ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches huggingface dataset:
Keynote Address by Hon. Mona Helen K. Quartey at the Opening of the Fourth National Financial Literacy Week at Accra International Conference Centre, Tuesday 23 September 2014
Source: ministry_of_finance_ghana
Date: 2014-09-23

If knowledge is power then financial knowledge is security. Financial literacy has been identified globally as a critical tool for development – issue relating to budgeting, savings, investment and the management of risks are relevant for the individual, households and businesses in their development process. Making decisions on these issues depending on the level of complexity require at least basic financial literacy levels which involves the ability of the financial consumer to appreciate the essential and basic knowledge that will help make sound financial decisions and judgments. Personal financial interest and the interest of the national economy are inextricably linked. The financial health of individuals and households contributes to the financial health of the economy and act as building blocks of the economy. Individuals and households spending, saving and investment significantly impact economic growth. The milestone decisions we make throughout our lives ultimately affect our financial security and ultimately the financial security of our domestic economy. The strength of our country therefore depends on an informed public. The greater our grasp of issues including saving, investment, plan for contingencies through insurance and debt, the better we are conscious of our financial circumstance and our ability to improve it. When individuals and households are financially secured they face less risk and ultimately constitute the backbone of the economy. It is for this reason that Government has institutionalized an annual National Financial Literacy Week as long-term financial sector policy priority measure, aimed at raising awareness on the range of financial products and services available to consumers to help them better understand and manage their personal finances, thereby improving financial behavior of the citizenry.
Welcome Remarks Delivered by the Chief Director of the Ministry of Finance, at the Official Launch of the 4th National Financial Literacy Week Celebration at the Accra International Conference Center on Tuesday, 23rd Sept. 2014
Source: ministry_of_finance_ghana
Date: 2014-09-23

Financial literacy is the set of skills and knowledge that allows an individual, households and businesses to make informed and effective decisions regarding their financial resources. We find this as an important life-skill in our diverse capacities as students, employees, consumers, savers and investors. The choice of this year’s theme is based on the fact that we need to jointly work together to build on the gains of the previous years’ financial literacy campaign. It is also expected to develop a new momentum in ensuring a behavioral change of the population, create a common rallying call to mobilize the banking, insurance, pensions and securities sectors interest for the present and future policy benefit. In brief, these will improve the overall outreach for financial services which has remained low over the years. This theme also provides the opportunity to reinvigorate the financial aspirations of the population especially the target audience i.e. the youth. The messages from the various subsectors are expected to provide practical steps that can make a secured future a reality. These messages will not only raise the awareness of existing tools to leverage an optimized solution to their future financial outcomes, but also to motivate financial consumers to acquire and hold formal and safer assets for their future. The National financial Literacy week starting today has activities aimed at creating awareness and educating the entire population. During the week’s campaign, experts will be discussing a range of financial issues of interest, various financial products available and draw attention to particular issues. These activities aim at helping all and sundry to make the best financial decisions. Specifically, the week’s activities will focus on Radio and TV discussions and regional forums in Kumasi, Wa and Ho on Friday 26th September, 2014. On Wednesday, discussions will focus on banking issues especially the importance of savings at youthful age and the securities industry. Similarly, Thursday will be dedicated to issues on Pensions and Insurance subsectors. It is expected that clarity will be provided on new insurance policy guidelines as well as the new pension guidelines to existing clients, highlighting the new opportunities to the informal sector. All these activities will be crowned on Sunday with Talking Point on GTV.
Address and Speech at the Launch of the GRA Taxpayer Portal
Source: ministry_of_finance_ghana
Date: 2014-11-04

On behalf of the management and staff of the Ghana Revenue Authority, I wish to present to our distinguished taxpayers and other stakeholders a very significant step that GRA has taken in collaboration with its partner, GCNet, towards modernization and automation of our business processes. GRA has the greatest pleasure to introduce to you all, the portal for registration and other key services in tax administration. We have indeed come a long way in our quest to offer the best of service delivery through the e-Government platform that involves the automation of key processes in the tax administration system. Our journey was initiated in 2010 and has not been a very smooth one. We have however, been able to surmount many challenges that affected the process to ensure that our cherished taxpayers enjoy the best of services that we can offer to enable them pay their taxes in comfort. Today I can assure you that with the introduction of this portal, you can sit in the comfort of your homes and offices to access our services. I’m therefore sure you will agree with me that this is indeed a momentous landmark in our journey. We look forward to chalking other milestones in our drive to offer the best customer care to you. We also wish to state that the services will be user friendly and that there will be support services provided to enable you get in touch with us should you encounter difficulties in using the portal. Ladies and gentlemen, the objective of the automation programme that GRA embarked upon is to broaden the tax base by initially gathering the needed data on our taxpayers, using this information to make our services more transparent and efficient and thereby increasing compliance levels and ultimately broaden the tax base. Secondly, the Gegov project is also expected to develop the IT enabled services industry, contribute to improve efficiency and transparency of selected government functions through e-government applications. Finally, the project will re-engineer business processes, deploy state of the art application software and hardware and other solutions for the GRA and the Registrar General’s Department. It is our expectation that our cherished taxpayers will make maximum use of the new portal to carry out registration and other services offered. We assure you that we are available at all times to help you navigate through the portal and all enquiries will be attended to promptly.
Welcome Address Delivered by Hon. Minister of Finance (Hon. Seth Terkper) at the “Financing The Future” Conference, Accra
Source: ministry_of_finance_ghana
Date: 2015-04-17

I find this conference as a unique opportunity to share experiences on best practices and policies, on how international public finance can contribute to accelerating progress in development. We will make specific contributions to the financing for development (FfD) process and attempt to influence decision-makers ahead of the Addis Ababa conference on Financing for Development in July 2015. Global growth remains in low gear and downside risks persist of both public and private sectors. Advanced economies are recovering at a slow pace, mostly hindered by constraints on both the demand and the supply sides. Emerging markets are still in the lead, although they are slowing down from elevated levels in recent years definitely in some instances, to avoid bubbles and alter the direction for development. A key source of risk to growth and financial stability in several of these economies is the unwinding or tapering of the unconventional monetary policies in advanced economies – even as their use is put in gear in some of these economies. In the face of these global developments, some developing countries, especially African countries, are seeing a paradigm shift. They are focusing on improving their infrastructure and managing their natural resource wealth to achieve broad based inclusive growth. These economies are also seeking to strengthen the implementation of structural reforms in order to maintain annual average growth rates around the 5 percent that they have achieved over the past few years. The process for inclusive growth involves simultaneous improvements in the MDG goals, especially the quest to improve human capital through health, education training to significantly reduce poverty in the medium-term.
Closing Remarks for Hon Mona Helen Quartey Reverse Mission on Social Protection to the World Bank
Source: ministry_of_finance_ghana
Date: 2015-06-14

That we have made significant progress as a country with regards to our effort at poverty reduction through social protection programmes That we still have a long way to go and a lot more to learn That we need to urgently introduce efficient measures both in our social protection spending in particular and social spending in general especially with regards to resource allocation and cost of delivering these programmes
Opening Remarks at the IMF Conference On Enhanced Data Or Better Macroeconomic Policies by Hon. Seth E. Terkper, Minster of Finance, Ghana - 2nd February, 2016
Source: ministry_of_finance_ghana
Date: 2016-02-02

On behalf of the Government and People of the Republic of Ghana, I warmly welcome you to the city of Accra and to the first and largest conference ever in Africa dedicated to the topic of enhancing data for better macroeconomic and financial policies. We are very pleased to be collaborating with the IMF and the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) to discuss this important topic and I am particularly delighted to host this gathering of high-level policy colleagues from across the continent. The broad attendance from senior policymakers from all parts of Africa is testimony to how important the topic of today’s discussion is for all of us: Better data for better policies! It is my hope that we will have an open conversation, a frank exchange of views, and learn from each other on the challenges and success stories on how data was made more accurate and how those data have been useful in improving our policies. The rich diversity of our experiences, collectively, can tell us what kinds of data are the most important, where we can focus our energies to make those data better, where the most serious challenges and bottlenecks are, and how we can improve the ways we use those data to make the best policy decisions possible. To do this, we will also look to our partners in these efforts, such as the IMF with its considerable technical expertise and who has been providing technical assistance and training to all of us in the many domains of macroeconomic and financial statistics, such as national accounts, price statistics, government finance, monetary and external sector statistics, and increasingly also on how to disseminate those data. In this process, the IMF has collaborated with several development partners, most notably DFID that has supported the Enhance Data Dissemination Initiative (EDDI) over the last five years and is now entering into its second five-year phase, with even more beneficiary countries. For example, under this project, Ghana recently completed a private sector capital flow survey that will be used to help us strengthen our balance of payments and international investment position measurements. We also now compile and publish quarterly national accounts statistics. In the recently started successor project, EDDI2 , we plan to focus on monetary statistics, financial soundness indicators and data dissemination. I know that many of you also benefited from this generous support from DFID, which has also been complemented by technical assistance and training on key statistical issues offered by the IMF’s five African Technical Assistance Centers that cover almost every country on the continent. All of our efforts to strengthen our statistical framework contributes to enhancing our capacity to implement better policies. It also enhances our relationships with credit rating agencies and markets, allowing us to improve our access to financing.
Speaking Notes for Media Briefing By Hon. Minister of Finance On The Public Financial Management ACT, ACT 921
Source: ministry_of_finance_ghana
Date: 2016-09-20

The passage of this Act has become necessary to codify the best practices that have emerged with the implementation of major reforms in budgeting and accounting since 2010 under the GIFMIS project. In addition, continuing fiscal challenges which require some structural changes are addressed in this Act. There are also provisions setting out new policy measures regarding borrowing and debt management among others. The Government as part of effort to progressively strengthen the structural foundation for more robust PFM systems has undertaken various reforms. The goal of these reforms is to establish efficient, transparent and accountable resource mobilization, allocation, management and use of fiscal resources to meet Ghana’s development priorities and commitments. The object of this Act is to regulate the financial management of the public sector within a macroeconomic and fiscal framework. For the purpose of subsection (1) of the Act, there shall be established (a) a framework to support a sound fiscal policy and the macroeconomic management of public funds (b) processes for the preparation, approval and management of a transparent, credible and predictable annual budget; (c) mechanisms for the operation of the Consolidated Fund; (d) mechanisms for the management of public funds, assets and liabilities; (e) internal and external audit frameworks and correlative reporting and accounting systems; and a mechanism to oversee the matters specified under paragraphs (a) to (e). For the first time, we have provided a comprehensive, legislative framework for the operations of the entire public sector. This includes central government, local authorities, statutory funds and State Owned Enterprises (SOEs).
Speech by Charles Adu Boahen, Dep. Minister for Finance at the 2018 Capital Market Week at Labadi Beach Hotel - October 25, 2017
Source: ministry_of_finance_ghana
Date: 2017-10-25

It is remarkable to see how the Ghana Securities Industry Association (GSIA) has evolved into such a strong and vibrant organization, with a strong commitment to ensuring the growth of the capital markets, promoting market education, and encouraging good ethical practices among players. I understand that the GSIA is currently responsible for organising this event, taking over from the SEC two years ago. I will commend you all for the great commitment to working together to shape the industry and most importantly to support government policy for the capital market.
Full text: 2021 Budget Statement presented by Caretaker Finance Minister
Source: myjoyonline

Right. Hon. Speaker, Honourable Members of Parliament, on the authority of H.E. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, I beg to move that this Honourable House approves the Financial Policy of the Government of Ghana for the year ending 31 st December, 2021. 2. On the authority of H.E. the President, and in accordance with Articles 179 and 180 of the 1992 Constitution, permit me to present to this august House, the Budget of the President of the Republic of Ghana. 3. Mr. Speaker, the Statement is an abridged version of the 2021 Budget Statement and I would like to request the Hansard Department to deem the entirety of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy as having been read and capture same in the Hansard of today Friday 12 th March, 2021. 4. I also submit to this august House the following statutory reports: The 2020 Annual Report on the Petroleum Funds, in accordance with Section 48 of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011 (Act 815), as amended The 2020 Report on the Utilization of the African Union Levies; and The 2020 Annual Debt Report, in accordance with Section 72 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921) 5. Mr Speaker, on October 28, 2020, in accordance with Article 180 of the 1992 Constitution, government laid the Expenditure-in-Advance-of -Appropriation in the House. I wish to report that the subsequent approval of those Estimates by this august House has made it possible for Government business and public services delivery to continue uninterrupted in the first quarter of 2021. 6. Mr Speaker, just three days ago on March 9, 2021, H.E. the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo presented the first message on the State of the Nation of his second term. In that address, he clearly stated that even though, like other countries around the world, we have had to go through the worst possible pandemic of our lifetime, the nation is in relative good state, thanks to the Grace of God and to the swift, decisive, responsible and necessary actions taken by Government to contain the virus, support families and sustain the economy. 7. Today, I stand here on his behalf to present to you, the state of the economy; how we have managed to mitigate and survive the pandemic and eke out a projected positive growth rate of 0.9 per cent in 2020 contrary to the initial fears of a negative growth rate as experienced elsewhere. I will also present to you deliberate and well thought out strategies that will hasten our recovery and place us on a confident path of sustained economic transformation.
Full text: 2022 Budget statement and economic policy presented by Ken Ofori-Atta
Source: myjoyonline

Right Honourable Speaker, Honourable Members of Parliament, on the authority of H.E. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, I beg to move that this august House approves the Financial Policy of the Government of Ghana for the year ending 31st December, 2022. On the authority of H.E. the President, and in accordance with Articles 179 and 180 of the 1992 Constitution, I present to this House, the Budget of The President of the Republic of Ghana for the 2022 Financial Year. I also submit to this House the following statutory reports: i. the 2021 Annual Report on the Petroleum Funds, in accordance with Section 48 of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011 (Act 815), (as amended) and ii. the 2021 Report on the Utilization of the African Union Levies in accordance with Section 7 of the African Union Import Levies Act, 2017 (Act 952). Mr. Speaker, this statement is an abridged version of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2022 Financial Year. I, therefore, request that the entire Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2022 Financial Year be captured in the Hansard. Mr. Speaker, exactly 1 year, 8 months and 5 days today, Ghana confirmed its first case of COVID-19. Since then, efforts to contain the virus and its impact on our lives have dominated the actions of government – not only here in Ghana, but across the globe. The Covid-19 pandemic, which has swept through the world, has upended, and exposed, the weaknesses in some of the critical structures and systems in education, health, economic life, communities and everyday family life. The pandemic triggered a sharp and heavy slump in global supply chains as the lockdowns and restrictions led to reductions in demand and production levels. The pick-up in demand for goods this year has also created a new inflationary problem with the consequential rise in the cost of shipping, disruption of the global supply chain, and exacerbated by increase in world fuel prices.
Full text: 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review
Source: myjoyonline

The Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, presented the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review to Parliament on Thursday, July 23, highlighting what he described as strong signs of economic recovery under the Mahama administration. According to the Finance Minister, Ghana's economy is on a steady path to recovery, with key macroeconomic indicators showing significant improvement. He said the Ghana cedi has stabilised and attributed the country's improving economic performance to what he called "superior economic management", insisting that the recovery is the result of deliberate policy decisions rather than luck or external support. Dr Forson also announced that the policy rate has fallen to 14 per cent, a development he said is creating a more favourable environment for businesses. According to him, lower interest rates will enable investors and businesses to borrow more affordably, expand their operations and create jobs. He said that the government's economic reforms are beginning to yield results and assured Ghanaians that "Ghana is not going back under President Mahama," but is instead "moving forward steadily."
Full Text: Akufo-Addo's speech at CJ swearing in
Source: myjoyonline

President Nana Akufo-Addo has stressed that his government will not shield anyone found to have broken the laws of the country. President Akufo-Addo stated that the application of the laws of the land must occur, in the words of the judicial oath, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will, and, therefore, without recourse to the political, religious or ethnic affiliations of any citizen of the land. “When you fall foul of the law, you must be dealt with accordingly, and the law enforcement agencies, including the Judiciary, must ensure this is done. To persons perpetrating acts of lawlessness in the name of being members of the ruling party, let me make it clear to you that you will find no shield in my government from the law,” he said. President Akufo-Addo was speaking at the swearing into office of the new Chief Justice of Republic, Justice Sophia Abena Boafoa Akuffo, on Monday when he made these known.