New Governor of Central Bank assumes office

Accra, Oct. 2, GNA - Mr. Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur assumed office on October 1 as the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, following his appointment by President John Evans Atta Mills, according to a statement from the Bank.

Mr Amissah-Arthur, an economist, comes to the Bank with considerable experience as a consultant with a background in teaching and research.

From 1983- 1997 he served in a number of senior positions in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.

Mr. Amissah-Arthur was a lecturer at the Department of Economics, University of Ghana, from 1980 to 1988 having served as an Assistant Lecturer in 1979 and a Teaching Assistant from 1977 to 1978. He was also a Research Assistant at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, University of Ghana, from 1974 to 1975 during which he participated in the design and conduct of a socio-economic survey of the Danfa Health Project area of south-eastern Ghana. During the 1983-84 academic year, when the University was closed down due to student/worker protests, he was invited to assist the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) Secretary of Finance and Economic Planning.

He was Special Assistant to the PNDC Secretary from 1983 until 1986 when he was appointed PNDC Deputy Secretary at the Ministry. As PNDC Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning from February 1986 to March 1993, he was a member of the Economic Management Team that designed and implemented the Economic Recovery Programme.

He had direct responsibility for the preparation of the annual Public Investment Programme, the management of the national budget as well as management of bilateral and multilateral assistance to the country. He was a Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Finance in the NDC administration from April 1993 to March 1997, with responsibilities which included policy formulation, design and implementation of the budget, management of revenue agencies and supervision of Government expenditures and preparation of the annual Public Expenditure Review of the Government of Ghana, co-authoring two important Public Expenditure Reviews.

After retiring from public office in 1997, Mr. Amissah-Arthur worked on a number of consultancy assignments.

As Senior Economist for the Sigma One Corporation, Ghana, from 1998 to 2000 he helped design and implement the "Ghana Policy Dialogue Project", a USAID-funded project that provided advisory services to the Government of Ghana and the "Trade and Investment Reform Project", which aimed to enhance Ghana's export competitiveness.

=B7 In 2001 and 2002, he was hired on an assignment on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.

He was co-author of a review of Ghana's public financial management system, titled: "Guidance Note: Financial Integration into Relevant Ghanaian Structures", a report which has been used as a training manual for new employees into the Finance Ministry.

As Consultant for the World Bank, he trained the staff of the Department of State for Agriculture, Republic of The Gambia in 1997 in initiating a review of the World Bank-funded Medium-term Expenditure Programme.

=B7 He was the consultant at all stages of the Netherlands Government- funded Technical/Vocational Education Project for the Ministry of Education in association with TNW Export BV of Waalwijk, Netherlands. Mr. Amissah-Arthur has served on a number of boards and committees including the boards of the Bank of Ghana, Ghana Commercial Bank, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Ghana National Procurement Agency, Ghana Supply Commission and the Academic Board and Finance Committee of the University of Ghana. He obtained a B.Sc. (Economics) degree in 1974 and M.Sc. (Economics) degree in 1980 from the University of Ghana, Legon and his GCE "Ordinary" and "Advanced" levels at Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast, in 1969 and 1971 respectively. Mr. Amissah-Arthur is married with two children.