Government Expects 836b Cedis Pledge, As....

...Consultative Group Meeting Ends Today

GHANA IS expecting a pledge of $110 million (about ?836billion) from her development partners to be announced at the 11th Consultative Group Meeting which ends today.

The amount, which is expected to be released, is required to fill the gap between the country's internally-generated income and other traditional sources of inflow on the one hand and what she would spend on poverty reduction over the next three years.

Kwadwo Baah-Wiriedu, Member of Parliament and Minister for Local Government, who disclosed this to the Chronicle yesterday, was happy to note that the 27-member group, including the United States, Japan, Denmark, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and France as well as some financial institutions, had generally been satisfied with Ghana's qualifications for the loans.

"On capacity building, the USAID country director, Mr. Frank Young, has actually made a statement that they are happy about the performance of the district level personnel in terms of the projects they have been doing."

At the consultative meetings, the recipient government tells its financiers and development partners its needs and strategies mapped out to attain set goals.

At the 11th meeting, Ghana has declared that her major objective is how to reduce poverty.

From Monday, when it started, various sector ministers have outlined roles their departments have been assigned in the fight against poverty.

The opening address was delivered by His Excellency President Kufuor, in which he declared his government's determination to fight inflation, budget deficits and pursue economic stability.

His is a vision to restore confidence in Ghana's economy to attract more investment, he stressed, calling on her development partners to keep supporting Ghana.

At such meetings the financiers ask for justification of the demands, proof of financial discipline and methodology to achieve set targets.

One of the key requirements insisted on by the financiers is good governance.

On Monday, Nana Akufo-Addo, the Attorney-General assured that Ghana is on course in the fight against bribery and corruption.

An area Ghana's performance fell below the expectation of the Group was in decentralization.

"The decentralization process has been considered a bit slow and the lack of doctors, paramedical staff etc., at the district levels was a matter of concern," Mr. Baah-Wiredu said.

The Minister of Economic Planning and Regional Co-operation, Dr. Kwesi Nduom, whose outfit is the lead ministry in Ghana's Poverty Reduction effort gave vivid descriptions of poverty in Ghana, showing video clips of scenes captured at various parts of the country.

He also put forward activities that must be embarked upon to combat poverty as well as the role of such implementing agencies as the ministries of Local government, Works and Housing, Roads and Transport.

Minister of Finance, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, gave the key macroeconomic targets for the current year as a real Gross Domestic Product growth of at least 4.5%, reduction in inflation from 21% to 13% and overall budget deficit equivalent to 6.9% of GDP.

He promised a domestic primary budget surplus of 4.2% of GDP and the rebuilding of gross official reserve holdings equivalent to 2.6 months of imports of goods and services.

At yesterday's meeting, the Local Government Minister made a presentation in which he impressed on the donor community that Ghana is committed to a deeper decentralization of governance and socio-economic development.

He focused on provision of the 1992 Constitution especially Article 35, 240 and254 explaining that these enjoin the government to pursue a vigorous process of decentralization.