The Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, Legon, Prof. Peter Quartey has suggested some fiscal measures to be included in the 2023 budget to help shore up revenue for the government.
According to the Economist, the country’s fiscal space is currently in a bad state, thus would need innovative revenue measures to stabilize the economy.
Speaking on Joy Business’ Pre-Budget Forum on Monday, Prof. Peter Quartey urged the government to reduce its appointees and use the savings to fund the 2023 budget.
“Government said it is going to pursue an austere budget…I expect a step further. I think there should be a reduction in the number of government appointees and how much is spent on them and many other areas, it would go a long way to help streamline our fiscal position,” he told Winston Amoah.
With regard to revenue generation, Prof. Peter Quartey commended the Ghana Revenue Authority for its recent initiative of the E-VAT Invoicing system.
The Authority had said the E-VAT Invoicing system will help it monitor the issuance of VAT by companies and will also deal with the inaccuracies associated with the filing of VAT by companies.
The ISSER Director believes that the 2023 budget should introduce more of such policies to maximize the country’s revenue generation.
“We want to see more of that and I think it is a step in the right direction. We need to enforce that and raise our revenue upstream and so these are some of the innovative measures that we want to see that we aggressively pursue our revenue mobilisation without destroying the base,” he added.
Meanwhile, the 2023 Budget may not be read on November 15 as scheduled.
Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu revealed that the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) may delay the presentation.
“Nothing should be done which will eventually become wishy-washy. They want to have the best to be able to uplift us from where we are as a country. And that being the case, if we want to do a thorough job, I think there will be too much pressure if it has to be done on the 15th,” the MP told journalists last week.
