Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is expected to present the mid-year budget review statement and Economic Policy to Parliament today July 31, 2017 .
This will be the second time the finance minister will be appearing in parliament to submit a budget statement since his appointment
Ahead of the presentation, the Executive Director of the IFS, Professor Newman Kusi, says the sharp slump vital expenditure has had an impact on the economy.
“The cuts in expenditure have been affected; those that we actually need such as the capital spending, earmarked funds, payment for goods and services among others. But then again the government has its hands tied at its back because it cannot cut back on wages and salaries, interest payments, etc and these together take a disproportionate share of the revenue that is collected,” he stated.
It is constitutional for the finance minister to present the financial state of the economy before the beginning of the second half of the year.
Some of the key areas that Mr. Ken Ofori Atta is expected to touch on is revenue shortfalls, the impact of declining commodity prices on economy, government debt levels as well as progress with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
