians who have not received the jab, I urge you to take it.