The working visit of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to the Netherlands this week and to France to participate in a high-level event to commemorate the 3rd Observance of the International Day to Protect Education from Attack is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is in the Netherlands for a working visit this week. From there he shall proceed to France to participate in a high-level event to commemorate the 3rd Observance of the International Day to Protect Education from Attack before returning to Ghana on September 10.
President Akufo-Addo left Ghana, on Saturday, September 3, at the invitation of the 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of the Board of Global Centre of Adaption (GCA), Ban Ki-Moon, to participate in the African Adaptation Summit to be held on Monday, September 5, 2022, at the GCA Headquarters in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
The Summit is expected to garner further support and resources for the region’s flagship Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP).
The programme is realising the vision of the Africa Adaptation Initiative by mobilizing $25 billion of investments by 2025 for climate adaptation in food security, resilient infrastructure, adaptation jobs and climate finance.
At the invitation of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mark Tutte, President Akufo-Addo will undertake a working visit from 6th to 7th September, where he will, amongst others, hold bilateral discussions with his Dutch counterpart, aimed at strengthening the ties of co-operation that exist between the two countries.
The President will also participate in a high-level event to commemorate the 3rd Observance of the International Day to Protect Education from Attack.
The event will be held in Paris, France.
The President was accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey; the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Kwaku Afriyie and officials of the Presidency and Foreign Ministry.
President Akufo-Addo will return to Ghana on Saturday, September 10, 2022, and, in his absence, the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, shall, in accordance with Article 60(8) of the Constitution, act in his stead.
The newspaper says that the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in Cairo has approved senior debt funding of US$50million for Prime Meridian Docks Ghana Limited (PMD).
This is to form part of a US$75million syndicated project-finance facility for the company’s maritime infrastructure project.
The funding is to support PMD to build and operate a world-class ship repair and maintenance facility in the port of Takoradi under a 25-year concession granted the company by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA).
The project when completed will comprise some 30,000 square meters of paved laydown area, a 200-meter jetty, modern workshops, offices, heavy marine equipment and a newbuild 13,500t lift-capacity handy-max size floating drydock.
The ship repair facility when fully operational will create over 500 new jobs and positively impact the local and regional maritime economies.
According to the project co-ordinator, Maria Ogbugo, the company is finalising its engagements with other lenders including African Development Bank (AFDB) and UMB Bank, as well as its equity partners, ARM-Harith Infrastructure Fund and Stratcon Capital to conclude the US$137million fund raise and to commence construction in Q4 2022.
The civil and marine components of the infrastructure are to be constructed by China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) and Keppel Nantong respectively.
PMD is a Ghanaian company founded and headed by Stanley Raja Korshie Ahorlu, sponsor of the project.
While developing the project over the past seven years, the company has benefited from the support of an impressive list of international blue chip partners, clients and advisers such as Rigmar Services UK, LiquidAfrica, Trinity International LLP, N. Dowuona & Company, Watson Farley & Williams, Mott Macdonald, Royal Haskoning DHV, EY, KPMG, Sellhorn Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH, SAL Consult, Maersk Drilling (now Noble Drilling), Valaris PLC, Swire Pacific (now Tidewater), Manteniship, DOF Subsea, and Banchero Costa.
The Founder/Director of Prime Meridian Docks Ghana Limited, Mr. Stanley Ahorlu views the US$50million Afreximbank facility as a “significant breakthrough resulting from our years of belief, value creation, resilience and partnerships.”
The Ghanaian Times reports that President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Friday inaugurated two factories in the Awutu Senya West and Gomoa East districts of the Central Region under the One-District-One-Factory (1D1F) initiative.
The first company, Appeb Cylinder Manufacturing Company located at Chochoe in the Awutu Senya West District, is expected to offer employment opportunities to the teeming unemployed youth in the area.
With a capacity to produce around 3,000 units, the factory would create 250 direct jobs as well as other jobs in the local economy of Awutu Senya.
The second company,Rikpat Lube Manufacturing Limited, is a Ghanaian-owned petro-chemical company that produces all kinds of industrial lubricants which aims to create over 1,000 direct and indirect employments.
At Chochoein the Awutu Senya West District, President Akufo-Addo indicated that the establishment of the factory was a clear manifestation of the economic development initiative of the government.
He said it was the determination of the current administration to ensure the realisation of the industrialisation agenda for the country.
At GomoaAkoti President Akufo-Addo commended the manager and shareholders of the lubricant company for their commitment towards boosting the capacity of the nation towards self-reliance.
He said the establishment of the factory was in fulfilment of the government’s commitment to partner with the private sector.
The initiative focuses on the promotion of business ventures to address the problem of wide scale poverty and underdevelopment in rural and Peri urban communities.
The newspaper says that Ghana’s external debt restructuring may now be hard to avoid, despite the current government being reluctant to touch sovereign Eurobonds in any such potential exercise, according to several market participants polled by Singapore based financial research firm, REDD Intelligence.
“Ghana is a country that is promising a lot but is always under-delivering; the government hasn’t been able to turn the economy around,” it said in its latest report on Ghana.
Mark Bohlund, Senior Analyst at REDD Intelligence, first pointed to a likely need for Ghana’s sovereign debt restructuring back in October 2021, but general market chatter about its inevitability has intensified only over the last month, after the country formally approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for help.
In the latest REDD CEEMEA podcast, the team at the research firm discussed Ghana’s increasingly troubling debt situation and challenges of including domestic debt in any potential restructuring, and looked at collective action clauses in Ghana’s sovereign Eurobonds.
“After many months of hoping the country would be able to increase its revenue streams and tighten its fiscal policy to avert a looming balance of payments crisis, most international investors are now reluctantly assessing a potential timing and format of an expected debt exercise.
“The key next step will be a debt sustainability assessment from the IMF, which is expected by the end of 2022 or in early 2023, and will help determine if the country has a liquidity or a debt sustainability issue, agreed two sovereign strategists and the fund manager,” the team added.
GIK/APA