Budget Deficit To Be Eliminated By 2001 - Selormey

Accra, Sept. 23, - The Government's budget deficit currently at 10 per cent of Gross Domestic Product is to be eliminated by the year 2001. This is to ensure that government expenditure is funded totally by revenue to eliminate difficulties facing the country, Mr Victor Selormey, Deputy Minister of Finance, said in Accra today. He was opening a two-day National Planning Meeting for Ghana to assess the country's legal infrastructure for sound financial management. It is under the auspices of the Ministry of Finance with support from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). Participants from the Bank of Ghana, Chamber of Commerce, Ministry of Finance, Banking Institutions, Professional Legal Bodies, Controller and Accountant-General's Department and Parliament will be reviewing the United Nations Guidance Document prepared by UNITAR. The Guidance Document identifies six principal areas of interest including revenue, expenditure, budget regulation and institutions. Mr Selormey said the fight to eliminate budget deficit by 2001 is in line with some of the decisions of the recent National Economic Forum. He said government will pursue this objective ''until the desired goal of zero-digit deficit is achieved''. Ghana is the first country in Africa to host the seminar which is a new initiative of UNITAR. According to Mr Babar Kamal, Programme Coordinator of UNITAR, the seminar is to provide Ghanaian officials with an opportunity to consider the Guidance Document. It will also evolve a critique of the document, sharpen its contents and develop a time frame for the implementation of the methodology prescribed, leading to the eventual preparation of a National Profile for Ghana.

Even though most dealers are seing the demand for foreign exchange grow, early traders this morning are still maintaining their yesterday's closing prices. The opening rate for this morning 24, Sept.'97 are as follows: The Dollar opens at ?2,260.00 and ?2,290.00 while the pound sterling opens between ?3,530.00 and ?3,600.00. The Deutche Marks, between ?1,250.00 and ?1,310.00. The rate of the cedis against other currencies are:

BUYING SELLING CFA ?3,600.00 ?3,800.00 Japanese Yen ? 13.00 15.00 Swiss Franc ?1,400.00 ?1,500.00 Canadian Dollar ?1,420.00 ?1,500.00 French Franc ? 340.00 ? 380.00 Dutch Guilders ?1,100.00 ?1,200.00