Ghanaian press zooms in on optimism of fans about Black Stars progression in AFCON, others

APA – Accra (Ghana)
The report that Ghanaian football fans are optimistic that the senior national team, the Black Stars, will make it to the next stage of the ongoing Africa Cup of Na¬tional (AFCON 2023) underway in Côte d’Ivoire is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that Ghanaian fans are optimistic that the senior national team, the Black Stars, will make it to the next stage of the ongoing Africa Cup of National (AFCON 2023) underway in Côte d’Ivoire.
Some of the fans who spoke with the Ghanaian Times at the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Stadium after the Black Stars’ cagey encounter with the Pharaohs of Egypt said the performance of the team has improved and were optimistic the team would progress.
The Black Stars played out a 2-2 draw with the Egyptians to pick its first point at the continental showpiece having led twice in the game with both goals coming from West Ham star, Mohammed Kudus.
The fans who were in their elements, drumming and dancing all through the game to give the team support said Ghana would triumph against the Mambas of Mozambique when the two sides clash in the final match of the group stage at the Alassane Ouattara stadium today.
“From what I have seen today, the boys gave a good account of themselves and I’m hopeful they will turn up again against Mozambique on Monday,” Kwame Dadzie, a fan from Takoradi said.
“We suffered because of some defensive blunders but if we are able to tighten up things at the back, which I’m sure we will, we’ll go far in the tournament.”
Clad in the national colours, a disappointed Stephen Opei said though the spoils were shared, Ghana was clearly the better team on the day.
“Historically, we don’t start tournaments strongly and it is proving to be the case here in Ivory Coast. The team was good today.
The newspaper says that a five-member team of Data Scientists from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), has won the top prize in the UN Datathon 2023 competition for the development of a Story Map for monitoring progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The UN Datathon is to develop innovative data-driven solutions to advance the implementation of the SDGs, and competitors were required to develop their product within a 72-hour period.
The Ghana team from GSS emerged winners out of over 400 participating teams from across the world, representing 110 countries.
A statement from the GSS issued in Accra yesterday, and copied the Ghanaian Times, said the team also won three special prizes out of the five categories that they were eligible for: Best Visualisation, Best Presentation and Best Youth team.
By virtue of being the overall winner, the Ghanaian group was also awarded the best team from Sub-Saharan Africa prize.
The award-winning Story Map from the Ghana Team provides a graphical illustration of how disaggregated data from different sources (such as from censuses and non- traditional data) can be used to produce near real time information for decision-making.
The information can be used to track progress on the SDGs at the national, regional and districts levels.
The team also developed an index to measure differences in access to information across districts in Ghana.
As part of the prize, the team will have an opportunity to showcase its product at the 2024 World Data Forum.
The Graphic reports that Ghana has been invited to join the implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula, a ten-point plan meant to bring the Russia-Ukraine war to an end.
Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a meeting with his Ghanaian counterpart, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on the sidelines of the 2024 World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos, Switzerland, said Ghana’s involvement in the peace processes was vital.
The Ukrainian authorities have been working to get the world on board with the implementation of the peace plan to end hostilities. The key highlights span food and energy security, territorial integrity, environmental safety, release of prisoners and withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, as well as the prevention of future aggression.
Ghana, a beacon of peace and political stability in the sub-region, has over the years consolidated its cooperation and bilateral ties with the warring countries, especially in education, science and technology.
During the meeting, the two leaders discussed ways to deepen relations between Ukraine and Ghana, as well as with other African countries.
They also deliberated on the issue of education of students from Ghana in Ukrainian higher educational institutions, and the potential for creating logistics hubs for the trans-shipment of Ukrainian agricultural products to African countries. President Zelenskyy lauded Ghana for supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, particularly at the level of decisions of international organisations.
Russia and Ukraine are major commodities producers.
The newspaper says that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the war has caused global prices to soar, especially for oil and natural gas, and that food costs have jumped, with wheat, for which Ukraine and Russia make up 30 percent of global exports, reaching a record.
$600m 2nd tranche release: IMF reposes trust in economy – Says election won’t derail gains
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is optimistic that Ghana will stay within the programme targets and the 2024 Budget in spite of the spending pressures that characterise election years in the country.
The fund said it had engaged with the government which had demonstrated a strong commitment to expenditure performance (spending strictly according to budget) in 2024.
Speaking at a joint news conference by the Ministry of Finance and the IMF on the approval of the first review of Ghana’s three-year Extended Credit Facility (ECF) programme by the Executive Board, the IMF Mission Chief to Ghana, Stephane Roudet, said: “We have ratings under the programme in terms of spending which have been codified in the budget that was approved by Parliament.
“We have targets under the programme, performance has so far been good; we have very strong commitments that the authorities will continue to follow the programme objectives and that makes us optimistic,” he stated.
The Executive Board of the IMF last Friday approved the first review of Ghana’s programme after the country finally reached an agreement with the Bilateral Official Creditor Committee of the Paris Club, co-chaired by France and China.
The approval of Ghana’s programme will pave the way for the immediate release of the second tranche of $600 million to the country, bringing the total disbursement under the programme to $1.2 billion.
GIK/APA