Sunyani, Dec. 2, GNA - Mr Kwaku Agyeman Manu, Deputy Minister of Finance on Tuesday said payment of District Assemblies Common Fund has been in arrears of 57 billion cedis since last March.

Speaking at the 11th Annual Conference of District Chief Executives (DCEs) in Sunyani, Mr Manu, however, said the Ministry had "re-fenced" the arrears and had even started making payments, which he said would be completed by the close of December.

The Deputy Finance Minister announced that Ghana produced 450,000 tonnes of cocoa at the end of the last cocoa season, making this year's cocoa production the highest since 1965.

Mr Manu attributed the good yield to better mechanisms put in place by the government, including the spraying exercise and application of the right type of cocoa seedlings by the farmers.

He said the country exceeded her revenue target, moving from the 2001 statistics of 1.7 trillion to 5.1 trillion cedis this year.

In future the national budget will be made in such a way that there would be no increase in tax rates, the deputy minister added. "Rather, we will try to block all leakages through which part of the national revenue went into some individual pockets at the expense of the national coffers".

He said there were indications that inflation, which stood at 26 percent in October, would come down by the end of December, as well as the lending and borrowing bank rate.

He advised the DCEs to submit their requests for HIPC funds through the appropriate quarters so they could receive them early enough to execute intended projects.

They should also follow up their requests for HIPC funds by contacting either Deputy Ministers or Chief Directors of his Ministry to avoid undue delays.

Mr Manu reminded the DCEs of specific guidelines for spending the HIPC money and advised them not to pick projects outside these guidelines as that could disqualify their applications.