Ken Ofori Atta, Finance Minister
Government has announced that it will soon issue a $2.5 billion bond to offset the energy sector’s legacy debts to increase investment.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who disclosed this Wednesday in Accra, was addressing the opening of the 2017 World Bank Development Finance Forum.
The two-day event, which was aimed at unlocking private investment in African markets, is the first to be organised outside Europe.
According to the President, proceeds from the issuance of the bond would be used to address Ghana’s energy supply constraints, particularly the financial challenges of the sector.
“We are implementing a policy of re-profiling our existing debts to extend the maturities, reduce the interest burden and create space for the private sector. About six weeks ago, Ghana issued, for the first time, a 15-year local-currency bond, raising in that cycle more than US$2 billion. That is evidence of the returning private investor confidence in Ghana.
“Because investors make decisions on the basis of their perception of risk and uncertainty, this transaction sends a clear message to the markets that this new government, my government, has started on a sound footing and that Ghana is on a path of fiscal consolidation, debt sustainability and growth,” he said.
The President also announced that to revitalise the energy sector, his administration had encouraged majority Ghanaian private sector participation in the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) under the Millennium Challenge Compact with the United States Government.
Additionally, he mentioned that government had reviewed existing Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) targeted at shifting Ghana’s reliance on thermal energy to the renewable.
“We have put in place measures to reduce the fiscal deficit bequeathed to us from nine percent in 2016 to 6.5 percent this year. Government has created fiscal space by capping earmarked funds to 25 percent of government revenue, and realigning expenditures to government priorities. This is a policy that successive governments have tried over several years to implement, but were unable to do,” he said.
Effective September 1, this year, goods would be cleared from Ghana’s ports 100 percent paperless to do away with all internal customs barriers.
President Akufo-Addo also said the implementation of a digital property addressing system and issuing of biometric National Identification cards were in the offing for every resident to have a unique identification number.
By Samuel Boadi