Ghana will work towards becoming a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to benefit from its financial packages to facilitate the government's efforts at transforming the economy to create wealth and jobs.
Vice President Aliu Mahama said in Accra on Wednesday at a meeting with a three-member delegation from the bank, which was in the country to seek information that. "Ghana needs such development partners to alleviate poverty, provide infrastructure and solve other social problems," said the Vice President.
The IDB, established in 1975, is an international development financing institution. It has 54 members, with 25 from Africa. Alhaji Mahama told the delegation, led by the bank's Vice President Onsmane Seck that he had followed the humanitarian activities of the bank in Ghana, which included the sponsoring of a Science Secondary School in Tamale.
The bank had also financed projects at the University of Development Studies in Tamale, rehabilitated schools in Southern Ghana and sponsored the training of about 200 Ghanaian doctors and engineers in Turkey.
"It is for these reasons that I wrote to the President of IDB to discuss Ghana's membership of the bank," he said. He urged the bank to continue providing grants for development activities as Ghana took steps to fulfil the membership requirements.
Mr Seck said IDB, whose mode of financing was based on the principles of Islamic Shari'ah, prioritises its support to economic development with bias for funding agriculture, human resource development, private sector growth and improving transportation and public utility services.
The IDB, with its headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, also has trade, import and export financing schemes, technical assistance programmes, among other schemes. The loans are interest-free but attracted service fees to cover administrative expenses. The repayment period varies between 15 years to 25 years, with a grace period of three to seven years depending on the beneficiary country and the type of project financed.
"We do not fund Islamic propaganda, religious infrastructure such as mosques or religious activities," he stressed.
Mr Seck said membership of the bank was opened to all African countries and other countries of the South, in line with South-South co-operation. He said the composition of the Islamic population of its members was unregulated, with some members having about 80 per cent whereas others had 12 per cent.
Mr Seck said the bank, whose members included Malaysia, Bangladesh, Iran and Turkey, had a close relationship with multilateral financial institutions like the US EXIM Bank.
Dr Abdul Azziz Jalloh, Director of Operations and Mr Farrukh Mahmoud, project officer, accompanied Mr Seck. The delegation, which arrived on Tuesday, would hold discussions with members of the Economic Management Team, Central Bank officials, private sector representatives and ministers of state. It departs on Saturday.
Ghana will work towards becoming a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to benefit from its financial packages to facilitate the government's efforts at transforming the economy to create wealth and jobs.
Vice President Aliu Mahama said in Accra on Wednesday at a meeting with a three-member delegation from the bank, which was in the country to seek information that. "Ghana needs such development partners to alleviate poverty, provide infrastructure and solve other social problems," said the Vice President.
The IDB, established in 1975, is an international development financing institution. It has 54 members, with 25 from Africa. Alhaji Mahama told the delegation, led by the bank's Vice President Onsmane Seck that he had followed the humanitarian activities of the bank in Ghana, which included the sponsoring of a Science Secondary School in Tamale.
The bank had also financed projects at the University of Development Studies in Tamale, rehabilitated schools in Southern Ghana and sponsored the training of about 200 Ghanaian doctors and engineers in Turkey.
"It is for these reasons that I wrote to the President of IDB to discuss Ghana's membership of the bank," he said. He urged the bank to continue providing grants for development activities as Ghana took steps to fulfil the membership requirements.
Mr Seck said IDB, whose mode of financing was based on the principles of Islamic Shari'ah, prioritises its support to economic development with bias for funding agriculture, human resource development, private sector growth and improving transportation and public utility services.
The IDB, with its headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, also has trade, import and export financing schemes, technical assistance programmes, among other schemes. The loans are interest-free but attracted service fees to cover administrative expenses. The repayment period varies between 15 years to 25 years, with a grace period of three to seven years depending on the beneficiary country and the type of project financed.
"We do not fund Islamic propaganda, religious infrastructure such as mosques or religious activities," he stressed.
Mr Seck said membership of the bank was opened to all African countries and other countries of the South, in line with South-South co-operation. He said the composition of the Islamic population of its members was unregulated, with some members having about 80 per cent whereas others had 12 per cent.
Mr Seck said the bank, whose members included Malaysia, Bangladesh, Iran and Turkey, had a close relationship with multilateral financial institutions like the US EXIM Bank.
Dr Abdul Azziz Jalloh, Director of Operations and Mr Farrukh Mahmoud, project officer, accompanied Mr Seck. The delegation, which arrived on Tuesday, would hold discussions with members of the Economic Management Team, Central Bank officials, private sector representatives and ministers of state. It departs on Saturday.
