Government to employ 100,000 graduates next year – Finance Minister

The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta, says the focus of the 2018 Budget which is anchored on putting Ghana back to work, is to translate the economic stability achieved in 2017 into shared growth.  

He indicated that the carefully thought-out policies being implemented by the government have restored macro-economic stability and confidence, leading to sustained growth in all sectors of the economy. 

The Finance Minister was presenting the 2018 Budget Statement and Economic Policy to Parliament in Accra.

Mr. Ofori-Atta indicated that the government's flagship programme of One District, One Factory will get a boost with the allocation of two million cedis to each district for the implementation of the policy. 

On the much-awaited cut in electricity tariffs, the Finance Minister said government has reviewed the tariff setting methodology and cost structure for electricity payments. He announced some cuts in power payments for domestic consumers, saying from 2018, residential consumers are expected to benefit from a 13 percent reduction while non-residential consumers also benefit from same.

Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta said the fees for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for next year have been completely absorbed by government. Meaning no student in any public institution will pay for examination fees for BECE in 2018.

On the planting for 'Food and Jobs' programme, the Finance Minister said the Ministry of Agriculture will from 2018 step up the supply of mechanised agricultural inputs to farmers. 

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta added that  100,000 graduates across the country will be employed next year (2018) to reduce the level of youth unemployment in the country.

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