The approved of a five-year US$4.5 billion Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Ghana from 2022 to 2026 by the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank Group is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank Group (WBG) has approved a five-year US$4.5 billion Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Ghana from 2022 to 2026.
The Framework will promote investment in human capital, job creation, economic diversification, a resilient health system, and fostering a greener and more inclusive society.
It focuses on enhancing conditions for private sector development and quality job creation; improving inclusive service delivery and promoting resilient and sustainable development.
The CPF was prepared jointly by the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) to support Ghana’s COVID-19 fight and its medium-term development agenda.
Ghana has achieved considerable economic and social progress in the past 30 years.
It achieved middle-income status in 2011 because of strong, sustained economic growth, averaging over 5 per cent since the early 1990’s.
This was supported by a stable democracy and driven largely by gold and cocoa exports and the development of substantial oil and gas reserves.
It achieved the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving poverty from 52.7 per cent in 1993 to 23.4 per cent 2016.
The newspaper says that negotiations are almost complete to enable the Board of Directors of the Komenda Sugar Factory to acquire 20,000 acres of land suitable for growing sugar cane at Wassa Fiase for the production of sugar.
While that is ongoing, there is also an ongoing process to identify outgrowers who will supply the factory with the raw material, so that it can effectively start operations.
At a meeting with a delegation of the chiefs and the elders of the Komenda Traditional Area at the Jubilee House yesterday, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said the Indian investor working on the sugar factory had indicated that it would commence production processes by April this year.
The President also said ongoing civil works would be completed by March.
Led by the acting President of the Komenda Traditional Area, Nana Kwohin V, the delegation was at the Presidency to say thank you to President Akufo-Addo for his support during the funeral rites of the late Omanhen of the traditional area, Nana Kodjo Kru II.
President Akufo-Addo noted that the civil works were expected to be completed by March this year, and that according to the Indian investor, production would begin in April.
“It has become a big issue in the country. Some people say they completed it, but checks indicate that they did not. But by the grace of God, you have seen that work is on track and we know that production will start in April,” he stated.
He urged the people of Komenda to vote for the NPP in the next election, adding: “You have voted one way for far too long, without getting anything out of it.”
The Graphic also reports that the Minister of Food and Agriculture Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto on Monday led a Ghanaian delegation to the Food for Future Summit and Expo at the ongoing Expo 2020 Food, Agriculture and Livelihood Week in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The delegation is made up of players in the agricultural value chain sector, officials from some government agencies and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
As part of the programme, the delegation is scheduled to visit companies in the agribusiness and some production lines to get first-hand information and learn best practices as well as seek partnerships and collaborations.
After the opening session, the delegation visited some of the pavilions including Ghana’s stand to familiarise with what various countries are exhibiting.
Some of the most sought after pavilions are the host nation, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, the Great British among others.
At the Ghana pavilion, the minister and his entourage were conducted round, by the Pavilion Director, Madam Victoria Akpene Ocloo.
After the tour of the Pavilion and signing the official book, the minister commended the management of the Pavilion, but was hopeful that in subsequent Expos, “we will be given enough space to enable us adequately showcase what we have as a country.”
He said he was expecting to see chocolate drinks being shared, weaving of Kente, beating of drums with Ghanaians dressed in the various traditional attire, and a demonstration of some traditional rites among other things to be able to attract much more attention and made the Pavilion the most attractive at the Expo.
“If we had a bigger space, all these things could have been taking place and with that there would have been a long queue,” he said, recalling a similar Expo in China, where Ghana was the centre of attraction.
In an interview, Madam Ocloo said over 500 people visited the Pavilion a day at the weekend.
The Ghanaian Times says that the government has been asked to critically evaluate and monitor the repatriation of income by foreign companies operating in Ghana and investigate the flow of income by religious organisations.
It must also put in place measures to regulate monies sent out of the country by wealthy individuals through the payment of school fees, hospital bills and other essential services.
Dr Joseph Obeng, Trade Unionist, Dr Abdallah Ali-Nakyea, Tax Analyst and Mr Bernard Anaba, a Policy Analyst with the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), said that the above measures would help in shoring up the country’s reserves and contain the continuous depreciation of the local currency (the Cedi).
They said this in separate interviews with the Ghana News Agency on the back of the recent fall of the Cedi.
The 2022 Monetary Policy Report by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) indicated that the Cedi depreciated by 4.1 percent and 3.1 percent against the US Dollar and Pound Sterling, respectively, on a year-to-date basis (in 2021).
The Central Bank noted that the cedi was less volatile during the first 13 transaction days in 2022 compared to the same period from 2017-2019. Checks by GNA at some forex bureaus and commercial banks showed that a dollar was being bought between GH₵6.85-₵7, and sold between GH₵7 and GH₵7.05.
Against this background, Dr Obeng, President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), said it had become necessary for the government to evaluate the way funds in churches moved.
GIK/APA