Accra, Nov. 27, GNA - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Monday lauded the reduction of final withholding of tax and the introduction of VAT clearance certificate as contained in the 2007 Budget Statement and said they were in the right direction. It said an endowment fund for science and technology research being set up was a good idea but added that the five billion cedis seed capital for the Fund was grossly inadequate.

The NDC welcomed the incentive granted to local pharmaceutical industries.

Dr Benjamin Kumbour, NDC Ranking Member on Finance and Economic Planning, who presenting NDC Response to the 2007 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government=94, however, said "the two issues that the Budget seeks to address, namely the public sector wage crisis and the energy crisis have not been addressed frontally by the budget. "All it seeks to do is to postpone them, hoping the good people of Ghana would in no time forget or as usual allow sleeping dogs to lie" "However, it is our considered opinion that the two issues are too important to die because they have been created by the Government where for over five-and- a-half years they allowed the problems to fester and get compounded", he said.

On energy Dr Kumbour said the NPP Government allowed a 10 year Volta Lake drought cycle to wreak havoc on the country, but until the water level hit 236.5 feet the repair of the generating equipment at Aboadze Thermal plant was at a "slow track" speed.

He said the Government never bothered to complete the combined cycle plant at Aboadze and also did not increase power supply capacity by even one kilo watt, adding that, for over two years the Osagyefo Barge has been sitting on the seas not producing a kilowatt per hour of energy.