Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, today asked Parliament to grant him approval to spend Ghc1.2billion towards mitigating the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the country.
Presenting a Policy document on the Coronavirus Alleviation Program (CAP) the Minister said the money would be spent on three main areas – Provision of Food and Water for Households; Reliefs for health sector workers; and Soft loans for micro, small and medium-size businesses.
GH¢280 million will go into food packages and hot meals while GH¢40 million to the National Buffer Stock Company, he said.
An additional GH¢200 million will be used to cater for bills on water and sanitation, GH¢241 will cover tax waiver for health personnel.
Further, he said GH¢80 million will be spent on the allowance for health staff, GH¢2 million will be used to cover transportation for health workers GH¢600 million will be disbursed as soft loans to businesses.
“Mr Speaker since we came to Parliament on Monday March 30, the global number of cases has soared from 693,282 to 1,279,722 with 72,614 deaths. It is this apocalypse that our President has sworn to avert from our land.
“His Excellency deeply believes like our noble Statesman Dr J.B Danquah that we, the citizens of Ghana are all adehyia – Royals. He will therefore use our resources to protect and ensure the sanctity of life of every citizen,” Mr. Ofori-Atta said.