APA – Accra (Ghana)
The report that the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has stressed the need for Ghana and Germany to deepen bilateral and economic cooperation for the mutual benefit of the two countries is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has stressed the need for Ghana and Germany to deepen bilateral and economic cooperation for the mutual benefit of the two countries.
According to him, both countries operated a similar economic structure with the Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises leading job and employment creation.
Mr Ofori-Atta stated this during the Ghana Mutual Prosperity Partnerships (GMMP) Round table with German Businesses in Ghana.
The GMMP is meant to build a closer collaboration with the private sector and particularly German Businesses in Ghana.
Mr Ofori-Atta in his remarks said the objective of the government was to use the private sector as catalyst for growth and economic recovery and also to know the challenges facing the private sector particularly, German businesses in Ghana for redress.
In view of that, he said government wanted to know the challenges facing the private sector, hence the development of the GMMP.
Mr Ofori-Atta lauded Germany for its contribution to the development of Ghana and contributing 2.1 billion Euros under the G20 Compact with Africa and also commended the German companies which had decided to stay in Ghana, in spite of the difficult economic challenges facing the country.
He said Ghana had turned the corner and inflation had been more halved from 54.1 per cent in December last year to the 23.2 per cent currently, adding that the Cedi had been stabilised.
Mr Ofori-Atta pledged the government would continue to create the necessary environment for the private sector to thrive in Ghana.
The Deputy German Ambassador to Ghana, Mrs Sivine Jansen, said German and Ghanaian businesses shared a long-standing business relationship that spanned a wide variety of products and services across different sectors.
“Germany strongly values our close partnership with Ghana across the different areas of cooperation and both countries continue to enjoy fruitful engagements at the political level,” she stated.
The newspaper says that the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is targeting to collect GH¢146 billion revenue this year.
This represents a 37.73 per cent increase in the GH¢106 billion collected in 2023.
As part of efforts to ensure the realisation of the target, Commissioner General of GRA, Rev. Amishaddai Owusu – Amoah, said the Authority was employing international best practices, including customer-centred services, to promote tax compliance in addition to the deployment of new technologies.
He was speaking in Accra yesterday at this year’s Tax Customer Experience Conference organised by the GRA.
The event was on the theme “Building a Growth-Friendly Tax Environment”.
“I want to emphasise the importance of a customer-centric approach in our dealings with our taxpayers. It is crucial that as managers we encourage our staff to remain professional at all times when dealing with taxpayers and colleagues.
This approach together with employing technology to simplify our processes and procedures among others will go a long way in improving GRAs relationship with taxpayers and fostering voluntary tax compliance,” Rev. Dr Owusu-Amoah stated.
He said in an era of rapid technological advancement and evolving customer expectation, there was the need for “agility and innovation” for tax administrators in order to stay relevant and achieve their mandate.
This, he explained, was the reason for the number of strides that had been made in the recent past by GRA to ensure that digitalisation was employed to ensure that taxpayers have a seamless, efficient and effective means of transacting tax business.
In a statement read on his behalf, Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, said it was important for GRA to ensure that it was building a growth-friendly tax environment as it was crucial in voluntary tax compliance, among others, ultimately leading to economic expansion.
The Graphic reports that the World Bank has approved a $300 million Development Policy Operation for Ghana.
This represents the first tranche of the $900 million three-year development policy budget support programme for the country.
Under the programme, Ghana is expected to receive $300 million each year for a period of three years for budget support.
The World Bank in a release said the first Resilient Recovery Development Policy Financing was a critical contribution by the Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) to help Ghana’s economic recovery and support the country’s resilient and inclusive growth.
Among other things, it seeks to restore fiscal sustainability; support financial sector stability and private sector development; improve energy sector financial discipline; and strengthen social and climate resilience.
Commenting on this, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, said the government remained committed to restoring macroeconomic stability and the implementation of lasting reforms to set the economy on a path of strong long-term sustainable growth and transformation.
He said the disbursement of that $300 million Development Policy Financing, the first in a series of three, would play a vital role in easing Ghana’s fiscal constraints, sustaining the momentum of economic recovery while protecting the poor and vulnerable.
The World Bank Vice-President for Western and Central Africa, Ousmane Diagana, said restoring fiscal and debt sustainability, bolstering growth prospects, curbing inflation, and protecting the most vulnerable — measures supported by this financing — were urgent priorities for Ghana.
The newspaper says that six persons including three soldiers have been found guilty of high treason by the Accra High Court for plotting to overthrow the government.
Donya Kafui, aka Ezor (a blacksmith) and Bright Alan Debrah Ofosu (a fleet manager), were found guilty of conspiracy to commit treason and treason, while Johannes Zikpi (a civilian employee of the Ghana Armed Forces) was found guilty of conspiracy to commit high treason.
The three soldiers – Warrant Officer II Esther Saan Dekuwine , Lance Corporal Ali Solomon, Corporal Sylvester Akanpewon , were found guilty of conspiracy to commit high treason.
However, two senior security officers and another soldier were not found guilty and were subsequently acquitted by the three -member panel of the court.
They were – Colonel Samuel Kodzo Gameli and Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Dr Benjamin Agordzo were not found guilty of abetment to commit High Treason, while Corporal Seidu Abubakar was also found not guilty of conspiracy to commit High Treason and Treason.
GIK/APA
Ghanaian press spotlights plans by Ghana, Germany to deepen economic cooperation, others
