Ghana's economy described as a success story

Accra, Aug. 11, GNA - The Head of the European Delegation, Mr Claude Maerten, has described the economy of Ghana as a success story, considering the current global trends.

He said reports of volumes of direct foreign investments into the country, the recent high prices of gold and cocoa on the international market and the recent oil discovery in the country were indictors of the laudable performance of the economy.

Mr Maerten noted, however, that the current achievements could not sustain long-term economic growth and that there was the need for the development of the private sector to be the engine of growth for the econom= y to support the gains made. He was speaking at the signing of a 3 million Euro European Union (EU) support to the Danish International Development Cooperation (DANIDA) to support the advocacy project for small and medium scale private businesses in Ghana through the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund Phase two in Accra on Wednesday.

The signing of the agreement was in line with the aid effectiveness programme under which the country's development partners pooled their resources for one of them to lead in the implementation of the programme. Under the BUSAC Phase II project, DANIDA which had already committed 8 million dollars to the project is the leading organization, with the United States Development Agency (USAID) which recently contributed 3 million dollars to the project being a co-donor.

Mr Joe Tackie of the Ministry of Trade and Industry said the Government would soon inaugurate the Private Sector Development (PSD) Council and Board to enhance the development of the sector and the industrialization of the country.

He said for the sector to meet international standards and perform better, there would be the need for a lot of interaction between the major players in that sector and policy makers, and that called for the improvement of business advocacy. Mr Jan Poulsen, Head of the Development Cooperation of DANIDA, said th= e signing of the delegated cooperation agreement was a landmark that signifie= d the commitment of the EU and Denmark to harmonize their development support and aid effectiveness in Ghana.

He expressed the hope that the signing of the agreement would encourag= e other development partners to harmonize their development activities in the field to reduce transaction cost, avoid duplications and to increase the impact of development cooperation with Ghana. The BUSAC Fund Manager, Dr Dale Rachmeler, said the proposed budget for the Phase II of the BUSAC Fund project was estimated at 20 million US dollars, and that so far 16 million dollars had been raised. He invited other donor partners to join the fold. He said the first two calls of BUSAC II project which would run into 2015, had attracted over 700 proposals from private sector groups and organizations. Dr Rachmeler said the first phase of the project which ended in 2010 was very successful and in all 362 grants worth a total of eight million US dollars were provided to support advocacy for small and medium scale enterprises across the country ranging from hair dressers, carpenters, farmer-based organizations and the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry among others.