Parliament yesterday approved budgets for five ministries and agencies to cater for their expenditure for the 2017 financial year. The approval followed the presentation of reports of the various select committees of Parliament recommending the release of the funds to the ministries and agencies.
The estimates were contained in the budget statement and economic policy for the 2017 financial year presented to Parliament by the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta.
Science Ministry
An amount of GHc349,152,142 was approved to support the activities of the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation.
According to the report of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Environment, Science and Technology, out of the GH¢349,152,142, GH¢194,965,976 would come from the government, GH¢56,688,121 from internally generated funds (IGFs) and GH¢97,498,045 from development partners.
It said GH¢188,832,100 would be dedicated to wages and salaries, GH¢86,069,846 for goods and services and GH¢74,250,196 for other expenditures.
Foreign Affairs
Parliament approved GH¢398,676,632 for the running of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration for the 2017 financial year.
The report of the committee on Foreign Affairs said out of the amount, GH¢42,417,313 and GH¢51,570,645 would be retained from IGFs for goods and services and assets expenditure, respectively.
It said the remaining GH¢304,688,674 would come from government sources.
NDPC budget
An amount of GH¢10,330,099 was approved for the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC).
According to the report of the Finance Committee of Parliament, GH¢3,659,281 of the amount was for compensation, GH¢5,927,870 for goods and services and GH¢742,984 for other expenditures.
It said the GH¢10,330,099 allocation to the NDPC was from government sources only.
The report indicated that the Director General of the NDPC had informed the committee that a projected inflow of GH¢20 million from donor sources for the 2017 financial year was provided for the Ministry of Finance but was inadvertently omitted from the budget statement.
It said members of the committee expressed concern over the non disclosure of the expected donor funds in the budget and accordingly advised the NDPC to liaise with the Ministry of Finance to capture all sources of funds in future budgets of the commission.
Employment Ministry/Civil Service budgets
Parliament approved GHc60,708,078 for the services of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations for the year ending December 31, 2017.
The House also gave approval for GHc12,145,580 for the activities of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service for the 2017 financial year.
source: Daily Graphic