Ghanaian press zooms in on growth of Ghana-China trade, others

APA – Accra (Ghana)
The report that bilateral trade volume between Ghana and China reached an unprecedented high at US$10.2 billion last year, with Ghana’s exports to China surging by 60 per cent is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that bilateral trade volume between Ghana and China reached an unprecedented high at US$10.2 billion last year, with Ghana’s exports to China surging by 60 per cent.
Mr Lu Kun, the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, who stated this, added that his country remained Ghana’s largest partner and major foreign investment source for years, thus offering significant opportunities for their peoples.
The Ambassador was speaking at a reception to mark the 74th Anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Hosted by Mr Lu at his official residence, in Accra, and attended by high profile dignitaries, including the Second Lady, Mrs Samira Bawumia, the Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister for Works and Housing, Mr Francis Asenso-Boakye, members of the Diplomatic Corps, the Chinese business community and residents in Ghana, the grand reception was charaterised by rich Chinese cultural displays.
China mainly imports mineral fuels, oils and distillation products, ore slags and ash, wood and articles of wood, cocoa and cocoa preparations, copper and aluminum from Ghana.
Ghana’s main imports from China include machinery, iron and steel, electrical and electronic materials.
This year marks the 63rd anniversary of the diplomatic ties between China and Ghana, a friendship nurtured by Chairman MAO Zedong, Premier ZHOU Enlai and President Kwame Nkrumah.
The newspaper says that Ghana’s Parliament will host the 66th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) at the Accra International Conference Centre in Accra from September 30 to October 6, 2023.
The event will be held on the theme: “The Commonwealth Charter 10 years on: Values and principles for Parliaments to uphold”.
It is billed to attract 600 delegates, including speakers and presiding officers, parliamentarians, clerks-to-parliaments, parliamentary staff and key stakeholders in the parliamentary governance sector.
Others will include observers and accompanying officials from 56 national branches (national legislatures) and 111 sub-national branches (state/provincial legislatures) across the nine geographic regions of the Commonwealth.
It will be held under the patronage of the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, who also doubles as the President of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and the President of the Ghana Branch of the association.
Briefing the media on the event, the Clerk-to-Parliament, Cyril Nsiah, said the conference was aimed at fostering dialogue and cooperation among member countries to address pressing global challenges within the context of Commonwealth values.
“The conference will emphasise the importance of parliamentary diplomacy in addressing these challenges and highlight the role of parliaments in shaping policies that benefit their citizens,” the Ghana Branch Secretary of the CPA said.
The conference is expected to commence officially with an opening ceremony on Wednesday, October 4, 2023, under the patronage of the President of Ghana and the Vice-Patron of the CPA, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who will be the keynote speaker.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison, has stated that Ghana is estimated to save nearly $2 billion this year due to the suspension of payment of its external debt.
The suspension of the payment of external creditors, he said, was a major relief to balance of payment and the economy as a whole.
Dr Ernest Addison disclosed this on Monday in an answer to a question on how the exchange rate was influencing the country’s debt stock during a press conference after the 114th regular meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the BoG.
He said on the basis of the exchange rate, the country’s external debt in cedi terms had increased.
According to the September 2023 Summary of Economics and Financial Data released by the BoG last week, Ghana’s total public debt as of June this year stood at GH¢575.5 billion, representing 71.9 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The external debt component, according to the data, increased from GH¢326.9 in May 2023, representing 40.8 per cent of GDP, to GH¢328.6 billion in June 2023, representing 41.0 per cent of GDP.
However, Dr Addison said the country this year had witnessed an improvement in the current account balance due to the suspension of the payment of external debt.
He said the country recorded a positive current account balance of $859.1 million in June this year against the negative current account balance of $1111.9 million in the same period last year.
The Governor said the discussions with the country’s external creditors –both bilateral and bond holders – as part of the country’s debt restructuring, were going on successfully, saying “the initial terms I have seen suggest we will be successful”.
Touching on the IMF ECF programme with Ghana, he said the programme was yielding positive results and “doing what it is supposed to do”.
He said growth was improving and inflation was trending down, adding, “Since the end of December, we have seen substantial drop in both food and non-food inflation, we have seen the exchange rate stabilised.”
The newspaper says that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) says it has almost double its gold reserves under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP).
According to the BoG, the initiative had been innovative and strong in stabilising the economy and kept the exchange rate stable.
The Governor of the BoG, Dr Ernest Addison disclosed this on Monday in an answer to a question on the volume of gold BoG has purchased under the DGPP during press conference after the 114th regular meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the BoG.
The Governor said when the BoG started the DGPP two years it had only 8.7 per cent tonnes of gold as reserves.
Dr Addison who is the chairman of the MPC said in total the BoG this year had bought gold to the tune of $1.4 billion/$1.5 billion under the DGPP, with the Gold for Oil Programme accounting for $700 million of the gold purchased this year.
“The Domestic Gold Purchase Programme has been the single most important foreign exchange source in 2023 and nearly doubled the amount of money we have received from the IMF so we are very proud about that particular initiative,” the Governor stated.
Highlighting on the country’s growth projection for this year, Dr Addison said BoG projected that Ghana’s economy would grow at 3 per cent; more than double what the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected.
The IMF under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) three-year $3 billion with Ghana had projected the country’s economy will expand by 1.5 per cent this year, but the BoG believes the economy would grow at three per cent.
Dr Addison disclosed this in an answer to a question on the BoG’s growth projection for the country this year.
He said the view of the MPC last year was that Ghana would see stronger growth this year than what the IMF had projected under the ECF.
GIK/APA