I’ve rather protected public purse, not mismanaged economy – Ofori-Atta

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has dismissed assertions that he’s been reckless in the fiscal management of the economy.

According to him, he has complied with laid down regulations in his role as the Finance Minister.

The country’s economy has been hit by rising interest payments and elevated debt levels, increasing inflation and fast depreciation of the cedi.

This has triggered calls for his resignation by both the Minority and Majority caucus in Parliament.

But addressing the Adhoc Committee of Parliament hearing the censure motion brought against him, Mr. Ofori-Atta said his efforts despite the global pressures on the economy has been to protect the public purse.

Hon Co-Chairs, the ground of recklessness presupposes that I have not been guided by the laid-down regulations. I want to state that I have not been reckless in the management of the fiscal operations of the government.

“Rather, our strenuous efforts to protect the public purse is what has helped this government to have achieved much, much more than any government over a similar period in virtually all sectors, including education, health, social welfare, policing, security in general, roads, railways, agriculture, industrialisation, tourism, digitization, and funding for anti-corruption institutions,” he explained.

The Finance Minister also said all expenditures by his administration received parliamentary approval.

On all those occasions, I received approval as Parliament subsequently passed Appropriations Bills for all those budgets. Every key expenditure made has been supported by this House”.

He also lamented about the delay in the passage of the Electronic Transaction Levy, which according to him negatively impacted on the fiscal state of the economy

“Indeed, we all saw the dire consequences when the House, for months, refused to pass a major revenue generation item introduced by this government to support the fiscal stability of the economy”.