President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesani has commended President Akufo-Addo and members of his government for putting measures in place to put the economy back on sound footing.
He made the commendation when he paid a courtesy call on the President at the Flagstaff House yesterday.
Briefing members of the presidential press corps after the meeting, Mr Akinwumi, who was full of praise for the President, indicated that “Ghana is doing very well and I think the President, upon coming to office, has sent a very clear signal in terms of what he expects Ghana to do. He wants a Ghana that is able to develop without having to go with a bowl in hand begging for resources and I fully endorse that.”
“I want to commend the government for the efforts that they have made in the last couple of months and the results are showing very, very well…the inflation has gone down to roughly about 12.1 percent which is fantastic, the public sector financial management has strengthened significantly, the debt level has gone down, debt stock as part of shelve GDP has gone up to about 67 percent; so all in the right direction. I think Ghana is in the right direction.”
“We have great confidence in the team that the President has put around him; he has a first class Minister of Finance and every single Minister that I have met is first rate and I have every confidence that this government has all it takes to succeed and the African Development Bank will provide that huge amount of support to the government.”
Consequently, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has decided to invest as much as $120 million in the refurbishment of Ghana’s only international airport, the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).
This would give the airport a facelift with a third terminal in addition to the existing two.
They have also decided to invest not less than $40 million in another bank in the country to provide financing to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
The bank is also keen in supporting the development of the Eastern corridor road and the Accra Urban Transport project, for which they have already committed $18 million, and a water and sanitation project in the capital city.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent