The report that the country’s land and sea borders have been opened from today, two years after COVID-19 travel restrictions were imposed dominates the headlines of the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Graphic reports that the country’s land and sea borders have been opened from today, two years after COVID-19 travel restrictions were imposed.
Besides, the wearing of face masks is no longer mandatory.
These were the major highlights of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s 28th update on Ghana’s enhanced response to the COVID-19 pandemic delivered last night.
According to the President, fully vaccinated travellers would be allowed entry through the land and sea borders without a negative PCR test result from the country of origin.
He noted that Ghana had reached a critical point in its fight against COVID-19 and the government had undertaken a comprehensive review of the raft of measures put in place to help win the fight against the virus.
“This review is premised on the background of rapidly declining infections, the relative success of the vaccination campaign being supervised by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the increased capacity developed in the public and private health sectors over the last two years,” he said.
He added that all in-person activities, such as those that took place in churches, mosques, conferences, workshops, private parties and events, cinemas and theatres, might resume at full capacity, as long as the audience and/or participants were fully vaccinated.
“Hand-washing and hand sanitising points should be made available at these venues,” President Akufo-Addo said.
The newspaper says that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has directed that from tomorrow, March 28, 2022, the wearing of facemasks as a preventive measure for COVID-19 in public places is no longer compulsory.
The review of the mask mandate was announced by President Akufo-Addo in his 28th address to the country on March 27, 2022.
The President in his address also announced revisions to other existing COVID-19 prevention measures.
These included a return to full capacity in-person activities such as church services, mosques, conferences, workshops, private parties, events, cinemas and theatres provided that the audience and all participants are fully vaccinated.
Additionally, President Akufo-Addo also directed that outdoor functions and sporting events, entertainment spots, political rallies and funerals could resume at full capacity provided that all persons at such events are fully vaccinated at those venues.
He said handwashing and hand sanitising points are to be made available at venues where events were held in full capacity for vaccinated persons.
With Ghana having 72 active cases of COVID-19 and over 13 million vaccinated persons, President Akufo-Addo urged all Ghanaians to get vaccinated against the illness to ensure that the country meets its 20million target by June 2022.
“So, from tomorrow, Monday, 28th March, the wearing of facemasks is no longer mandatory,” President Akufo-Addo said.
“I encourage all of you, though, to continue to maintain enhanced hand hygiene practices, and avoid overcrowded gatherings.
The Graphic also reports that there will be a staff visit of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to the country next week, according to the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta.
He said the meeting would afford the government and the IMF staff the opportunity to discuss a raft of measures being undertaken by the government to restore the economy from the recent shocks.
Chief on the agenda would be what the Finance Minister described as the “elephant in the bag” being the country’s rising debt stock.
Answering questions from the media after announcing measures to cushion the public against the myriad of challenges that have arisen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent Russia-Ukraine conflict, Mr Ofori-Atta said “we will consider the issues by tapping into their knowledge and our knowledge to think through and see how to reprofile the debt to give the fiscal space for the future.
So it is going to be such a positive engagement using the knowledge they have and what we have to look into the future”.
At an emergency Monetary Policy Committee meeting earlier this week, it was revealed that the country’s public debt stock increased to GH¢351.8 billion which is 80.1 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at the end of December 2021, compared to the GH¢291.6 billion which was 76 per cent of GDP, at the end of December 2020.
Of the total debt stock, domestic debt was GH¢181.8 billion, which is 41.4 per cent of GDP, while the external debt was GH¢170 billion, representing 38.7 per cent of GDP.
The Ghanaian Times says that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has purchased 600 kilogrammes of gold under its Domestic Gold Purchase (DGP) programme to help shore up the country’s foreign exchange reserves, Governor, Dr Ernest Addison, has said.
He disclosed this on Monday after the 105th regular meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee press conference, in response to a question on the quantity of gold the BoG has purchased under the DGP programme.
BoG in June last year launched the DGP to augment our foreign reserves with a view to doubling gold holdings in our foreign exchange reserves portfolio.
Gross International Reserves at the end of February 2022 stood at US$9,547.96 million, providing cover for 4.3 months of imports of goods and services, which compared well with US$9,695.22 million, equivalent to 4.4 months of import cover at end December 2021.
Among the objective of the programme was to help the BoG to grow its foreign exchange reserves to foster confidence, enhance currency stability, and create a more attractive environment for foreign direct investments and economic growth.
“The DGP programme is doing well,”Dr Addison said.
He said the BoG would in the next two months send the gold abroad to be refined into pure gold by a company certified by the LMBA.
Quizzed why the gold was not refined in Ghana, Dr Addison said the Precious Minerals and Marketing Company did not have the LBMA certificate.
GIK/APA