The report of the expansion of Ghana’s economy at a faster rate last year than the government and international bodies had anticipated is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that Ghana’s economy expanded at a faster rate last year than the government and international bodies had anticipated.
The economy grew by 5.4 per cent in 2021 above the government’s forecast of five per cent.
Last year’s growth rate is also healthier than 0.5 per cent revised growth rate recorded in 2020, data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has showed.
The data indicated that the economy is now worth GH₵459.13 billion compared to 2020 when it was valued at GH₵391.94 billion.
The higher-than-projected growth rate for last year strengthens hopes that the country is on its way to full recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year’s growth rate was driven by strong growth in the services and agricultural sectors, the data that was released today, Wednesday said.
It showed further that the industry sector contracted on the back of a 12.1 per cent contraction suffered by the mining and quarrying subsectors.
The government had projected to grow the economy by five per cent in 2021 although that forecast was later revised to 4.4 per cent in the 2022 Budget Statement.
The provisional growth rate has also surpassed the growth estimates from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Ghanaian Times says that the Ghana Health Service (GHS) plans to upscale the administration of the RTS, malaria vaccines for children up to two years in the coming months.
It follows approval by the World Health Organisation (WHO) last year, for the widespread use of the vaccines, otherwise known as Mosquirix, to protect children in malaria endemic countries.
Ghana and two other countries; Kenya and Malawi, has since 2019 been piloting the world’s first ever malaria vaccines as an additional tool for the elimination of malaria.
Speaking at the launch of this year’s World Malaria Day (WMD)in Accra yesterday, the Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said “we are in discussions and preparations to determine where the expansion will initially be depending on the vaccine availability and resources.”
So far, over one million doses of the four-course vaccines have been administered since May 2019 till January this year in 33 districts of six selected regions across the country.
A total of 5.7 million malaria cases were confirmed last year, a marginal increase of 5.1 million cases, recorded in 2020.
Number of admissions due to malaria increased from 308,358 in 2020 to 391,052 last year although in-patient deaths reduced to 275 from 312 recorded in 2020.
Dr Kuma-Aboagye noted the malaria burden did not only affect the health sector but socio-economic growth raising the need to scale up lifesaving interventions like insecticide treated nets, seasonal malaria chemoprevention, indoor residual spraying, vaccination among others to reduce transmission.
Government on Wednesday received diagnostic kits and vaccine deployment logistics from the Republic of Korea to aid its COVID-19 response measures.
The donation, to the tune of 748,000 dollars, comprised 63,000 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test detection kit, test swab and stool respectively as well as 150,000 Auto Disabled Syringe, 10,625 safety boxes and 100 vaccine carriers.
It formed part of a grant agreement signed between the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the Ministry of Health (MoH) last year, to support Ghana’s COVID-19 response.
The newspaper says that South Korea Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Lim Jung-Taek, who handed over the items, commended the Ghanaian government for effectively managing the pandemic, leading to decline in cases that resulted in the ease of restrictions.
He said as most countries returned to normalcy from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Korea aimed at tailoring its support to meet present needs of its partners including Ghana.
“As Ghana is transitioning from an active phase of the pandemic, as evidenced by the opening of its borders, the availability of ample vaccine stocks, higher vaccination rate and the resumption of public activities at full capacity, the Government of Korea is also tailoring its support to appropriately respond to the current dynamics of the country,” he said.
The Country Director of KOICA, Mr Mooheon Kong said “as long as health delivery remains core to our mandate, KOICA Ghana is committed to partnering Ghana to achieve its Universal Health Coverage (UHC) targets.”
“I wish to assure you of our long-lasting commitment to strengthen the cooperative ties in the area of health and create a dynamic partnership between our countries,” he stated.
Receiving the items, the Minister for Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, thanked the Korean Government for its continued support to strengthening health interventions in Ghana.
The Ghanaian Times also reports more than 1.3 million registered firearms owned by civilians in the country are to be assigned unique codes for easy identification, traceability and accountability.
It is part of an ongoing exercise by the National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCSALW) to ensure that all guns in the country belonging to both security agencies and citizens are given distinctive features.
The NCSALW Executive Secretary, Jones Applerh, told the Ghanaian Times in an interview in Accra last Tuesday that the exercise would start in the coming months when marking of guns in some of the security agencies was completed.
The interview was on the sidelines of a workshop held to enable security experts review the country’s firearms legislation and integrate global instruments into them.
It was organised by the Commission in partnership with the African Union (AU) and the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies with support from German Federal Foreign Office.
Started about two years ago, the National Weapons Marking involves the assigning of markings such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) logo and country codes and capturing of owners information into a database.
The exercise is in line with Article 18 of the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons, which mandates countries to mark their weapons to enable identification and traceability.
A baseline survey conducted by the NCSALW in 2014 showed that about 2.3 million arms were in the hands of adult civilians out of which, only 1.2 million, representing 53 per cent, were registered, with 47 per cent unaccounted for.
Mr Applerh explained that the marking by the commission was different from the primary serial numbers and other information already imprinted on the guns to identify the manufacturer, the country of origin, among others or the registration codes given by the Ghana Police Service during the registration.
GIK/APA