Ghana must focus on prudent fiscal Management -WB

Accra, Oct. 6, GNA - Ghana must continue to focus on good fiscal management in order not to erode the recent macro-economic strides, the World Bank said on Wednesday.

Speaking during a Video Press Conference, Ms Obiageli K. Ezekwesili, World Bank Vice President for the Africa Region, said increased public debt if not checked could reverse the gains so far chalked. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expressed similar concern after a recent assessment of the Ghanaian economy and asked the authorities to strive to reduce fiscal deficits and its associated public borrowing, to sustain and build on the favourable trends in inflation and macro-economic stability.

The fiscal deficit in the first half of 2010 was 5.3 per cent of projected gross domestic product, slightly above the ceiling under government's IMF-supported programme. Government projects the deficit to hit eight per cent of GDP at the end of the year and marginally up from a target of 7.5 per cent. The video press conference, which is being organized ahead of the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund scheduled for October 8-10, 2010, centered on the content and substance of the meetings - reforms underway at the World Bank and the need for a robust replenishment of the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's fund for the world's 79 poorest countries. The WB/IMF Annual Meetings bring together Finance Ministers of all member countries, Central Bankers, Business leaders, Academics, and civil society to discuss economic development and progress in the fight against poverty.

Ms Ezekwesili said Africa has rebounded from the financial crisis with growth projected to reach 4.5 percent in 2010 and thereafter hit five percent and above in 2011-12. However, she said the growth would not be sufficient enough to pull more people out of poverty if it was not backed by investment in infrastructure and improvement in policy choices that ensure credible investment in the private sector. Besides, countries must draw on the lessons from the credible opportunities created for investment through reforms in sectors such as telecommunications and financial services, she said.