Ghana receives ?48m grant from Germany

Kumasi, June 2, GNA- The German government has granted Ghana 48 million Euros through the Ghana-German bilateral co-operation to support the country's budgetary developments.

Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, who announced this, said the German government gesture was aimed at strengthening the economic co-operation between the two countries in agriculture, good governance and private sector development.

Briefing newsmen in Kumasi, Dr Akoto Osei, who is also Member of Parliament for Old Tafo, said two German agencies, KFW and GTZ were spearheading the implementation of the agreement, which was endorsed in 2001 on a two-year span.

He said 6.5 million Euros would go into budgetary support annually and 11 million Euros would be spent on the Achimota-Ofankor road project.

The Deputy Minister said the rest of the grant would spent on major priority areas such as agriculture, construction of feeder roads and food processing.

He said money for good governance support, would go to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) among other institutions.

Dr Akoto said money for private sector development would be spent on micro-finance for small-scale enterprises, the provision of water and construction of roads and that all funds from donor countries for the 2005 budget would be released.

He said the economy of Ghana was very resilient and would be able to withstand the global threats of stagnation, adding, "We are on course to achieving our budgetary targets".