Ken Ofori-Atta
Parliament has approved a $200 million loan from International Development Association (IDA) as additional financing for the Ghana COVID-19 Emergency Preparedness and Response project.
The financing agreement between the Government of the Republic of Ghana (represented by the Ministry of Finance) and the IDA was presented to the House on Wednesday, June 30, 2021, has a repayment period of 25 years with five years grace period.
It has a 1.7 percent service charge of three-fourths of one percent (3/4 of 1%) per annum plus the basis adjustment and grant element of 21.3 percent.
The agreement was referred to the Committee on Finance for consideration and report by the Speaker.
Background
Following the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Government of Ghana sourced US$100 million funding from the World Bank in April 2020 to support the implementation of the COVID-19 Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan (EPRP-I).
The government said EPRP-I had been vital in preventing, detecting, as well as strengthening the National Health Systems to respond to the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ghana rolled-out the EPRP-II with additional financing of US$130 million from the World Bank Group to strengthen and scale-up the gains from the EPRP-I.
The additional financing was approved on 12th November 2020, and together, the financing of EPRP-1&II have facilitated the implementation of the COVID-19 containment interventions through the expansion of diagnostic capacity from two to 19 laboratories in 10 out of 16 regions, with an additional 11 private testing sites.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House