The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has announced that Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta will present the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the government for the 2022 financial year on 17 November 2021.

Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu made the announcement on Tuesday, when the house resumed.

The Finance Ministry had earlier set November 15 as the date to present the budget before the house.

But announcing the new date, Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said: “Ideally”, he noted, “a parliament should spend about eight weeks in interrogating budgets” but “we don’t have the luxury of time”.

“We are not going to be able to spend eight weeks interrogating the budget”, he said.

“We only have about four weeks and that is why I will entreat the committees to act in conjunction with their sector ministers very proactively to deal with the allocations as early as possible and not just rubber-stamp; very intelligent scrutiny of the allocations so that when it comes to the passage of the appropriations on the 17th of December,” the Suame MP said.

The budget, among other things, is expected to address some specific taxes and levies which have generated public attention and allocate funds for the various ministries and MMDAs for the year 2022.