Credit Rating Exercise On Ghana Underway

A delegation from Global credit rating agency, Standard and Poor is in the country to undertake Ghana’s credit rating. As a first step to gathering data, the group has held discussions with some business leaders and investors on the economic climate in the country. Government officials say the credit rating exercise which is underway will enable them to know whether the newly introduced economic policies have been effective or not.

The credit rating exercise will also state clearly the risks involved in doing business in Ghana. The exercise, which is currently underway, was arranged by government with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to establish Ghana’s credit worthiness and paint a clearer picture of the Ghanaian economy to investors.

Finance Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo who describes the decision as a bold step, believes that the establishment of the rating will enable government to track its performance and hopefully improve in its policies.

Some of the pointers members of the delegation will be looking out for is the level of good corporate governance in both public and private sector institutions, transparency of transactions and the country’s inflation index. The Director General of the Private Enterprise Foundation, Dr. Osei Boeh-Ocansey who gave the delegation an overview of the economy contends that the rating system will compel government to provide a good environment for businesses to thrive.

Government expects that the completion of the exercise will boost its efforts at attracting foreign direct investment into the country since most investors look up to a country’s credit ratings before they make the final decision to go ahead with their investments. The rating is also expected to erase doubts about Ghana’s potential particularly because of the country’s current HIPC status.