Government says it has directly and indirectly put an amount of GHS12.2 billion into the pockets of Ghanaians since 2017 through its major initiatives and social interventions.

Delivering the 2020 Budget statement in Parliament on Wednesday, 13 November 2019, the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta disclosed that the Free SHS policy has saved parents a total of GHS1.8 billion over the last three years.

According to him, Planting for Food and Jobs has saved farmers a total of GHS844 million over the last three years for subsidised fertiliser and a total of GHS357 million have been put in the pockets of teacher trainees within the last three years in the form of allowance.

Mr Ofori-Atta said nursing trainees have also received a total of GHS336 million in the form of allowance within the last three years while government continue to subsidise for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) registration fee which has saved parents a total of GHS65 million over the last two years.

The Finance Minister further mentioned that the electricity tariffs reductions effected by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) effective 15 March 2018 resulted in savings of GHS1.8billion a year for residential and non-residential customers which is money in the pockets of many Ghanaians.

“The over 350,000 jobs that have been created in the public sector including the 100,000 NABCO graduates has provided total earnings to them of GHS2.9 billion and that is money in their pockets” he added.