Press spotlights commemoration of Ghana’s 66th independence anniversary in Ho, others

APA – Accra (Ghana)
The report that the whole of Ghana will converge at the Volta Region capital of Ho on Tuesday, March 6, 2023, to commemorate the country’s 66th independence anniversary is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Friday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that on Tuesday, March 6, 2023, the whole of Ghana will converge at the Volta Region capital of Ho to commemorate the country’s 66th independence anniversary.
Volta Region will become the fourth region to host this grand anniversary following the decision to rotate it across all regions of the country.
Already, the Northern, Ashanti and Central Regions have had their turns with each showcasing a unique but captivating identity.
This year’s commemoration is on the theme: “Our Unity, Our Strength, Our Purpose” and seeks to drum home the need for Ghanaians to come together and with one accord, work to overcome the challenges confronting the country..
In a troubled world where the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to linger and the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to reverberate across the four corners of the world, the choice of the theme can only be described as apt.
In this troubled times what every country needs to overcome is Unity and Ghana’s own cannot be different. If there was a period which required unity in the history of the country, then it is now.
Today, Ghana stands at the crossroads with the potential to either tumble off the precipice or rebound and surge towards the glory envisioned by the founding fathers.
The country is bedeviled with a number challenges including: economic, social, cultural and political difficulties with the economy being the hardest hit with all the macro-economic indicators tumbling down.
Inflation, interest, and lending rates are at all time high with the situation compounded by the downgrades meted out to the country by the international rating agencies.
For more than two years, the conversation has centered on the economy, unfortunately the discourse have always been framed within the usual partisan narratives.
In the spirit of the theme of this year’s independence day anniversary, Ghanaians must seize the opportunity and rally round the cause of rebuilding the nation.
The newspaper says that a Chinese delegation is in Accra to engage the government in a discussion, following a request for the restructuring of Ghana’s $1.9 billion debt owed to China.
A report on the Ministry of Finance website stated that the delegation is in Accra on a 3-day mission, ahead of Ghana’s upcoming Mission to China, all in line with ongoing negotiations for a sovereign debt treatment. The report also highlighted that scheduled meetings were going well, and discussions have been cordial and fruitful.
A highly placed source at the Ministry of Finance went further to state that there has been data sharing between the two governments, with discussions being held at the technical level, on the parameters of an effective debt treatment.
According to the source, the Ghanaian government was seeking among other reliefs, an extension of the moratorium on debt servicing; an extension of maturities; and lower interest rates.
Another source close to the Ministry of Finance, speaking on condition of anonymity, corroborated the report and said that technical discussions had been extremely positive so far. The source also hinted that plans were on course for the proposed high-level government mission to China, during the last week of March.
The Chinese delegation, as part of the 3-day Mission, had met with the Vice President, Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, the Minister for Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, and technical teams from the Ministry of Finance.
The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Lu Kun, also hosted the delegation at a luncheon yesterday. In attendance were members of the Chinese delegation, the Minister for Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey; Ghana’s Ambassador to China, Dr Winfred Nii Okai Hammond, and officials of the Ministry of Finance.
Speaking at the luncheon, Mr Ofori-Atta thanked the Chinese government for their long-standing cooperation and support for Ghana. He emphasised the need to keep and strengthen that relationship, whilst working towards an exemplary debt treatment solution that could serve as a model for China’s future engagements with other African countries.
The Graphic reports that Ghana needs to avoid a holdup in debt restructuring talks with China to help save the economy from sliding into deeper crises with spiraling inflation and currency depreciation.
A delay would deny the economy of a bailout package in the first quarter, resulting in the depletion of the already low reserves and weakened confidence, two economic experts, Prof. Godfred Alufar Bokpin of the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) and Courage Kwesi Boti of GCB Capital Plc, have said in separate interviews.
The two explained that these risked exposing the cedi to new bouts of depreciation and setting in motion another wave of price hikes, public outcry and increased fatigue among firms.
The two economists were commenting on the recent postponement of a meeting between a Ministry of Finance delegation and Chinese creditors in Beijing from the first week of March to the third week.
The postponement put in limbo the government’s hopes of concluding external debt restructuring in March for the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to consider the country’s bailout request in April when it meets.
China and its agencies hold more than a third of the country’s $5.7 billion bilateral debt but the specialised nature of their lending windows means that Ghana cannot add them to the G20 Framework used to negotiate with the Pari Club members.
The haze around the IMF deal comes when the cedi is enduring a stormy start to the year after marked calm in the last quarter of this year.
The local currency came under intense pressure last year, losing about 60 per cent of its value to the US dollar as of August 2022 before steadying to 30.1 per cent for the full year.
The newspaper says that banks are being urged to leverage the enormous opportunities that abound in the area of trade finance to help promote trade among member countries on the continent.
This can be done by providing the financing that allows factories to expand and for businesses to make and receive payments.
Analysts believe that for the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) to succeed despite the initial challenges, players in the financial services sector, particularly banks, had a major role to play.
The Country Representative, Ghana International Bank (GHIB), Baafuor Ohene Abankwah, holds the view that there are huge opportunities for trade finance on the African continent, hence the need for banks to play a lead role to promote trade.
Mr Abankwah, who is also the Head, Client Coverage Africa for the bank, said “here in Ghana, we have several products that are required in West Africa, and banks and financial institutions can do more to facilitate that”.
He was sharing his thoughts in an interview with the media at the closing of a four-day trade finance training in Ghana.
Organised by GHIB, the training brought together 60 bankers from across six West African countries.
They were equipped with how to facilitate trade between the countries they represented and the rest of the world.
It also focused on various international trade finance products that banks could use in serving their customers.
Mr Abankwah explained that his outfit had a role to play in building trade finance capacity, hence was passionate about organising such training programmes.
“Banks have an important role to play, and intentional efforts such as this training to make sure we work together to promote trade in Africa will really help,” he said.
GIK/APA