Day: June 12, 2024

The government has reached an agreement on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with its Official Creditor Committee (OCC), co-chaired by China and France, on the restructuring of some US$13 billion external debt.

‘The MoU formalises the agreement in principle reached with Official Creditors in January and marks a crucial step towards Ghana, restoring long-term debt sustainability,’ the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday, June 12.

In a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency, the Minister noted that the financial terms of the agreement, which remained unchanged, would provide significant debt service relief during the Fund-supported programme period.

That, the Ministry said was expected to pave the way for the approval of the second review by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board, and the subsequent disbursement of US$360 million third tranche for the country.

This is about the implementation of the US$3bn Extended Credit Facility for the country’s Post-COVID-19 Programme for Economic
Growth (PC-PEG) to restore macroeconomic stability and resilience.

The Ministry explained that by signing the agreement, Ghana would have more financial resources, particularly from the World Bank, to be directed towards critical areas such as infrastructure, healthcare, and education.

‘The agreement will also bolster the current and ongoing discussions with private creditors, with whom Ghana remains committed to finding a comparable agreement as early as possible,’ the statement noted.

‘This landmark agreement marks an extraordinary milestone in Ghana’s debt restructuring journey and will further strengthen our ambitious reform agenda with the strong support of our development partners,’ Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, Minister of Finance, said.

He expressed the country’s gratitude to all members of the OCC, particularly the Committee’s co-chairs, China and France, for their unwavering commitment to assisting Ghana in resolving its debt issues.

Meanwhile, at a press briefing last Thursday, Julie Kovack, Director
of IMF’s Communications Department, indicated that Ghana’s second review would be sent before the Executive Board by the end of June 2024.

‘Our aim is to bring the review to the IMF’s Executive Board for approval before the end of June. This would give Ghana access to US$360 million in financing, bringing the total to about US$1.6 billion in disbursements since May 2023,’ she said.

She noted that the country would need steadfast policy and reform implementation to fully and durably restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability in Ghana.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF), says, the agreement reached between Ghana and its Official Creditor Committee (OCC) will be helpful in the approval of the country’s US$360 million third tranche.

In a social media post on Wednesday, she congratulated the country on reaching an agreement with the OCC, saying, ‘this will support the IMF Executive Board consideration of the programme’s second review later this month.’

This comes shortly after the Ministry of Finance announced the development on the restructuring of some US$13 billion external debt, marking a crucial step towards Ghana, restoring long-term debt sustainability.

Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, Minister of Finance, explained that the agreement would bolster the current and ongoing discussions with private creditors in finding a comparable agreement as early as possible.

‘This landmark agreement marks an extraordinary milestone in Ghana’s debt restructuring journey and will further strengthen our ambitious reform
agenda with the strong support of our development partners,’ he said.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Professor Godfred Alufar Bokpin, an Economist, described the agreement reached as ‘major breakthrough’ in the country’s debt restructuring process.

‘From all indications, the MoU would be finalised latest by the end of this month, and the IMF Executive Board would approve the second review, which would occasion the release the third tranche of US$360m,’ he said.

‘There’s reasonable certainty that by the end of the month, we should be getting the third tranche, and it’s good news, but that’s not what will solve all the problems,’ he added.

He called for intensification of reforms to address some structural benchmark, including inflation and exchange rate pressures, to consolidate the gains made and make it long-lasting.

Recounting on previous IMF-loan support programme, Prof Bokpin cautioned against relaxing the efforts for the third review of the programme, urging the media, academia, and Civ
il Society Organisations (CSOs) to lead that charge.

‘The third review, which will happen towards the latter part of this year and happen within the hot season of the election is where the risk is; and that’s where we need to focus our attention on.’

He said it was because the country’s history has indicated that in in almost all presidential cycles, under an IMF programme, the government tended not to take the review that happened at the peak of the election seriously.

He, urged the government to work towards structural benchmarks for the third review, including fiscal responsibilities, and make policies in that regard tighter as a restraint on ‘excessive expenditure.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

The new curriculum for secondary education in Ghana is inclusive, learner centred and designed to inculcate Ghanaian values, culture, and morals in young people to propel accelerated and sustainable development.

Mr Reginald George Quartey, Acting Director for Curriculum at the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), said this at Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region during a stakeholder engagement on the newly developed secondary education curriculum.

According to Mr Quartey, the new curriculum was flexible and making a paradigm shift from the study of programmes to the selection of subjects, which offered the students multiple pathways to tertiary education and life in general.

‘Now, it doesn’t matter the programmes you are aspiring to offer, you have to select subjects and combine them to have a flexible pathway to the university,’ he said.

NaCCA has initiated discussions around the development of a three-year Senior High School (SHS) and Senior High Technical School (SHTS) curriculum in l
ine with the National Pre-Tertiary Education Curriculum Framework and the National Teachers Standards.

The move had led to the development of 37 subjects for the secondary education while teaching and learning were being developed to ensure the curriculum is rolled out in the 2024/2025 academic year.

The move is part of the reforms being embarked upon by the Ministry of Education to ensure that all secondary school graduates had the skill and competence to progress and succeed in further studies, the world of work and adult life.

Mr Quartey said the comprehensive curriculum aimed to address socio-emotional differences and appreciation of people by instilling discipline, national values, and morals in the learners.

‘There is so much talk about how our values are fading away or being eroded so this curriculum is seeking to push that forward so that learners develop very good behavioural traits and ensure that school and community curricula, which seemed divergent, converge,’ he said.

The Acting Director of
Curriculum said apart from the fact that the new curriculum was learner centred and offered more practical learning opportunities, it was inclusive and had taken serious consideration of persons with disability.

He said ‘currently, NaCCA is developing sign language curriculum for the deaf and the curriculum is also being adapted for the blind students,’ adding that the mathematics curriculum already underway was being adapted for the blind, who currently do not study mathematics at the SHS level.

He called on the stakeholders, particularly parents and actors in the education sector to support the move to ensure that students produced were equipped with the necessary problem-solving skills to contribute significantly to national development.

‘This curriculum seeks to develop students to think about their neighbours, community, this country and the world at large,’ he added.

Professor Avea Nsoh, a Lecturer at the University of Education, Winneba, commended NaCCA and its partners for the new curriculum and i
ts components and added that it would not only offer different pathways to success but when well implemented, would produce nationalistic and patriotic citizens for the development of the country.

He, however, called for more engagements to ensure that the relevant stakeholders appreciated the content of the new curriculum and supported it to achieve the intended objectives.

Mr Simon Asigri, a Retured Educationist, noted that it was refreshing that the curriculum took into consideration the culture, values and morals of the Ghanaian setting and appealed for the teaching and learning materials to be made available when it is rolled out in October.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr K.T Hammond, the Minister of Trade and Industry, has lauded Ghana’s collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), saying the partnership has enhanced growth and competitiveness of Ghanaian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

‘UNIDO and EU support under WACOMP has strengthened capacities in the cassava, fruits and cosmetics export value-chains and the One District One Factory increasing job creation,’ he said.

The Minister said this in a speech read on his behalf at the 3rd Cluster International Conference held in Accra on Wednesday, to strengthen cluster inclusiveness for SMEs.

The conference, provided the platform to discuss and share sustainable solutions and innovations targeted at boosting industrial competitiveness for Ghanaian entrepreneurs in cassava, fruits and cosmetics sectors.

Over 200 participants comprising SMEs supported by the EU-funded West African Competitiveness Program (WACOMP) implemented by UNIDO and the Trade Ministry and delegations from ECOW
AS, Liberia, Nigeria, and Austria strengthened connections to the AfCFTA.

Mr Hammond said, since 2019, the Ministry had worked closely with the UNIDO WACOMP – Ghana team to strengthen SMEs in the country.

He noted that the support funding from the European Union through various technical support, particularly for small businesses had boosted Ghanaian companies to leverage on the international market.

‘From stories of entrepreneurs starting from tabletop to now exporting to other countries under the WACOMP Programme and earning millions and impacting other 44,296 entrepreneurs,’ he explained.

Additionally, Mr Hammond indicated that the impact of the support through the partnership between the Government of Ghana, the European Union and UNIDO, had led to the rapid growth of private sector jobs, both in industry and agriculture, adding that this had generated a lot of rural and urban jobs to address widespread unemployment, especially amongst the youth.

‘As you can see, most of the SMEs here today at this C
luster conference are young, ready to scale up on the support so far provided and producing Made-in-Ghana quality products.

‘I have no doubt in my mind, that if we continue to work as partners and collaborate with one another, we are in the position to unlock the untapped potentials of the MSMEs, which is not only the future of Ghana but other developing countries,’ the Minister noted.

Mrs. Ebe Muschialli, UNIDO Industrial Development Expert and WACOMP- Ghana Project Manager, expressed excitement about the progressive success of UNIDO-supported SMES under the WACOMP.

‘Many of these entrepreneurs have evolved from struggling to comply with market requirements to be part of Ghanaian delegations in international markets. Their products have improved, the value added locally has increased and the packaging and branding has become much more attractive.

‘All this with a strong impact on the local communities in terms of job creation and women economic empowerment,’ he indicated.

Mr. Stavros Papastavrou, UNIDO
Officer in Charge of Ghana and Liberia, noted the strong cooperation between UNIDO and the Government of Ghana citing the joint commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

He highlighted UNIDO’s support to SMEs competitiveness and collective efficiency, agribusinesses, skills development, renewable energy, Kaizen expansion and quality which are all geared to enhance value addition, sustainable production, and access to regional and global markets.

Mrs Malgorzata Pitura, a Representative from the Macro-Economic and Trade Section of the European Delegation to Ghana, said WACOMP – Ghana, was a flagship programme of the EU which sought to support SMEs in the country to take advantage of opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA)

‘Supporting SMEs to facilitate SMEs integration in regional and international markets proves to be a strategic approach to ensure that Ghana actively participates in the opportunities offered by the African Continental Free Trade Agr
eement,’ she stressed.

Dr. Charles Kwame Sackey, Chief Technical Advisor of WACOMP-Ghana commended the various clusters whose products have drastically improved over the past five years.

He recounted how many SMEs struggled to implement basic Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) at the beginning and how now, thanks to WACOMP’s support, most of the SMEs have become competitive in both the national and the international markets.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The year-on-year inflation rate fell for the second consecutive month to 23.1 per cent in May from 25.0 recorded in April 2024, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) said on Wednesday, June 12.

The rate is the lowest the country has recorded in the last 26 months, with food inflation contributing to the overall decline.

Food inflation was lower at 22.6 per cent from a previous 26.8 per cent in April 2024.

‘We’ve seen for the second consecutive time, a drop in the year-on-year inflation by 1.9 percentage point to the current year-on-year inflation for May 2024, standing at 23.1 per cent,’ Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, Government Statistician, said.

Speaking at the release of the Consumer Price Index for May 2024 in Accra, he explained that the prices of goods and services between the month of May 2023, a year into the May 2024 went up by 23.1 per cent.

The CPI measures the changes in the price of fixed basket of goods and services purchased by households, with the inherent assumption that once any of the p
rices changes on a month-by-month basis, the total price of the basket would also change.

‘This indicates a slowdown of 1.9 percentage point relative to the year-on-year inflation that was recorded in the month of April 2024,’ the Government Statistician explained.

‘On a year-on-year basis, the 23.1 per cent that’s been recorded for the month of May 2024 is the lowest rate of inflation that’s been recorded for the last 26 months,’ he said.

He noted that between March and May 2024, there has been a decline from 25.8 per cent in March to 25.0 per cent in April before a further decline to 23.1 per cent in May 2023.

Providing a disaggregation, Prof Annim stated that there was a one percentage point difference between food and non-food inflation, with food inflation recording a rate of 22.6 per cent, while non-food inflation was 23.6 per cent.

‘This is the second consecutive time that we’ve seen food inflation drop in food inflation as March food stood at 29.6 per cent, declining to 26.8 per cent, and for the
second time in a roll, further declined by 4.2 percentage point to 22.6 per cent in the month of May 2024,’ he said.

He noted that the 22.6 per cent that’s been recorded for the month of May 2024, is the lowest food inflation in the last 13 months, with the reverse observed for non-food inflation, which saw a third consecutive increase.

While the inflation rate for locally produced items was 24.7 per cent, that of imported items stood at 19.6 per cent for the month of May 2024.

The rate of inflation is derived from the CPI, and uses three key variables are used both in the computation of CPI and the rate of inflation – prices, quantities, and weights of expenditure in the basket.

The data on prices are collected on a monthly basis from all the 16 administrative regions of the country in 57 markets from about 8,337 outlets for approximately 47,800.

Source: Ghana News Agency