Ken Ofori-Atta is Minister of Finance
Government is building a robust framework to expand domestic revenue mobilisation with a focus on compliance and enforcement nationwide.
Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance, said Government has, therefore, established the Revenue Assurance and Compliance Enforcement (RACE) towards that agenda.
The Minister said this when he presented the Mid-year fiscal policy review of the budget statement and economic policy of the government to Parliament on Thursday.
The aim of RACE is to identify and eliminate revenue leakages in areas such as petroleum bunkering, gold and minerals export, port operations, transit goods, warehousing, border controls and free zones operations, among others.
Mr Ofori-Atta said with every crisis, the need to re-structure and diversify the economy becomes imperative, and said that was what the government was focusing on.
He said the recent experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, with its disruptive impact on global and regional value chains had once again highlighted the need to build a transformed Ghana Beyond Aid.
The Minister said it was for that reason that in November 2020, Government launched the audacious GH¢100 billion Ghana COVID-19 Alleviation and Revitalization of Enterprises Support (Ghana CARES) ‘Obaatanpa’ Programme.
He said the first phase of the programme also known as the “Stabilisation Phase” was implemented between July – December 2020 and it alleviated the immediate impact of COVID-19 on the economy and restored normalcy in the lives and livelihoods of Ghanaians.
Mr Ofori-Atta said the programme substantially subsidised water and electricity costs; provided hot meals and food packages distributed to vulnerable and underprivileged persons and increased allocation for the CAP-Business Support Scheme to support MSMEs.
It also had GH¢ 2 billion Guarantee Scheme established to support large businesses, established skills training programmes in collaboration with Social partners and FBOs; and passed the urgent legislation to enforce COVID-19 safety protocols.