APA – Accra (Ghana)
The report that Ghana is poised to eliminate malaria deaths by 90 per cent and case incidence by 50 per cent in the year 2028 is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Wednesday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that Ghana is poised to eliminate malaria deaths by 90 per cent and case incidence by 50 per cent in the year 2028.
This was disclosed in Accra yesterday at the launching of the National Malaria Elimination Strategic Plan 2024 to 2028, on the theme ‘Zero Malaria Starts Now-Launching Ghana’s Path to Elimination.’
The objective of the plan is to ensure that 100 per cent of the population have “adequate knowledge, attitudes, practices and requisite skills for malaria elimination by 2028.”
It would also ensure that 100 per cent of confirmed malaria cases are appropriately, effectively and completely treated by 2028.
The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, whose speech was read for him by the Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, lauded various stakeholders for their contributions towards the development of the National Strategic Plan.
To this end, the President called on relevant stakeholders, both in the private and public sectors to take ownership of the strategies outlined in the strategic document.
Additionally, he urged the stakeholders to work in partnership with the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service towards the full implementation of the planned activities.
The President indicated that he was confident that the sub-national elimination approach adopted would help the country achieve the target of “zero malaria” considering progress made in recent years.
The newspaper says that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has said that its Domestic Gold for Reserves Programme has been a good buffer to stabilise the Ghana’s currency last year and the programme will continue this year.
Dr Ernest Addison, Governor of the BoG, in a data made available to the Ghanaian Times, said the Domestic Gold for Reserves Programme helped the BoG last year to raise $1 billion to shore up the Cedi.
The amount raised through the Domestic Gold for Reserve Programme last year, he said, was more than the $600 million the International Monetary Fund (IMF) disbursed to Ghana last year under the IMF Extended Credit Facility three-year $3-billion deal with Ghana.
“This year alone, we have been ahead of our reserve target by almost $1 billion. So, we plan to continue with the Domestic Gold for Reserves Programme. And that should help in terms of building reserves going into 2024,” he said.
Dr Addison said the programme had material impact in helping to stabilise the currency last year.
“The Domestic Gold for Reserve Programme has had material impact in helping to stabilise the currency, especially this year. That is because the Gold for Reserves Programme has raised over $1 billion, compared with the IMF’s $600 million disbursement since the start of 2023 – with another $600 million due in November/December. So, it is a significant amount,” he stated.
Dr Addison said Ghana’s Gross International Reserves (excluding encumbered assets and petroleum funds) at the end of October last year rose to $2.5 billion, equivalent of 1.1 months of import cover better than the $2.1 billion that was recorded in August and equivalent to one month of import cover.
Asked what the BoG was doing to achieve its three-month threshold of import cover, the Governor said the BoG was working hard to achieve its reserve target in the next three years.
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo left Accra on Monday to attend the 2024 Edition of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
He is attending the global meeting at the invitation of the Founder and Executive Chairman of World Economic Forum, Prof. Klaus Schwab.
The forum is being held from Tuesday, January 16 to Friday, January 19.
The Davos Meeting has become an iconic global forum, which brings together world leaders in politics, business, finance and academia to deliberate on matters affecting the global community.
A statement from the Presidency said President Akufo-Addo would leave Davos for Kampala, Uganda, to participate in the 2024 Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which is being held on the theme “Deepening Cooperation for Shared Global Affluence”.
The Non-Aligned Movement has its origins from what has been referred to as the first large-scale Asian–African or Afro–Asian Conference, held from April 18 to 24th in 1955.
It is popularly known as the Bandung Conference (taking on the name of the City where it was held – Bandung, Indonesia).
Upon leaving Uganda, President Akufo-Addo will then attend the swearing-in ceremony of the President-elect of the Republic of Liberia, Joseph Boakai in Monrovia, Liberia.
The President was accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway; Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta and officials from the Foreign Ministry and the Presidency.
The President will return to Ghana on Monday, January 22, 2024, and in his absence, the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, shall, in accordance with Article 60(8) of the Constitution, act in his stead.
The newspaper says that the Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG) has secured GH¢2.5 billion to shore up its capital and build the resiliency of the balance sheet of the bank.
The new capital was released to the bank by the Ministry of Finance as part of measures by the government to position the bank for further growth.
The Managing Director (MD) of CBG, Mr Wilson Addo, disclosed this in Accra yesterday during an interaction with some selected journalists on the five years journey of the bank. He said the new capital injection had further improved on the capital position of the bank.
“The Bank is solvent and liquid to discharge its core mandate of financial intermediation without any challenges. CBG is ideally positioned to continue its growth trajectory and most importantly to continue to make a positive impact on the economy,” he said.
Mr Addo said CBG this and the coming years would focus to increase its loan support to Small and Medium-scale Enterprise (SME) sector, agriculture, manu¬facturing as part of measures to diversify the investment portfolio of the bank.
On SME financing, the MD said the objective was to maintain the bank’s leadership in the sector.
He said CBG had achieved significant milestones, including building cutting-edge technolo¬gy platforms, impactful lending, and achieving leadership in SME finance.
“In the SME sector, CBG has played a pivotal role, providing GH¢1.6 billion in loans to over 5,600 businesses, introducing innovative programmes such as the ‘CBG SME Adesua Series’, and optimising loan processing for swift access. The initiatives in the SME sector have earned the bank various awards, including the ‘Eu¬romoney Award for SME Market Leadership’ in 2022 and 2023,” Mr Addo stated.
According to Mr Addo, the SME sector remained critical to the growth of the Ghanaian econ¬omy and creating employment for the youth.
GIK/APA
Ghanaian press focuses on plans by Ghana to eliminate malaria by 2028, others
