President Akufo-Addo’s charge to Member States of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to ensure that education remains a priority in the common development agenda of countries is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Tuesday.
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has charged Member States of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to ensure that education remains a priority in the common development agenda of countries.
As the recently appointed Domestic Financing champion of the Global Partnership for Education, President Akufo-Addo sought the co-operation and support of UNESCO “to work towards developing sustainable homegrown financial solutions, so we can develop the educational system for the future we want in our various countries.”
Addressing the 215th Meeting of the Executive Board of UNESCO, on Monday [October 10, 2021], in Paris, France, the President noted that the world does not have the luxury to pick and choose which crises it wants to fix.
“At this moment, we cannot pick and choose between funding guns and education. We cannot pick and choose between the interests of the present generation and the future of our girls and boys. We cannot choose geopolitical concerns over preserving our cherished cultural heritages, lest we perish universally,” he said.
Due to global instability, however, President Akufo-Addo noted that, education has become one of many competing priorities of domestic budgets, with development aid to the education sector also seriously under pressure.
“Indeed, countries reduced their spending on education after the onset of the COVID-19, and, at the same time, direct aid to education by bilateral donors fell by some three hundred and fifty-nine million dollars ($359 million), which is not compatible with the objectives of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda for financing sustainable development and the goals of the SDGs,” he said.
The President continued, “We are further informed that prospects for reaching funding target, through voluntary contributions, are uncertain as several long-term donors have already reduced significantly their voluntary contributions to UNESCO due to a change in development cooperation priorities, thereby significantly impacting our planned programme implementation.”
The newspaper says that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has admitted that the continuous financing of the deficit by the central bank is hurting the economy but said it was the best available option under the current circumstances.
The Governor of BoG, Dr Ernest Addison, told the media last week that while the bank was aware that the action was also “sub-optimal,” it found it necessary to keep the government machinery running.
Dr Addison said in Accra that at a time when the government was unable to borrow from the external market and domestic auctions were also suffering shortfalls, it was only the central bank that could intervene to help save the situation.
Addressing the bank’s regular Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) press conferences in Accra, Dr Addison said it was also necessary to reduce capital outflows which had the tendency of worsening the cedi depreciation.
Dr Addison, however, said the committee was hopeful that the situation would change soon.
He, however, did not state the size of BoG’s exposure to the government through the deficit financing.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kojo Kyeremateng has commended the McDan Group for acquiring cargo planes and sea trade vessels to facilitate trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The commendation came at the back of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of McDan Group, Daniel McKoley and the AfCFTA Agreement to signify the beginning of a partnership which will facilitate trade among African Countries.
Speaking at the launch of the AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative which was held at the McDan Private Jet Terminal in Accra, the Trade and Industry Minister singled out Dr Daniel McKorley for praise for making the long dream of free movement of goods in Africa a reality.
He expressed the confidence that the agreement would enhance the contribution of the private sector in building a robust economy among African Countries.
“Let me commend one businessman who has taken a bold step to make the dream of AfCFTA a reality, Dr Daniel McKorley, who tonight signs an agreement with AfCFTA to commence cargo services within Africa.
This is exemplary and other businessmen on the continent must take a cue from this,” he said.
On his part, Dr McKorley said the company had acquired two cargo planes and one vessel worth over $100m to facilitate trade among African countries.
The Secretary-General of AfCFTA, Wamkele Mene, encouraged Africans to support small and medium scale enterprise to alleviate poverty in Africa.
He was optimistic that in 15 years, AfCFTA would succeed in lifting many Africans out of poverty and hence the need for Africans to support indigenous businesses
The newspaper says that African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has launched the Afreximbank Academy (AFRACAD), a learning, knowledge, and networking hub designed to help advance African trade through capacity building and leadership.
AFRACAD was launched on 3 October 2022 in Kampala, Uganda, on the sidelines of the three-day Afreximbank Trade Finance Seminar by Prof. Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank and Mr. Moses Kaggwa, Ag. Director Economic Affairs, representing Mr. MatiaKasaija, Ugandan Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.
Mr Stephen Kauma, Director & Global Head, Human Resources at Afreximbank, said at the launch ceremony that the establishment of the Academy fulfills the capacity building dimension of the Bank’s mandate.
“Afreximbank has been at the forefront of building the capacity of Africans on the continent and the diaspora in trade related matters. In this regard, under the Bank’s 5th Strategic Plan for the period 2016 to 2021, we planned to create a responsibility centre under which all our various capacity building initiatives would be housed,” Mr. Kauma explained.
He also revealed that the academy, which plans to train up to 100,000 people over the next ten years, offering up to 58 different learning opportunities, aims to unlock business opportunities by enhancing existing capacity and leadership, improving the trade environment across Africa and enabling the continent to compete globally.
The Afreximbank Academy, the Bank’s proprietary corporate academy, is a centre of excellence for capacity building in trade and the go-to hub for Afrocentric knowledge and African trade expertise. AFRACAD provides high impact learning solutions that cover trade and project finance; industrial capacity; innovation; leadership; trade language; and Knowledge and networking.
So far, AFRACAD has already begun the process of obtaining regional accreditation, starting with the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), while exploring and reaching out to other accrediting bodies.
The Academy has also started implementing a proof of concept using the Certificate of Trade Finance in Africa (COFTIA) programme, a flagship trade finance course that is one of the most comprehensive in Africa, which AFRACAD runs with FCI and the American University in Cairo.
GIK/APA