In its bid to control the rising budget deficit, Government has asked all its agencies all over the country not to allow new projects, manage their expenditure prudently, and complete existing projects.

This is also intended to cut wasteful spending. President John Dramani Mahama, who gave the warning over the weekend at a retreat, said the failure by government agencies to cut their spending would cause the budget deficit to widen.

Confirming the afore-stated, Minister of Information & Media Relations, Mahama Ayariga, said: “We discussed issues bordering on the deficit that we started the year with, and how we could manage that deficit and then meet our target as contained in the 2013 budget.

“We assessed our performance so far in trying to deal with that, and also streamline government deficit because that is what causes it, and that is what we have been striving so hard since the beginning of the year to manage,” he revealed.

Ayariga however admitted that the on-going election petition was serving as a stumbling block to the President’s efforts in improving the economy.

He said the ongoing election petition was having a negative impact on the Ghanaian economy.

“The on-going election court case has been a major impediment, in terms of the economy and also in terms of the capacity of government to mobilize the entire population to increase productivity and in terms of Ghana remaining attractive to foreign investors.

“No one can deny the fact that, the ongoing case has become a stumbling block in the way of the president as he struggles to work toward improving the economy,” Ayariga said.