President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says the government will continue with the 30 per cent cut in discretionary expenditures of Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
He said: “We have decided also to continue with the policy of thirty per cent (30%) cut in the salaries of political office holders, including the President, Vice President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, MMDCEs, and SOE appointees in 2023.”
President Akufo-Addo said this on Sunday when he addressed the nation on the economic challenges and Government’s efforts at restoring the economy to “good shape”.
The President’s address focused on the high cost of living and the immediate reforms needed to restore economic growth.
The country is witnessing depreciation of the cedi and rising cost of fuel, which are impacting negatively on food prices.
Before his address, the President had in the past few days, met cabinet and other interest groups on how best to improve and strengthen the fiscals.
The Cedi has seen a huge depreciation losing close to 50 per cent of its value since the beginning of the year.
Bloomberg rated the currency the worst-performing worldwide after considering a basket of 148 currencies worldwide.
Currently, inflation stands at 37.2 per cent while Producer Price Inflation has risen to 45.5 per cent, reducing purchasing power for many.
On Saturday, October 29, Ghanaians started paying more for commercial transportation following a 19 per cent increase by the Ghana Private Road Transport Union.
Currently, diesel and petrol are selling for over GH¢19 and GH¢16 respectively at major fuel pumps; a situation transport operators said was eroding their profit.
Worker unions are also demanding better working conditions.
Meanwhile, there are ongoing discussions between the government of Ghana and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a US$ 3 million bailout to fix the economy.
