Gov’t of Ghana freezes civil, public service employment

The minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta has announced government will in the year 2023 freeze employment into the country’s civil and public sector.

The measure is one of  government’s  programmes towards expenditure rationalisation in the face of current economic challenges confronting the country.

The announcement was made by Mr Ken Ofori-Atta in the 2023 Budget Statement presented to Parliament on Thursday, November 24 and monitored by GhanaPlus.com.

“Mr. Speaker, as a first step toward expenditure rationalisation, Government has approved the following directives which takes effect from January, 2023,

“Limited budgetary allocation for the purchase of vehicles. For the avoidance of doubt, purchase of new vehicles shall be restricted to locally assembled vehicles;

“Only essential official foreign travel across government including SOEs shall be allowed. No official foreign travel shall be allowed for board members. Accordingly, all government institutions should submit a travel plan for the year 2023 by mid-December of all expected travels to the Chief of Staff;

As far as possible, meetings and workshops should be done within the official environment or government facilities;

Government sponsored external training and Staff Development activities at the Office of the President, Ministries and SOEs must be put on hold for the 2023 financial year;

Reduction of expenditure on appointments including salary freezes together with suspension of certain allowances like housing, utilities and clothing, etc.;

A freeze on new tax waivers for foreign companies and review of tax exemptions for free zone, mining, oil and gas companies;

“A hiring freeze for civil and public servants, ” Mr Ofori-Atta said.

He continued “No new government agencies shall be established in 2023; There shall be no hampers for 2022; There shall be no printing of diaries, notepads, calendars and other promotional merchandise by MDAs, MMDAs and SOEs for 2024; ” All non-critical project must be suspended for 2023 Financial year,”

Source: GhanaPlus.com