A three year project aimed at strengthening Ghana’s institutional capacity for revenue and expenditure management has been launched in Accra
The project, the Ghana Economic Management Strengthening Technical Assistance (GEMS-TA) being supported by the World Bank has four components including Strengthening Ghana Revenue Authority’s Business Intelligence Systems; Strengthening Ministry of Finance’s Debt Management; Strengthening the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC); and Improving the Governance of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).
Launching the project, a Deputy Minister for Finance, Hon Mona Helen Quartey commended the World Bank for its support and assured that Ghana will not compromise on value for money in the implementation of the project whose ultimate goal is to reduce poverty and ensure equitable distribution of wealth among the citizenry.
She stated that modernization of tax revenue collection was very important and expressed the hope that this project will support GRA to align with international best practices and improve revenue inflows by expanding the base.
Hon Quartey noted that Ghana’s debt servicing was high and that the fiscal stabilization programme which aims at curbing the accumulation of debts, will be helped by this project and also the institutional reforms will strengthen the debt management strategy.
On the SOE’s component, she explained that at the instance of GoG, the World Bank undertook a corporate governance review of some selected SOEs focusing on potential areas for improvement as previous reports indicated imperfect governance of most SOEs.
“GEMS-TA will therefore support the improvement of SOE governance – strengthening the legal and regulatory framework and state ownership role”, she emphasized.
A Senior Economist at the World Bank Mr. Errol George Graham said the Bank was pleased that the project has become a reality and assured of its total support to ensure successful implementation.
According to him the GEMS project is an important project for Ghana since it supports important reforms that can potentially improve the country’s economic management in the four strategic areas.
These projects he noted will have significant impact on the economy by building institutional capacity and ultimately lead to significant reduction in poverty.
By CHRISTIAN KPESESE
