APA – Accra (Ghana)
The report that President Akufo-Addo on Monday afternoon inspected flooded areas in the lower Volta basin and pledged the government’s commitment to alleviate the plight of the flood victims is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Tuesday.
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Monday afternoon inspected flooded areas in the lower Volta basin and pledged the government’s commitment to alleviate the plight of the flood victims.
He expressed sympathies for the people in relation to the tragedy that has happened.
President Akufo-Addo said the government will do everything in its power to assist everybody affected by the floods in North Tongu, South Tongu and Central Tongu, all in the Volta Region.
“When these things happen and government acts, politics does not come in at all. I took the oath of office as president to protect every citizen of Ghana, whether they voted for me or not, once I have taken the oath, I am the president. So Togbe, I want you and your elders and the people to understand that the government is acting for all Ghanaians,” he said.
“I came here because Ghanaians are having difficulties and suffering and it is my responsibility to try and help, because if it is a question of who votes for me and who does not vote me, I should not be here because you don’t vote for me, that is not my concern,” the President added.
President Akufo-Addo explained that when the tragedy occurred, he was out of the jurisdiction in the United States of America (USA) but has already discussed with the Chief of Staff on what has to be done in response to the tragedy.
He said the most important thing is to ensure that lives were protected and therefore the establishment of a centre in Mepe and the provision of relief items by the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO).
He said NADMO was going to continue to provide relief items and that apart from what NADMO is doing, “we are also thinking about the future. I am aware that you are farming people, farming on the banks of the rivers and the overflow has destroyed many farms.”
The newspaper says that the government has given an assurance that it will restrict itself to budgeted expenditure, irrespective of 2024 being an election year.
The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, who gave the assurance at a meeting in London yesterday with holders of Ghana’s international bonds, said in spite of 2024 being an election year, the government would stay within the International Monetary Fund (IMF) supported budget which would be presented to Parliament later next month.
Four months after implementing the Post-COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG) backed IMF programme, Ghana’s economy is beginning to see some stability, with gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaging 3.1 per cent in the first half of the year.
Inflation, which reached a 22 year high of 54.1 per cent in December 2022, has also declined to a 12-month low of 38.1 per cent in September and on the fiscal front, the primary balance on commitment basis for the first half of the year was a surplus of about GH¢2 billion compared to a target of a deficit of GH¢4 billion.
Gross International Reserves (GIR) also stood at $2.1 billion equivalent to 1.0-month import cover, compared with US$1.5 billion (0.6 month of import cover) recorded at the end of December 2022, with the cedi also stabilising.
With the country going into another election year, there have been some fears in the investor community on how to sustain this growth path due to the overspending which is usually associated with election years which ends up in huge budget deficits.
Many of them are worried that the successes that have been chalked up so far under the three-year Extended Credit Facility with the IMF would be derailed in an election year.
Mr Ofori-Atta has, however, given an assurance that the government would stay true to the programme and the 2024 budget.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) has released $120.5 million to support government’s climate adaptation and mitigation agenda.
The Forest Investment Programme would receive $75 million, the Scaling-up of Renewable Energy Project, $40 million, and the Dedicated Grant Mechanism (DGM) for Indigenous Peoples and Communities, $5.5 million.
Ms Dora Cudjoe, the Senior Operations Officer of CIF, disclosed this in an interview with the Ghanaian Times on the sidelines at the opening of the CIF- Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) Youth Fellowship Onboarding Programme in Accra on Monday.
She said the concessional funding was meant to help Ghana leverage finance from other Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to finance its climate change projects.
The one-year CIF-MDB fellowship programme for seven youth selected from Thailand, Egypt, Jamaica, Kenya, India and Tunisia, is being sponsored by the CIF. It is supported by the United Nations, Arab Youth Centre in partnership with the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, Ghana Climate Innovation Centre and the Ashesi University.
The programme is meant to provide opportunity to the selected youth to work with the MDBs in their respective countries on climate adaption and mitigation projects being funded by the CIF.
Ms Cudjoe said her outfit, founded in 2008 by the G8, primarily provides concessional funding to low and middle income countries to drive their climate resilient and low carbon projects.
She said that the $11 billion fund have currently leveraged about $64billion in both private and public financing across 74 countries, including Ghana.
The newspaper says that South Korean Ambassador to Ghana, Lim Jung-Taek, has reiterated the need for continuous co-operation between his country and Ghana to work towards improving the livelihoods of citizens of the two countries.
Since November 1977, he said, the two countries had experienced bilateral relationship since the establishment of diplomatic relations between them, hence the need for strengthened co-operation to address challenges impeding the development of the citizenry.
He was speaking in Accra on Thursday during the 4,355th celebration of National Foundation Day of the Republic of Korea.
Koreans celebrate October 3, every year as National Foundation Day to mark the establishment of the first Korean Kingdom.
The event was attended by a cross section of Ghanaians and the Korean community in Ghana to celebrate “Dangun”, the founder of the Korean Kingdom.
Highlighting the partnership and bond between Korea and Ghana, Mr Jung-Taek said both countries had witnessed unprecedented high-level exchanges, such as the bilateral luncheon in New York last month, Korean Prime Minister’s visit to Ghana in December last year as well as the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta’s visit to Korea in May this year.
“Another good example of our strong partnership is related with the upcoming Peacekeeping Ministerial.
Ghana will host the UN Peacekeeping Ministerial coming December, and Korea as a co-host of the upcoming Conference, and as the previous host of this Conference back in 2021, we are contributing US$1 million dollars to support its successful hosting,” he said.
GIK/APA