Category: Finance

Tema, The Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) through the Small Arms Division has organised a regional meeting in Dakar, Senegal.

The meeting was for the Member States to adopt a common position in preparation for the eighth Meeting of the United Nations Programme on Light and Small Arms (UN PoA).

Assisting States ECOWAS members to have a common position at the Eighth Biennial Meeting of States (BMS8) on the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (UN PoA).

The BMS8, which would be held in New York from June 27 to July 1, should result in the unanimous adoption of a final document, with the aim of stemming the threats linked to this category of weapons.

ECOWAS representative, Joseph Piex Ahoba, expressed optimism that the meeting would result in a common position of ECOWAS member states.

The Deputy Head of Mission at the German Embassy in Dakar, Theodor Proffe, praised the efforts of this West African organization to strengthen control of SALW.

As a partner, he said, his country supports all governments in the region with regard to the control of small arms and light weapons.

Amaury Hoste, Head of the Governance and Stability Entity at the Delegation of the European Union in Senegal, underlines that for the EU, the United Nations Program of Action and international tracing remain the essential starting point for any new action on illicit SALW at national, regional and international level.

The EU would like this meeting to lead to the creation of an “open-ended” group of technical experts, capable of “guaranteeing the effectiveness and application of the international instrument”.

He believes that it is the “common responsibility” of the States to “launch this process and make it operational”.

This meeting was organised through the Organised Crime: West Africa Response to Trafficking (OCWAR – T), an ECOWAS program co-funded by the European Union and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Brase (C/R), Residents of Abrem Brase, a community in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem (KEEA) Municipality, are still living in distress five days after the community was left in tatters by floods.

Scores of people have been displaced, hundreds are stranded and many have been robbed of their personal effects by the disaster.

Additionally, schools have become inaccessible to some pupils and teachers on one side of the community, while farmers are having a hard time carting food home from their farms.

The situation has brought economic activities to a near halt and making life unbearable for the residents.

At least, 50 houses in Berase were flattened, hundreds of others were submerged and a bridge in the middle of the community collapsed after the downpour on Saturday, June 18.

Partial damage caused to the town’s electricity transformer by the rainstorm left parts of the community without light.

No casualties were, however, recorded.

Narrating their ordeal to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), some residents described the disaster as unprecedented, attributing it to the overflow of the Nteretre river.

They said a number of them had been rendered homeless and living miserably with no sign of hope.

They, therefore, appealed to government, private institutions and individuals to go to their aid.

A resident, Mr Kwabena Aboagye narrated how a four-bedroom house belonging to his uncle was completely flattened by the floods and an amount of GHC4,800 lost to the disaster, rendering him homeless.?

“We are pleading with the government and all philanthropists to come to the aid of this community. We need building materials such as cement and roofing sheets to help reconstruct?some of the buildings,” he appealed. ?

Another resident, Mr Kwame Afful, bemoaned the state of the collapsed bridge which he said was gravely affecting agriculture and educations.

“Some school children and teachers cannot go to school because of the bridge. I am a farmer, and I am just coming from the farm, but I do not know how to get these foodstuffs home. It is not easy for us here,” he revealed.

He indicated that the community had received some assistance from the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) but it was woefully inadequate, hence the call for support.

“We have been separated from our loved ones on the other side. They cannot visit us and we cannot cross to their end.?

“Those at the other side who must go to Cape Coast cannot do so because of the bridge. We have lost everything,” Madam Esi Kwansema also told the GNA.

For his part, Nana Agyei Brakwaa III, the Ankobeahen of Abirem Berase, said he was glad no death was recorded but urged government to fix their bridge as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Roads Minister Mr Kwasi Amoako-Attah on Monday, June 20, visited the community and assured that civil works would soon begin to reconstruct the bride.

Mrs Justina Marigold Assan, Central Regional Minister who also visited the community indicated that the devastation in region was too overwhelming for government alone to contain.

She, therefore, called on all individuals and institutions to support the region, adding that “we are seriously in difficult times”

However, she said Regional Coordinating Council had acquired a number of learning materials and clothing to distribute to affected residents.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Accra, An amount of GH¢401 million of COVID-19 fund was transferred to the National Identification Authority (NIA) and the Electoral Commission (EC) as additional support to ensure COVID-19 compliant registration and voting.

Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance, said due to the COVID-19 protocols, the EC and NIA had to increase their registration sites and recruit more personnel to ensure compliance during the registration and voting.

The Minister stated this on Wednesday on the floor of Parliament, when he presented his statement to the House, dubbed “Statement to Parliament on the COVID-19 Expenditure 2020/2021”.

On schools re-opening, Mr Ofori-Atta said in September 2020, while other countries had closed all schools, the Government, with the advice of experts, took the bold decision to partially re-open schools to enable final year students write their final exams under strict COVID-19 protocols.

“This was largely successful with minimal infections amongst the students. An amount of GH¢1,119.73 million was allocated for Mass School Reopening in January, 2021,” he said.

“This was to ensure that all students and teachers were provided with infection prevention and control items. Total amount utilized was GH¢1,118.69 million.”

With regards to procurement of COVID-19 vaccines, Mr Ofori-Atta said the acceleration of sustained socio-economic recovery through advances in vaccine development required the mobilization of significant resources to enable the deployment of a mass vaccination programme.

He said the urgent need to vaccinate a target of 20 million people to achieve herd immunity and strengthen the health system in Ghana required that Government of Ghana made a significant allocation for the purchase of vaccines.

He noted that a total amount of GH¢929.30 million was therefore allocated in the 2021 Budget for the procurement of vaccines.

Mr Ofori-Atta said the National Deployment and Vaccination Plan (NDVP) estimated an amount of $51.6 million (GH¢301.86 million) to undertake the vaccination deployment.

He said a total amount of GH¢775.82 million was released for the purchase of Sputnik V, the Janssen COV SARS 2 COVID Vaccines and the Emergency deployment of vaccines in schools.

“As at 31st March 2022, a total of 5,424,450 vaccines had been supplied and received into the country,” Mr Ofori-Atta said.

He said since the commencement of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign on March 2, 2021, 14,268,269 doses of vaccines had been administered as at April 25, 2022.

“Mr Speaker, I believe that this presentation demonstrates Government’s commitment to accountability and transparency,” he stated.

“All programmed, mobilized and utilised funds have been duly reported on. As a government, we continue to operate an open-door policy and welcome any opportunity to engage in the national interest.”

He reiterated that never before, in the history of the Fourth Republic, had the entire Ghanaian economy and society experienced such severe shock occasioned by a single external event.

“Indeed, from independence to date, the Ghanaian economy has never faced such a sudden nationwide dramatic reduction in household and corporate economic activity. But, as the President said in one of his addresses to the nation during the coronavirus outbreak, “our survival is in our hands” and it continues to be in our hands.”

Source: Ghana News Agency

Sunyani, A geoscientist,?Professor Emmanuel Arhin, has reiterated the need for stakeholders to make collaborative effort to prevent the increasing level of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) to minimise their imminent socio-economic impact on the lives of Ghanaians.

Prof. Arhin of the Department?of Geographic Science, School of Geo-Sciences, University of Energy and Natural Sciences (UENR) warned NCDs threatened the progress being made towards achieving?the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development Goals which included the target?of reducing premature deaths from NCDs by one-third.

He said “we can build hospitals across the country where people can have access to healthcare, but if we don’t have control over the sources of the NCDs, then I think we will not be doing a good service to ourselves as a nation”.

Prof. Arhin was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Sunyani, said the rapid rise in NCDs was bound to impede poverty reduction initiatives in low-income countries, particularly by increasing household costs associated with health care costs.

”Vulnerable and socially-disadvantaged people fall sick?and die sooner than people of higher social positions, while in low-resource settings, health-care costs for NCDs quickly drain household resources”, he stressed.

Prof. Arhin said the exorbitant costs of NCDs, including treatment which was often lengthy and expensive combined with the loss of income, forced millions of people into poverty.?

According to him “the prevalence?of major chronic NCDs and their risk factors have increased over time and contributed?significantly to Ghana’s disease burden”.

He said conditions like hypertension, stroke and diabetes affected young people, the aged, those in the urban and rural areas as well as wealthy and poor people, implying that the high cost of care drove the poor further into poverty.?

Prof. Arhin said besides limited knowledge and awareness about NCDs, there was weak health care system and lack of policies to guide chronic diseases which were contributing to the increasing risks of morbidity and mortality in the country.

He said chronic diseases constituted a public health and developmental problem that should be of urgent?concern not only to the Health Ministry and Ghana Health Service?but all stakeholders.

Prof. Arhin said “to minimise the occurrence of NCDs, stakeholders must map out and identify areas in the country with high concentration of disease-causing elements.

“Such?areas are then noticed and controlled with community members advised about the dangers and by so doing peoples’ awareness would be awaken on why NCDs have become common in recent times”, he said.

Prof. Arhin said NCDs did not only affect the state of one’s health, but also retarded development?because sick people lacked the needed strength to work and contribute significantly to achieve the developmental goals of the country.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Accra, The Minority Caucus in Parliament on Wednesday proposed the setting up of an ad-hoc committee to probe the expenditure of COVID-19 funds.

Debating in Parliament, when the finance minister appeared in the house to deliver a statement on how government funds were disbursed in the fight against the COVID-19 Pandemic, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority Leader said the minister’s accounting was not thorough enough.

On his part, Mr Cassiel Ato Forson, the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee said: “We cannot sit here and say the Minister of Finance should be the only one to account for the COVID amount.

“The minister responsible for Finance is only a conduit for releasing the money. But the monies were spent at various MDA’s,” he said.

Mr Forson, who is also the Member of Parliament for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam, said the various MDA heads and COVID entities needed to account in detail how they spent the money because of the gaps in the Finance Minister’s statement.

“I cannot ask the Minister responsible for Finance to give me the details of the fact that they spent $100 million on nose masks and hand sanitizers, Mr Forson said.

He, therefore, proposed the committee be chaired by a member of the Minority adding “so that we can go into the details and all of us will be able to get the facts as we need to,” he said.

Mr Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Deputy Majority Leader, kicked against the call and explained that the various committees in Parliament could scrutinize the expenditure.

“This situation is not exceptional enough to warrant an ad-hoc committee.

“Let us rely on the committees of Parliament. We do not need a special committee. We do not need an ad-hoc committee, Mr Afenyo-Markin said.

Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister for Finance Wednesday told Parliament that GH¢18.19 billion was expended to mitigate the effect of the pandemic.

Under this, he said GH¢1.5 billion was disbursed under the Support to Households Programme, GH¢1 billion was allocated to health response-supplies equipment and relief for health workers, GH¢600 million was released to begin the construction across the country and a further GH¢763.92 million had been released to continue the construction of the 111 district hospitals.

According to the sector minister, the government had also programmed GH¢875 million for security operations, evacuation of Ghanaians stranded abroad, and coordination of MMDAs’ sanitation and disinfection exercises.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Accra, The Government raised GH¢19.3 billion in its efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance, has disclosed.

He said to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on businesses and households, ensure that economic activities recover and minimise job losses, the Government mobilised GH¢18.19 billion out of the programmed GH¢19.3 billion in 2020 from various funding sources.

Mr Ofori-Atta stated this on Wednesday on the floor of Parliament, when he presented his statement to the House, dubbed “Statement to Parliament on the COVID-19 Expenditure 2020/2021”.

Details of the sources of funding included Government of Ghana Contingency Fund (Covid-19 Alleviation Programme) GH¢1.2 billion, World Bank Group Funds – Health Interventions GH¢1.3 billion, GARID CERT ($65 million) GH¢377 million, Fast Track COVID-19 Facility ($35 million) GH¢203 million, and Fast Track COVID-19 additional Facility ($130 million) GH¢754 million.

The sources of funding under the 2020 Budget Support programme included the International Monetary Fund (one billion dollars) GH¢5.9 billion, AfDB GH¢405.6 million, the European Union (EU) GH¢504 million, Bank of Ghana (BoG) COVID-19 Bonds GH¢10 billion.

Mr Ofori-Atta said Ghana recorded its first two cases on 12th March 2020, and that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, immediately put together a taskforce which spearheaded the development of a bold, comprehensive, and decisive strategy to ensure that we are not overwhelmed by the pandemic.

He said in line with this strategy, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy of Ghana was assessed and measures designed to address its immediate impacts.

He noted that however, the impact of the pandemic was even more severe than anticipated both globally and domestically; adding that it had upended and exposed the weaknesses in critical structures and systems in education, health, economic life and communities.

Mr Ofori-Atta said the pandemic triggered a sharp and heavy disruption in global supply chains as lockdowns and restrictions led to reductions in demand and production levels.

“Mr Speaker, this has required us to undertake major fiscal measures beyond what we programmed prior to the pandemic.

“To finance the additional expenditure such as support to households, engagement of additional health personnel deployment of security personnel at our borders to enforce the COVID-19 protocols, as well as the procurement of personal protective equipment, Government has had to adopt major fiscal measures to accommodate the increased expenditure and the shortfalls in revenue. Though our response was bold, decisive, and compassionate, it has also been costly.”

The Minister recalled that on 30th March 2020, he made a statement to Parliament on the Economic Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Economy of Ghana, following which the implementation of the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP) commenced.

He said furthermore, during the presentation of the 2020 Mid-Year Fiscal Policy, he indicated that the supplementary request included a programmed funding of GH¢19.3billion from various funding sources to support the budget both directly and indirectly.

Mr Ofori-Atta said on the expenditure side, an amount of GH¢11.16 billion was programmed for COVID -19 related expenses; stating that the difference of GH¢8.14 billion was programmed to provide for shortfalls in Revenue.

He said in 2021, the budget programmed a total amount of GH¢4,601 million for COVID-19 related expenses; declaring that “It is worth noting that the Ministry of Finance mobilized the needed financial resources, whilst the various COVID-19 interventions and related expenses were implemented by the relevant sector ministries and agencies”.

Touching on the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme, the Minister said the Government programmed funding of GH¢1.2 billion from the Contingency Fund, to finance the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme.

He reiterated that this programme focused on achieving five key objectives: Limit and stop the importation of the virus; contain its spread; provide adequate care for the sick; limit the impact of the virus on social and economic life; and inspire the expansion of our domestic capability and deepen national self-reliance.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Accra, The Ghana Merchant Navy Officer Association (GMNOA) has paid a courtesy call on the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) as part of efforts to strengthen collaboration for opportunities in the shipping and logistics sector.

Captain Etoenyo Onassis Bankas, General Secretary of GMNOA, noted that job opportunities in the shipping and logistics sector abounded globally but Ghana was yet to take full advantage and emphasised the need for collaboration to transform the sector.

He said the situation was due to lack of appropriate policy guidelines to attract the necessary investment locally and internationally and said that must be fixed.

Captain Bankas said maritime shipping played a key role in economic growth, therefore, players in the sector must forge strong alliances to propel the sector’s fortunes.

“Many graduates from the Regional Maritime University are sitting home and have little or nothing to do after school.”

“Some of them are even going into other fields to survive but that should not be so, looking at the job opportunities that the maritime, shipping and logistics sectors offer globally,” he stated.

Ms Benonita Bismarck, Chief Executive Officer of GSA, noted that the Authority was open to collaborations to protect and promote the interest of shippers to enhance the fortunes of all stakeholders.

Source: Ghana News Agency