Economic crunch: Council of State takes 20% cut in monthly allowances

Government admits ongoing economic hardship

Akufo-Addo leads cabinet retreat to find immediate solutions

Finance Minister expected to announce outcomes of retreat

Economic crunch: Members of Council of State take 20% cut in monthly allowances

Members of the President's top advisory body, the Council of State, have admitted the fire economic straits in which the country finds itself.


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Subsequently, the Nana Otuo Siriboe-led Council on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, announced a financial sacrifice as their contribution to easing the economic crunch.

The Chairman of the Council announced during a meeting with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that they had decided to take a 20% cut in their monthly allowances.

“We are particularly delighted to read that you and your Cabinet have decided to reduce some of your emoluments and allowances. Mr President, in tandem with your decision, we as the Council of State also decided that we will reduce our monthly allowance by 20 percent until the end of this year,” he said while calling on other State organs to follow suit.

Beyond their support in diverse ways, Nana Otuo Siriboe expressed the Council’s confidence in the President's “political ability and will to overcome the current economic challenges and to put the smile back on the face of Ghanaians.”

Aside from their meeting with the President, the Council of State members were briefed by the Finance Minister on the decisions taken at the Cabinet retreat behind closed doors.

The Council said it had for the past weeks been conducting its own information gathering on the state of the economy and that it was eager to share findings with the government, especially on ways to ease the economic squeeze.

Nana Otuo Siriboe according to a GNA report said the Council had deliberated on and had arrived at some proposals to make some government flagship initiatives, including the Free Senior High School programme, a lot more efficient and practicable.

Akufo-Addo after a recent cabinet retreat has sanctioned some major decisions as part of efforts to put the economy back on the path of recovery and growth, Information Minister Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah said on Monday.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta will tomorrow lay out the fine details of the plans government has put in place.

"It is no secret that our economy is going through difficult times. It is also no secret that we are not alone... many of the phenomena we are facing are apparent in many other parts of the world…but that doesn’t, therefore, mean that government is impotent in trying to find solutions.

“I don’t think that there is anybody in Ghana who will expect today that things can be just easily resolved,” President Akufo-Addo said in his comments at the meeting.