Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister for Finance, has announced that the government has suspended purchases of imported vehicles with immediate effect as one intervention to help reduce public expenditure.
Addressing a news conference on Thursday (24 March 2022) to announce a raft of government measures aimed at mitigating the current economic challenges, Ofori-Atta said the move will help reduce government acquisition of foreign vehicles by 50%.
“i. Discretionary spending is to be further cut by an additional 10%. The Ministry of Finance is currently meeting with [ministries, departments and agencies] to review their spending plans for the rest of the three quarters to achieve the discretionary expenditure cuts;
“ii. these times call for very efficient use of energy resources. In line with this, there will be a 50% cut in fuel coupon allocations for all political appointees and Heads of government institutions, including SOEs, effective 1 April 2022;
“iii. with immediate effect, the government has imposed a complete moratorium on the purchase of imported vehicles for the rest of the year,” the minister said. “This will affect all new orders, especially four-wheel drives. We will ensure that the overall effect is to reduce total vehicle purchases by the public sector by at least 50% for the period,” he said.
Ofori-Atta also announced that fuel coupons to government appointees will be slashed by 50% with immediate effect.
Fred Dzakpata
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