Personal Emoluments Identified As Biggest Expenditure Item On Budget

Akosombo (Eastern Region), 30 Sept.,

A three-day Cash Management Training Workshop which focuses on efficient division of cash resources for government through increased revenue generation opened at Akosombo today. The workshop, with about 38 participants from the Controller and Accountant-General's Department, Bank of Ghana, Customs, Excise and Preventive Service, Ministries of Finance, Roads and Transport, and Local Government, and Price Waterhouse, aims at reducing the cost of borrowing on the budget. Other participating institutions are the Internal Revenue Service, Public Financial Management Reform Programme (PUFMARP), and the Ministries of Health and Education. It is on the theme: ''Effective Cash Management to Minimize Government Debt Obligations''. Mr R. K. Tuffour, Controller and Accountant-General, said it was for the unbridled rise of total recurrent expenditure that PUFMARP was initiated to basically control government expenditure, aid and debt management. He cited 1995 when the total recurrent expenditure was 1.168 billion cedis but rose to 1.809 billion cedis in 1996. ''Correspondingly, personal emoluments rose from 427.7 billion cedis in 1995 to 612.6 billion a year later. Public debt interest rose astronomically from 316.2 billion cedis in 1995 to 579.3 billion cedis in 1996,'' he added. Mr Tuffour said personal emoluments is the biggest item of expenditure in our recurrent expenditure which was 36.8 per cent 1995 and 33.8 per cent in 1996. Mr Tuffour said although PUFMARP was initially to track expenditure, it was realized that it was better to control it than track it. ''One of the ways of controlling expenditure is cash management,'' Mr Tuffour said but added that if nothing is done to reverse the trend, it will not be long when public debt interest will take the biggest chunk of the national recurrent expenditure. Giving the scope of what cash management means, Mr A. Premchand, Assistant Director of Finance at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said ''cash management for any nation should be a priority since it is a means of ensuring good housekeeping''. ''The way government manages its cash tells you how good it is,'' Mr Premchand said. He said issues such as the present state of fiscal and monetary policies in many developing and even developed states demand a major change in government portfolio. Cash management is necessary because there is a need for change in the functioning of government. ''Because of persistent budget deficits, cash management has become a vital ingredient in financial management and this must be pursued to bring government finances into order.'' Mr Premchand said there is nothing wrong with spending money within the budget but warned that spending agencies should be held responsible by the Accountant-General, Bank of Ghana and Ministry of Finance. Each of these bodies, he said, should form a link with the other and provide the collective responsibility of maintaining cash management, he added.

Contray to predictions, the cedis has made modest gains against the dominant international currencies. The dollar opened this morning between ?2,250 and ?2,290 and the pound sterling at ?3,540 and ?3,600.00. The Deutsche Mark is trading between ?1,250.00 and ?1,310.00. The rate of the cedis against other currencies is:

Buying Selling

CFA ?3,680 ?3,800.00

Japanese Yen ? 13.00 ? 15.00 Swiss France ?1,420.00 ?1,500.00 Dutch Guilder ?1,125.00 ?1,200.00 French Franc ? 360.00 ? 380.00