Professor Peter Quartey, economist and Executive Director of ISSER
The Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana has commended the government for its fiscal discipline since it signed on to the Extended Credit Facility with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
It has, therefore, entreated the government to keep to the good expenditure control momentum and not overspend as the country gears towards the 2024 general elections.
The Director of ISSER, Professor Peter Quartey, gave the commendation in Accra during the launch of the State of the Ghanaian Economy Report (SGER) 2023 and Review of the 3rd Quarter 2024 Economic Performance.
The 33rd report of ISSER, this year’s SGER has a special chapter titled “Technology and tax resource mobilisation: A case in Ghana.”
Presenting the highlights of the 2023 SGER, Prof. Quartey said “There seems to be significant budget discipline (consolidation) based on the IMF programme so far and we admonish the government not to overspend especially with 2024 been an election year.”
He said running a budget deficit would hurt the economy and throw it out of gear and derail the economic achievement made so far under the IMF programme.
To this end, Prof. Quartey called for a review of the fiscal responsibility law to include legislation on debt ceiling to ensure that debt deficits and debt were contained within sustainable thresholds.
He said the government must step up efforts on “expenditure rationalisation” especially in procurement and compensation through the digitalisation of the payroll system.
“The government must ensure expenditure across Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies should be captured under the Ghana Integrated Financial Management System,” he stated.
Prof. Quartey entreated the government not to scrap betting tax and should rather raise money from the sector to create decent jobs for the youth.
He said the government must consider alternative tax revenues if it planned to scrap e-levy and other tax handles.
Touching on the Free Senior High School policy, the director of ISSER stressed the need for the government to focus on strengthening the quality of the programme and not only on enrollment.
He said the policy had helped increase school enrollment and helped a lot of basic school leavers who could not further their education due to financial constraints to access SHS education for free.
Prof. Quartey stressed the need for the government to invest more on agriculture and manufacturing to promote the growth of the economy and create jobs for the youth.
He said those two sectors were labour intensive sectors, saying “if you want to create more jobs you have to focus on these areas.”
The Chief Executive Officer and Founder of BigPay Ghana Limited, Mr Isaac Tetteh, who chaired the programme lauded ISSER for the report and said the SGER which, was the flagship report of ISSER, served as cornerstone of informed policy decisions.
He said the report did not focus on statistics but encapsulated issues which were crucial for the development of the country, and which the citizens could easily relate to.
The Head of Economics Division of ISSER, Prof. Ama Fenny, in his welcome address said ISSER was established in 1962 to conduct research on socio-economic issues to promote the development of the country.
She said the 2023 SGER was the 33rd edition to be published by ISSER.