The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffour, will be in Parliament Wednesday to reveal what is in it for the election year - 2012. With stimulation of growth and job creation still high on government’s agenda, the budget is expected to focus on improving these as well as means to reduce the budget deficit. Joy News has gathered that government intends to increase taxes on business entities to generate more resources for major projects. James Avedzi, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Finance told Joy News the budget would among other things, “consolidate the gains that have been made in the previous years” in terms of stability of the economy, fallen interest rate, inflation in single digit." He said the need for banks to reduce interest rates to promote businesses will “would be the focus of the budget”. Ranking Member of Finance, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei said from his obeversation, he expects the minister to concentrate on revenue measures to improve revenue mobilization in Ghana, due to the need to reduce government deficit, “which I think by all indication, it’s going higher than they have projected”. In a related development ahead of tomorrow’s budget presentation, some interest groups have been sharing their expectations with Joy News. Dr. Anthony Yaw Baah the Deputy Secretary General of the umbrella organization for labour, the Trades Union Congress, wants a shift from government’s inflation-targeting policy to one of employment-targeting. Deputy General Secretary of the General Agric Workers Union, Edward Kareweh, is concerned that the sector now contributes the least to GDP growth, and wants more resources for commercial agricultural production. Dr. Alex Tweneboah, President of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association, GREDA, wants the five-year tax-break to be reinstated to encourage the building of more affordable houses to address the country’s huge housing deficit. Even though Joy News has gathered that taxes are likely to go up in the budget, the President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association, George Ofori wants government to rather expand the tax net whilst also instituting policies that will stabilize the cedi. Joy News has also picked up signals that there will be allocations for infrastructure development. It is also anticipated that there will be no tax increase for individuals but businesses may see a marginal increase, while provision is being made for the expansion of the country’s ports. Play the attached audio to listen to the various submissions

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