Govt To Improve Financial Ability Of The Poor
The government is to allocate GH¢ 103.8 million to relieve the poor. The amount, which is the government’s projection of the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) spending for 2010, is to improve on the financial ability of the poor in the country, most of whom are women and children.
The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, said this as part of the government's Budget Statement and Economic Policy for the 2010 Fiscal Year that was presented to Parliament yesterday.
He mentioned pro-poor programmes such as the Livelihood Empowerment Programme (LEAP) which he said was going to receive GH¢12 million, the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority programme which would be allocated GH¢25 million and rural electrification, GH¢30 million.
Other programmes are scholarships for students from deprived regions who will benefit from a GH¢ 21.8 million package and the National Youth Employment Programme which will benefit from a GH¢15 million package.
He said the government was also going to promote and co-ordinate policies that would enhance the well-being of women in the country.
Such policies will seek to protect, especially the vulnerable, rural and urban poor, as well as facilitate the survival, protection and development of the Ghanaian child.
He said the government was going to continue pursuing policies that would protect the vulnerable and disadvantaged in society and give them equal opportunities from next year, beginning with disabled schoolchildren.
Dr Duffuor also said the government would continue to support the training of Gender Desk Officers in all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) who worked to ensure that all sectors of the economy were gender responsive in their programmes and budgets.
The Finance Minister who was reading highlights of the 2010 budget said the government aimed at achieving its objective of promoting women empowerment through the delivery of social programmes targeted at poverty reduction, among other objectives.
Also to further improve on the health of people, especially women and children, he said the government was scaling up all existing interventions to improve access to health.
One particular intervention that the minister mentioned was the Community Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) Compound programme which he said the government was going to expand by constructing an additional 29 compounds to give access to health service for about 14,500 people.
Dr Duffuor also said the government would in 2010 also launch an Industrial Policy which will focus, among others, on the development of small, medium and micro-enterprises that would ensure that Ghanaian entrepreneurs performed to the best of their abilities.
The minister presented the budget on the premise that the fiscal consolidation and microeconomic stability achieved through the implementation of bold and sound economic policies, coupled with the understanding and support of people, ushers in the government's growth and strategy framework towards a “Better Ghana”.
This framework, which he said was captioned “growth and stability”, identified a comprehensive set of policies to support the government's Medium Term Growth Stability”, identified a comprehensive set of policies to support Government's Medium Term Growth Strategy in a manner that would be sustainable. Share Your Thoughts on this article Name Email Location Comments Graphic Ghana may edit your comments and not all comments will be published