Mr. Speaker, against a background of strong efforts in 2001 to stabilise the economy from the effects of its poor performance in 2000, the 2002 budget aimed to further consolidate the gains in 2001 and achieve a continued reduction in inflation and a strengthening of economic growth.
The budget sought to:
- strengthen our tax base;
- allocate resources (including HIPC relief) toward priority areas identified in the GPRS; and
- reduce the burden of domestic debt.
We emphasised improved public expenditure management to ensure that the budget was implemented as envisaged.
Notable progress was made in 2002 on a number of fronts:
- domestic revenue mobilisation was quite robust on the account of enhanced tax administration;
- in spite of larger-than-anticipated payments relating to wages and salaries, the overall expenditure ceiling was respected, that is, keeping within the Appropriations Act;
- year on year inflation which had been cut by about half in 2001 to 21.3 per cent, continued to fall to 15.2 per cent at end-2002; and
- the Bank of Ghana strengthened its gross international reserve position from the equivalent of 1.5 months of import cover at end-2001 to 2 months of imports at end-2002.
