The call for the government to cut down its size appears not to be ending soon. The latest to add his voice to the call is the German Ambassador to Ghana, Daniel Krull. The Ambassador, juxtaposing the size of Ghana’s government to that of his country said, it is necessary for a reduction to reflect the worsening economic situation.
“I only can compare with the other countries like mine and I can come to the conclusion that there is a huge number, the number is much higher than in my country, so that may bring me to the conclusion that there is room for improvement,” he said. His comment follows Ghana’s appeal for his country, to persuade China to offer debt relief to the country.
Ghana currently owes China $1.7 billion. This would help Ghana meet its target of external debt restructuring which would possibly help get an IMF bailout. Mr Krull stressed that aside from the size of the government, cutting down of its budget expenditure will help. He explained that although a budget is pivotal for the running of the country’s economy, it could be slashed without hurting the country’s growth.
“It depends very much on what kind of expenditure you are looking at and I am convinced this is true, if I look at the budget of the German Foreign Ministry, and the German government, I am convinced there are important parts that can be cut without hurting the economic development and I am convinced without going into details this is also true for Ghana,” he said
He reiterated that “there are certain expenditures that can be lowered substantially and make an important impact. “I cannot go out to the international community, and say I need help but I am not willing to cut my own budget expenditure. I have to be careful not to cut into social expenditures that are destroying lives and families,” he added.
Source: Connielove Mawutornyo Dzodzegbe
