MID YEAR REVIEW: NABCO PERSONNEL TO BE PAID, INTEGRATED INTO YOUSTART
The government will use today’s mid-year budget review
(MYBR) to address the myriad of challenges facing the Nation Builders Corps
(NABCo) programme that was introduced in 2018 to provide jobs for the teaming
youth.
It is expected that it would announce a comprehensive
exercise to integrate the beneficiaries into the You Start programme, another
initiative of the government.
The exercise would also help to clear the outstanding
arrears owed the thousands of young people engaged under the programme in the
coming months, as part of efforts to ease the burden of the youth.
The finance minister, Mr Ofori-Atta, is expected to
announce these and other youth-centered policies today when he appears in
Parliament to present his sixth in the row MYBR.
It comes at a time when the government has started
discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a programme to shore
up the country’s balance of payment position.
It is understood that the presentation would also seek
to rally the nation behind the prospective IMF programme in line with the
government’s agenda to fast track the economic recovery and ease the burden on
the citizens.
Mr Ofori-Atta is expected to use the opportunity to
call for a non-partisan support for the programme, which it said was occasioned
by the ravages of the COVID-19 pademic and the Russia/Ukraine conflict.
He would also assure Ghanaians that the government
would work to protect its social intervention programmes in any discussion to
improve upon the fortunes of the economy.
Of particular interest would be the free senior high
school (SHS) programme, the school feeding programme and the Agenda 111, which
have come under serious criticism in recent times, following concerns over
expenditure pressures.
People familiar with the review process said Mr
Ofori-Atta would announce measures to protect those programmes from any
expenditure cuts as part of a broad strategy to insulate the vulnerable from
the fallouts from any fiscal consolidation exercise.
He would also reiterate the need for perspective to
the challenges facing the country, with emphasis that until the COVDI-19
pandemic and the Russia/Ukraine crisis derailed the government’s agenda, the
government was on course to building a sound economy that could stand the test
of time.
Consequently, the minister is expected to call on
Ghanaians to support the government as it navigates the tough challenges of
bearish commodity prices, record-high global inflation and weak growth amid
growing concerns of debt pressures.
The support is needed to stabilise the economy and
improve upon their living conditions.
Announced in the 2022 budget, the You Start programmed
is a novelty by the government to promote entrepreneurial activities and
provide jobs, particularly for the youth.
It is the government’s special purpose vehicle to
provide funding and technical support to the youth and youth-led enterprises to
assist them start, build and grow their own businesses.
Mr Ofori-Atta told Parliament earlier this year that
the government, in collaboration with the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Programme, the Ghana Enterprises Agency, faith-based organizations, and
financial institutions, will provide loan packages ranging from GH¢50,000 -
GH¢500,000 to youth-led enterprises and Small and Medium-scale Enterprises
(SMEs) under the You Start initiative.
He said such businesses would also be supported with
technical skills, training as well as mentoring, to enable them develop
commercially viable enterprises.
The minister was optimistic that these would lead to
an increase in economic activities and contribute to the reduction in the cost
of living as incomes are earned and output is produced.
Sources said the integration of the NABCo personnel
into the programme would help to strengthen it while addressing the issues of
allowances that has long bedeveiled that programme.