Finance Minister Wants For Ghc1billion In Stabilization Fund Money Over Coronavirus

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has today asked Parliament for permission to withdraw Ghc1billion from the country’s Stabilization Fund to set up a Coronavirus Alleviation Program (CAP) that will be purposed to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the Economy.

The money, he said is urgently needed for mitigating job losses, help small and medium enterprises and protect livelihoods.

“The Ministry of Finance will immediately release an amount of One Billion Ghana Cedis upon approval by Parliament. The Ministry is proposing to use the equivalent of USD 219 Million from the Stabilization Fund. The CAP will focus on areas that will provide maximum results in alleviating the impact of the coronavirus pandemic with a focus on protecting against job losses, protecting livelihoods, supporting small businesses, and ensuring the programme is efficiently and sustainably implemented,” the Finance Minister told Parliament today.

The CAP was first announced by President Akufo-Addo on Friday as a program to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus on businesses and households and ensure that economic activities are sustained, whiles minimizing job losses.

According to Mr. Ofori-Atta, his Ministry will immediately disburse the monies to businesses as soon as Parliament approves to have the Ghc1billion withdrawn from the Stabilization Fund which is a special fund that pools money for the purpose of funding hiccups that may threaten to throw the budget out of gear.

“Mr Speaker, my duty, as Finance Minister, is to begin, speedily and responsibly, the process of disbursing the funds, immediately the amount is approved by this House. Targeted businesses and households will include those in the health sector, education sector, hospitality industry, SMEs, and households hard hit by the Coronavirus. The specific details of the CAP and the instruments to allocate the resources will be fashioned out shortly,” Ofori-Atta said.

He said the CAP will seek additional funding for the purposes of promoting selected industries to shore up production for export and import substitution, support SMEs and create jobs.

It will also partner with Pension Funds and Insurance Funds to create guarantees and first loss instruments.