The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta on November 15 presented the 2018 budget statement and fiscal policy to Parliament.

The budget focuses on key areas including infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, job creation, agriculture, entrepreneurship, business growth, creating a Ghana beyond aid, debt management, corruption, public sector reforms among others, and a continuation of the 2017 budget initiatives.

In presenting the budget, the Minister among other things made known government’s intent to reduce electricity cost by 13% and provides jobs to over 100,000 tertiary graduates under a special programme dubbed the ‘Nation Builders Corps’ (NBC) in 2018.

The government also announced the scrapping of taxes on low earnings and gave private universities and young entrepreneurs some tax breaks.

The budget has been analysed by experts including IMANI Africa.

Deloitte, a private company which provides audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk management, tax and related services to public and private clients across multiple industries has also provided a commentary on key policy initiatives for 2018 and highlights of the main tax proposals in the budget statement.