President demands inventory on loans and grants
Accra (Greater Accra) 11 September 2001 - The average price of maize in the country is between 80,000 and 85,000 cedis for the 130 kilogrammes maxi-bag, an NGO monitoring the commodity said in Accra on Tuesday.
A statement signed by Daniel Attuah, Executive Secretary of Grain and Feed Working Group (Ghana), an NGO that gathers data on grain prices, said stocks exported to Niger has reduced while those to Burkina Faso and Northern Togo have increased. It did not give any figures.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 11 September 2001 - Dr Paa Kwesi Ndoum, Minister of Economic Planning and Regional Co-operation, on Tuesday said the President has demanded an inter-ministerial committee to be set up to collect inventory of all loans and grants available and on offer to the country.
"The president has directed me to set up and chair an inter-ministerial committee to complete modalities on how to collect inventory on loans and grants available to the country and those on offer which are yet to be negotiated," he said.
This is to guarantee judicious application of resources available to the government in a collaborative manner, with the view to channelling resources into more pressing areas of the economy to ensure maximum benefit from resources available to the country.
Dr Ndoum was opening of a day's interactive workshop on creating and sustaining industrial peace, jointly organised by the Ministry of Employment and Manpower Development and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) in Accra.
The exercise is to be completed by the middle of October, Dr Ndoum said and added that at the moment, about one billion US dollars is available to the country in the form of loans and grants.
"We are also aware of several loan and grant offers to the country which are yet to be negotiated.
"Some of these funds were requested by the previous government for specific purposes which we believe are currently not pressing enough."
Dr. Ndoum said the government has therefore decided to redirect some of the loans and grants into poverty reduction, job creation and self-sufficiency ventures, with the view to providing good compensation and decent living for the people.
This would help increase the general level of prosperity in the country, which is necessary to reduce industrial actions.
Dr Ndoum said a careful analysis of the economy shows that with the current GDP growth rate of between three and four per cent, prosperity is an illusion. "We need at least 10 to 12 per cent growth rate to achieve general prosperity. We cannot continue to depend on government jobs and cocoa exports to reach that kind of growth rate and prosperity.
"It must take extraordinary effort to grow beyond the seven per cent GDP growth rate target and achieve such extraordinary but necessary goal."
Mrs. Cecilia Bannerman, Minister of Manpower Development and Employment said despite concrete effort by social partners in the labour sector and legislation to ensure industrial peace, it remains a fact that strike actions are still rampant.
She said strikes have had adverse effects on labour, industry and the economy as a whole and on the reputation of the country as a safe investment destination.
"It is regrettable that from the period 1997 to 2000, 152 strike actions were recorded at the industrial front...involving 12,314 workers, resulting in the loss of 70,557 man-days.
"Between January and August this year, 22 strike actions have already been recorded, involving 12,830 workers with over 39,261 man-days lost.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 11 September 2001- Sub-Sahara African countries are poorer now than they were 20 years ago, says a United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD) report on economic prospects in Africa.
The report entitled: "Economic Development In Africa: Performance, Prospects and Policy Issues," was launched in Accra on Tuesday by Dr Gheysika Agambila, Deputy Minister of Finance.
The report noted that poverty had deepened after two decades of sub-standard growth on the continent with more than 20 per cent of its poorest hardest hit. They suffered two per cent annual decline in their income levels.
It said more than 28 million Africans would face severe food shortages this year despite improvement in agricultural growth rates.
According to the report Africa's situation was unlikely to improve in the next decade if serious efforts were not made to enhance trade and investment. "With projected growth rate of just over three per cent for the next decade, far below a UN target of six per cent needed to reverse economic stagnation, Africa's fortunes are unlikely to improve," the report stressed.
The report blamed Africa's gloomy situation on years of declining aid and terms of trade, mounting debt and ineffective adjustment policies. Other reasons were drop in per capita income, which was now 10 per cent lower than two decades ago and continuous export of primary commodities, whose prices kept declining on the world market.
It said African countries were yet to draw significant benefits from their participation in the international trade system, emphasising that action was required to review current arrangements and practices with a view to extending existing provisions for preferential treatment.
The decline in terms of trade, the report said, made it impossible for African economies to invest in human capacity development and businesses and called for a review of other measures affecting African exports, including support measures.
On poverty reduction, the report emphasised the need for a key shift in domestic policy if international targets for growth and poverty reduction were to be met.
"The new poverty alleviation focus should be founded on a careful and frank assessment of the effects of macroeconomic and structural adjustment policies on growth and income distributions in the past two decades."
The report mentioned considerable increase in external financing, higher export volumes and stable prices as ways through which to close the resource gap between the Africans and developed continents.
According to UNTACD estimates more than 10 billion dollars a year in official flows would be needed for reducing aid dependency in the future and for making poverty reduction targets more than empty promises.
Dr Agambila called for a collective responsibility to deal with the economic problems facing the country.
He said effective economic integration among the countries in the sub-region would enhance trade and emphasise government's commitment to the fast track approach to increase trade between countries in the sub-region.
Dr Agambila stressed the importance of good governance and transparency saying without it there could be no economic development.
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