Ghana government cut salaries of appointees by 30%

The President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo has announced 30 percent cut in his salary and that of his ministers on Thursday.<br /><br /><br />The government said the slash became necessary in order to reduce spending as the country struggles with higher fuel costs from the Ukraine crisis and stalled progress on a new tax.<br />Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta announced that foreign travel by government appointees, except for critical missions, and the purchase of imported vehicles had been suspended with immediate effect.<br /><br />He said the government hoped to save around $400 million through the measures.<br /><br />Global fuel prices have hit all-time highs because of the Russia-Ukraine war, driving up costs of living and transport in a way that has hit West African countries like Ghana hard.<br /><br />Ghana’s government is also struggling to raise domestic revenue as gridlock in parliament since last year has stalled the passage of a controversial 1.75-percent E-Levy tax aimed at bringing in additional funds.<br /><br />“It is important to stress, right from the onset, that the difficulties we are facing in Ghana are not peculiar to Ghana,” the minister’s statement said.<br /><br />“Governments in both developed and developing countries are busily coming out with various prescriptions to bring their economies back on track, after the devastating impact of Covid-19 which distorted global supply chains, and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.”<br /><br />Other measures include a 50-percent cut in fuel coupon allocations for all political appointees and heads of government institutions.<br /><br />The main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) said the decisions were inadequate.<br /><br />“Our immediate response to the Minister of Finance is to state emphatically and unequivocally that he has lost touch with reality, he is not in-tuned with the state of the Ghanaian economy,” the Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu told reporters in parliament.<br /><br />Recent data published by the Bank of Ghana indicates that