The increase in public debt stock and the appointment of 11 people by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to serve on the Council of State for his second term in office are some of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Tuesday.
The Graphic reports that Ghana’s public debt stock peaked in December last year after increased debt accumulation to plug revenue shortfalls and finance a larger fiscal deficit expanded the amount that the country owes to domestic and external creditors.
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) data released on January 29 showed that the debt stock ended the year at GH¢286.9 billion, the highest since the bank started releasing data on how much the country owes.
The December 2020 stock was equivalent to 74.4 per cent of total economic output, measured by gross domestic product (GDP).
It is the first time in more than 15 years that the debt-to-GDP ratio has reached 74 percent. The closest was in 2016 when it was reported at 72.5 percent of GDP.
High debts crowd out the fiscal space by ensuring that more revenues are used to finance the interest and pay off the principals, a situation that limits spending in productive sectors and also creates a cycle of borrowing.
Of the debt stock, the data showed that GH¢15.4 billion, equivalent to four percent of GDP, was expended on the financial sector clean up exercise.
The newspaper says that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has appointed 11 people to serve on the Council of State for his second term in office.
Also, he has named four members to serve as ex officio members of the Council of State.
A statement from the Presidency, signed by the Director of Communications, Mr. Eugene Arhin, said the appointments were pursuant to Article 89(2) of the 1992 Constitution, while the four ex officio members were named after consultations with Parliament.
The President’s appointees are Nana Otuo Siriboe II, the Juabenhene; Archbishop Justice Ofei Akrofi, Mr Sam Okudzeto, Alhaji Sule Yiremiah and Mr Stanley Adjiri Blankson.
The rest are Prof. Ato Essuman, Alhaji Aminu Amadu, Dr Margaret Amoakohene, Mrs Georgina Kusi, Mrs Alberta Cudjoe and Kuoro Richard Babini Kanton VI.
The statement further said President Akufo-Addo had, in accordance with Article 89 and subject to consultation with Parliament, also appointed a former Chief Justice, Mrs. Georgina Theodora Wood; a former Chief of the Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces, Lt Gen. J.B. Danquah, and a former Inspector-General of Police, Nana Owusu Nsiah, to the council.
The President of the National House of Chiefs, Ogyeahohoo Yaw Gyebi II, is an ex officio member of the council, in furtherance of Article 89(2)(b).
The Graphic also reports that the Presidential Advisor on health, Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare has explained government’s vaccine roll-out plan upon arrival in the country by March 2021.
According to him, government has outlined four categories of persons for the receipt of the vaccine doses.
Speaking on Accra-based television station, Citi TV, Dr. Nsiah-Asare said the segments were frontline workers, people with some form of health risk and co-morbidities, workers who offer essential services and the arms of government and the remaining population.
He said the government was expecting a batch of the COVAX vaccines first and “we are supposed to get about 20 percent of those vaccines which are about six million.”
“We are also getting vaccines from bilateral organisations. We are also getting vaccines from the private sector which have agreed to give vaccines for the companies, but they will also give the government the same amount of vaccines,” he added.
He also noted that there are “other organisations like the Tony Blair foundation which is also helping us to get some of the vaccines from the UK.”
Ghana’s target is to vaccinate 20 million of its 30 million population.
President Akufo-Addo has already indicated that the government is working to procure 17 million vaccines.
The Times says that Fairtrade Africa has urged the government of Ghana and the United Kingdom to finalise a trade agreement to save fruit exporting companies.
Ghana and UK failed to finalise a trade agreement before the end of the BREXIT transition December 31, 2020.
It said although it welcomed the joint announcement by the Ghanaian Ministry of Trade and the UK Department of Trade earlier this month that an agreement had been reached to allow tariff free access the delay was impacting negatively on players in the industry.
“We call on both the UK and Ghanaian governments to immediately sign an agreement to bring this into effect. Fairtrade Africa also requests that exporters be compensated for the tariffs already paid as it will be unfair for them to bear the brunt of the two governments delay in finalising an agreement,” it said in a statement.
Established in 2005, Fairtrade Africa is the independent non-profit umbrella organisation representing all Fairtrade certified producers in Africa.
GIK/APA