TRADES UNION CONGRESS (GHANA) BRIEF STATEMENT ON 2014 BUDGET AND ECONOMIC POLICIES The Trade Union Congress (Ghana) followed with keen interest the presentation of the 2014 Budget Statement and Economic Policies of Government by the Minister of Finance. In due course, the TUC will come up with comprehensive report stating its views and positions on the policy underpinnings of the budget and the proposals therein. In the interim, we note the following: A. The 2014 Budget and Economic Policies followed in the tradition of telling Ghanaians about economic growth as measured by GDP; inflation and other macroeconomic indices. In a characteristic fashion, the budget was silent on employment. Government has once again confirmed to Ghanaians that when it comes to employment it is a matter for manifestos and not a serious macroeconomic issue for its consideration. The inflation targeting objective remains against the background that the most pressing issue for Ghanaians is they and their children educated at great costs to them gain productive employment that delivers fair incomes. B. Over the years, in our engagements on Budget and Economic Policy formulation, we have called for a change in the way economic policy has been conducted in Ghana over the last thirty years. Specifically, we have called for a break from the neo-liberal overemphasis on price stability. We have suggested an alternative approach of Employment Targeting to economic policy. C. The TUC welcome the choice of four (4) priority sectors on which oil and gas revenues are to be spent for the next three years in line with the Petroleum Revenue Management Law (Act 815). But the budget maintained a loud silence about how we have fared in terms of the previous four (4) priority sectors on we had spent petroleum revenues since 2011. We had expected Government to tell Ghanaians the status of the road projects on which huge sums of petroleum revenues were applied. On agriculture, its performance over the last three years does not reflect the huge resources that have been pumped into agricultural modernization from the oil revenues. We called for proper accounting for past revenues that have spent from our oil. Without that we are likely to squander another huge sums with these new priority areas. D. On public sector wages, the TUC welcomes the proposals in the 2014 Budget to enhance the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP). The TUC and its affiliates in the public sector are willing and prepared to support government and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission in this direction. We are however, concerned with the continued delays in the review of allowances. Also, contrary to what happened this year, we call on government and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) and the other social partners to ensure that negotiations on public sector base pay and the national minimum wage are concluded on time. Particularly, in the case of public sector pay, this will forestall the accumulation of huge arrears and the challenges associated with them. 1. In the last five years, annual Budgets and Economic Policies have contained proposals for the completion of exiting and construction of new affordable housing project. However, governments’ commitments to affordable housing appears to be a rhetoric as nothing concrete appears to be done to address the housing deficits in Ghana. Given the dire need for affordable housing we call on government to implement the proposals on affordable housing contained in the 2014 Budget Statement and Economic Policy. 2. The TUC is also concerned with implementation levels of annual budgets and economic policy statements. In spite of all the challenges we have had with budgets and the policy underpinnings in the last three decades we firmly believe that budget proposals have been most hampered by poor implementation. The execution rate has been low and large-scale inefficiencies often undermine performance. We urge government to demonstrate commitment to the implementation of the budget by releasing resources to the appropriate agencies on time. Signed KOFI ASAMOAH SECRETARY GENERAL
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 07:06:57 +0000
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