Day: September 29, 2022

Former Ghana midfielder, Sebastian Barnes believes it is time the Ayew brothers are dropped from the Black Stars team and focus on building a new team with youthful players.

Andre Ayew and his brother, Jordan Ayew have come under several backlash due to their recent performance for the national team.

Andre especially was slammed for claiming senior players would be untouchable ahead of the 2022 World Cup.

However, Barnes speaking in an interview said he has nothing against the Ayew brothers but it is time for the team to do away with them and focus on building a new team with youthful players.

“I’m not against the Ayew brothers but it’s time for Ghana to build a formidable side with new young players,” he told Accra-based Happy FM.

The pair were in action against the Black Stars lost 3-0 to Brazil and the narrow win against Nicaragua in the September international friendly games.

Andre and Jordan, however, are expected to keep their place in the team ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar which kick off from November 20 to December 18.

 

 

Source: Modern Ghana

Ghana coach, Otto Addo has expressed his readiness ahead of the 2022 World Cup after the September international friendly games.

Black Stars as part of their preparations for the Mundial played Brazil at the Le Harve in France where the game ended 3-0.

In the second game, the West African country defeated Nicaragua 1-0 on Tuesday.

Despite the backlash from football fandom following the poor performance against the Central American country, Addo, who also serves as the assistant coach of Borussia Dortmund believes he and the entire playing body are ready for the global showpiece.

“I’m ready (for World Cup), everybody is ready. We qualified that’s why we have to be there. In times past, Ghana has proven that we are a tournament team. I know we have to improve,” he said after the game against Nicaragua on Tuesday night.

Ghana, who have made a return to the Mundial having missed out in the last edition in Russia have been housed in Group H.

The Black Stars will open their campaign against Portugal on November 24 at Stadium 974 in Doha.

Four days later, the Black Stars return to action with a clash with South Korea at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan.

Ghana will wrap up their group stage adventure with their much-anticipated encounter with Uruguay at Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah.

 

 

Source: Modern Ghana

 

Former Hearts of Oak captain, Yaw Amankwah Mireku has expressed his disappointment following the sacking of Samuel Boadu as head coach of the club.

Boadu has left the club on mutual grounds after just three games into the 2022/23 Ghana Premier League.

Having won treble in his first season with the club, Hearts of Oak have started the campaign on a poor note having suffered a defeat against Aduana Stars.

In their second game of the season, the FA Cup winners hosted the city-rivals, Great Olympics at the Accra Sports Stadium which ended 1-1.

The Phobians were hosted at the Baba Yara Stadium by Asante Kotoko in the matchday three games where Caleb Amankwah scored late to pick up a point.

Following the dismissal, Yaw Amankwah, who won trophies with the club beleives Boadu should have been given enough time at the club.

“For me, I wasn’t happy with the news,” he told Accra based Peace FM.

“I don’t think he (Samuel Boadu) should’ve been sacked because he won five trophies in two seasons.

“This is a club that had won nothing in a decade,” he added.

Boadu joined Hearts of Oak from Medeama SC midway during the 2019/20 football season.

 

 

Source: Modern Ghana

Tyson Fury has returned to negotiations for the all-British heavyweight super-fight with Anthony Joshua.

But Fury has set his rival another deadline and called for him to sign the contract for their showdown today.

“My promoter Frank Warren convinced me to let Queensberry carry on negotiating with your team this week, despite me knowing that you were never going to do this fight,” Fury said.

“So the deadline was Monday,” he added. “I allowed Frank to continue doing meetings with your team and your broadcasters and all that. Now we have BT, DAZN and ESPN all on the same page. They are happy with everything, they are all ready to rock and roll.

“You guys ask for a lot of stuff, you want to be co-promoters when you’re a voluntary challenger. Guess what, I said give it them, let them be co-promoters.

“You wanted full transparency, even though you’re not an equal shareholder in this party. You know what I said? Give them full transparency, I’ve got nothing to hide, I’m not trying to rob anybody, I’ve not robbed anybody of a penny in my life.

“So now you’ve got full transparency, everything is clean and fair. Now Joshua, the ball is really in your court son.”

Joshua has previously insisted that he would sign the contract, but it had to go through his lawyers and management team.

In a direct challenge to him, Fury declared, “Everybody is done. If you’re a man, and if you’ve got any sort of dignity and pride about you, you’ll get this contract signed today. This is it. There is no more days, weeks, months, you’ve had the contract now for over two weeks and you still haven’t signed it.

“Show the public that you’re really the big coward that I know you are, and don’t sign it. I don’t care either way if you sign it or you don’t, it makes no difference to me at all. You’re a beaten man and I’m a world champion. I’m chucking you a massive bone, but I know I can punch a face in so I’m willing to give you an opportunity.

“There’s nothing more to do, everyone is happy. Get your team onto mine, they will be available all day, like they’ve been available the last two weeks. Get this contract signed!

“Let the British fans have what they want. There is no running, you have to fight me. You cannot escape. The Fury is coming.”

 

 

Source: Modern Ghana

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says despite decades of rapid growth in sub-Saharan Africa, the region still has income inequalities among many of its citizens.

The Fund said “at least until 2010, African countries made tremendous progress in reducing regional income inequality – differences in output per capita across regions of a country.”

This implies that the prosperity of countries in sub-Saharan Africa by economic growth per person had been enriched, marked by improvement in basic infrastructure, including roads and electricity.

Habtamu Fuje and Jiaxiong Yao, Economists with the African Department, IMF, told the Ghana News Agency that: “Investments on productive infrastructure such as roads and electricity have helped lagging regions converge with richer regions of the continent.”

They also said: “Targeted private and public investments into lagging regions as well as macroeconomic and political stability contributed to overall decline in inequality.”

Using Earth’s nighttime lights as a proxy for economic activity, they found that: “Many economies in sub-Saharan Africa grew at a record pace before the pandemic.”

“This is in marked contrast with other parts of the world, where inequality either increased or convergence was slower,” the Fund emphasised.

It noted that Ethiopia and Rwanda, for example, saw some of the fastest expansions in the world, with an average of more than 7.5 per cent growth per year over the past two decades.

Also, night lights per capita increased several-fold in the poorest regions, with the biggest gains in oil exporters and frontier markets such as Ghana and Kenya.

However, “fragile and conflict-affected states made little-to-no progress in reducing regional inequality, with such inequalities having widened post-pandemic,” the Fund said.

The IMF noted that: “Access to clean water, electricity, and cellphone services, for example, is two to four times lower in lagging regions compared to leading ones, in part, because public expenditure per capita is so much lower.”

The international financial institution remarked that the share of residents that had completed primary and secondary education was two to three times lower in lagging regions.

Also, the Fund recommended that Sub-Saharan Africa countries pursued a broad-based policy framework anchored on a well-designed redistributive fiscal policy with a clear investment strategy to help underserved regions.

Again, it called for macroeconomic stability to foster inclusive growth (as inflationary pressures continue in most African regions) and encouraged Africa to build institutions to ensure political stability and equitable public service delivery.

Noting that only 12 sub-Saharan African countries published their public budget allocations at the subnational level, it urged Governments to invest in building local administrative capacity to collect and analyse data.

Having such data more readily available would provide a more accurate picture of disparities across regions, helping policymakers to better target policies, the IMF said.

 

 

Source: Modern Ghana

Government says it will incorporate part of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan support programme into the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy.

The budget is expected to be read to Parliament on November 15, with a 10-day discussion presently ongoing between the Government and the IMF on the country’s debt sustainability pathway for the Fund’s support programme.

Indicating that the discussion was “advancing smoothly,” Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister, said efforts had been made to accelerate the process so that part of the programme would be added to the 2023 annual budget.

“In line with the President’s dialogue with the IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, negotiations will be fast-tracked to ensure that key aspects of the programme are reflected in the 2023 Annual Budget Statement in November 2022,” Mr Ofori-Atta said.

The Finance Minister said this at the fourth press briefing for the year on the Ghanaian economy in Accra on Wednesday.

He said: “The Government is committed to ensuring that a comprehensive package is negotiated with the aim of restoring and sustaining macroeconomic stability, ensuring durable and inclusive growth and promoting social protection.”

“I am extremely confident about where we will land on this journey. We as a country have survived a 142 per cent inflation, yellow-corn hysteria, mass exodus from our country and more recently, a successful exit from the 2015 Extended Credit Facility,” he noted.

The Finance Minister said in a few months to come, the robust policy approach response of the Government would help to “considerably ease the challenges with inflation and the exchange rate pressures.”

He, therefore, called on the citizenry, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Academia to work together with the Government in its drive to restore confidence in the economy.

Mr Ofori-Atta said: “I remind each one that Ghana is the only place we have. Its progress and prosperity is our collective duty. We have overcome many challenges and risen to the occasion many times. This is another challenge, which we must overcome. This too shall pass if we remain united and purposeful.”

Meanwhile, Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, Ranking Member of Parliament’s Finance Committee, in a media discussion, monitored by the Ghana News Agency on Thursday, asked the Government to pause incorporating the IMF programme in the budget.

“The IMF team would go back to Washington and obviously the Government would also have to move to Washington to continue the negotiation and probably come back to address them before the final decision, and that would not happen by November 15,” he said.

Dr Forson, therefore, urged the Government to engage further to have the backing of Ghanaians, saying: “Some decisions will be a bitter medicine we need to take and enjoy the gains later, but that would require a complete buy-in from the ordinary Ghanaian, CSOs, Academia and the political divide.”

The Bretton Wood institution (IMF) has promised to protect vulnerable and poor Ghanaians as the country looks for a support programme from the Fund amid the current economic challenges.

The Fund said it would focus on helping Ghana to improve its “fiscal balance in a sustainable way while protecting the vulnerable and poor… and design reforms to enhance growth, create jobs, and strengthen governance.”

“We reaffirm our commitment to support Ghana at this difficult time, consistent with the IMF’s policies,” Mr Carlo Sdralevich, who led the IMF team to Ghana for the first discussions in July, said.

Currently, the Government is finalising its medium-term post-COVID-19 economic programme to serve as the domestic blueprint to engage with the IMF.

The programme, which has a set of time-bound structural reforms and fiscal consolidation measures, is to place Ghana’s debt levels and fiscal accounts on a sustainable path.

It is anchored on seven pillars – debt sustainability, fiscal consolidation, strengthening monetary and exchange rate policies, building strong financial institutions, macro-critical structural reforms, maintaining peace and security, and economic growth and transformation.

 

 

Source: Modern Ghana

Ghana’s exports to Burkina Faso have increased to $276million in 2021 from $264million in 2020.

Meanwhile, its imports from Burkina Faso amounted to $50 million over the same period.

Similarly, the Export Potential Map projection based on demand and supply, market access conditions and bilateral ease of trade showed that the total value of the 51 leading products from Ghana to Burkina Faso amounts to 8.4 billion dollars.

Mr Clement Osei-Amoako, President of the GNCCI, said out of this amount Ghana was exporting only 33 per cent, representing 2.8 billion dollars.

Mr Osei-Amoako said this during the opening of a five-day Economic and Trade Promotion Days (JPEC) event in Accra.

The event was on the topic: “Strengthening Economic and Trade partnership between Burkina Faso and Ghana: Which synergies of actions in the current context of the implementation of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).”

The event was in collaboration with the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) and the Burkina Faso Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Industrial Development, Trade, Handicrafts and Small and Medium Enterprises of Burkina Faso and Burkina Faso Chamber of Commerce.

The collaboration in its 4th edition seeks to promote the economic, commercial, and cultural potentials, as well as strengthen cooperation between both countries.

He said this means that there was huge export potential for Ghana and Burkina Faso, which both countries needed to take advantage of.

Mr Osei-Amoako said the agenda of the event included an exhibition of products, Business to Business meetings and visits to partnered companies.

“Ultimately, it will create a harmonious integration that will elevate Ghana’s private sector to a competitive level and enable regional and international economic growth,” he added.

He said as the representative organ of the business community in Ghana, the Chamber was of the strong conviction that the business forum would serve as a unique platform for businessmen and women of the respective countries to interact, share ideas and establish business relationships.

The President expressed the hope that the business forum would further strengthen the strategic trade partnership between Ghana and Burkina Faso, bringing economic and social benefits by creating new opportunities for trade, investment, and employment.

Mr Mahamadi Savadogo, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Burkina Faso, called for continuous collaboration and work relentlessly to boost intra-African trade.

“That is why we are committed to supporting the organisation of the 4th JPECs in the wake of the previous editions in the Republic of Benin in 2015, Ivory Coast in 2017 and Senegal in 2019,” he added.

He expressed the hope that these events would serve as stepping stones toward dynamic and prosperous joint ventures likely to foster the industrial development of our two countries.

Mr Abdoulaye TALL, the Minister for Industrial Development, Trade, Handicrafts and Small and Medium Enterprises of Burkina Faso, said the forum was an opportunity to strengthen the excellent economic and trade relations with Ghana, as evidenced by trade statistics.

“In the sub-regional context marked with security challenges, the JPECs should also help consolidate integration and brotherhood between the two countries,” he said.

Mr Abdoulaye said Burkina Faso was eager to showcase to Ghana not only products made in the country but also the performances of its companies, which were distinguished by their resilience.

“We can assure you, investors from Ghana, that our country is steadily striving to create an environment conducive to investment,” he said.

 

Source: Modern Ghana

Former Ketu South Member of Parliament Fifi Fiavi Kwetey has accused the government of using deception to rule the country.

He said the government has been deceiving citizens about the true state of the country’s economy.

In an interview with Accra-based TV3’s New Day show on Wednesday, September 28, the former Minister stated, “Their whole mindset is how can we deceive the people in order to to keep power. They believe that governance is about how much lies you can tell, how you can deceive people, how you can spin them.”

Fiif Kwetey says he fears for the future of the country following the mess created by the Akufo-Addo regarding the economy.

“The truth is that I fear for the future of this country, I worry for the future of this country. People look at it in terms of what is happening to the economy, the collapse of the economy, people look at it in terms of what is happening to the inability to do what has been promised in education, in health, in infrastructure and so on, I look at it beyond that,” he intimated.

According to Mr. Kwetey, all President Akufo-Addo cares about is how NPP can win 2024 elections.

“I see a decadent soul of a country, I see a country whose soul is being bastardized by a group that I call very selfish, unpatriotic who care only about power.

“To think that a leader, almost approaching 8 years, in the midst of all these desperations, in the midst of the hopelessness, a future that is bleak, not just for our future but also our children’s children, his obsession is that I want to break the “8” That tells you this nation is really on the brink of what I call moral collapse,” he said.

 

 

Source: Modern Ghana