John Kumah
The Ministry of Finance has rubbished claims of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) that President Akufo-Addo led government has already spent GH¢ 600 million in the year 2020 on Agenda 111 even before they cut sod for its commencement.
These claims were made by the NDC Member of Parliament for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam Constituency in the Central Region who was the former Deputy Minister for Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson.
The NDC MP posted on his Facebook page with some index images stating “According to Appendix 4D of the 2021 Mid-year review, The Akufo-Addo Government already spent GHC 600 million in the year 2020 on Agenda 111 even before they cut sod for its commencement! Can someone tell us what they used the 600 million for?.
But the Deputy Minister of Finance, Lawyer John Kumah, explained that the Akufo Addo led government was proactive by allocating 600 million of 2020 Eurobond to proceed towards the provision of this critical infrastructure.
The MP for Ejisu in the Ashanti Region noted that the 600 million Cedis was translated into the $100 million given to the Ghana Infrastructure Fund as the initial government financing which shall be leveraged to raise additional financing through GIIF for the completion of Agenda 111.
*Background*
The government of Ghana made a successful debut in the International Debt Capital Markets securing $3 billion from an oversubscribed bond book value of $6 billion.
With this, Ghana becomes the first Sub Saharan Africa to issue a Eurobond in USD since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The proceeds will support the budget deficit by funding growth-oriented expenditures and conduct liability management on both external and domestic bonds.
The government in the 2021 budget announced its intention of executing a program aimed at raising $5 billion through Eurobond, Diaspora bond, Sustainable bond, and Syndicated loans.
This 2021 Eurobond is thus one of the four vehicles government intends to use to raise them to $5 billion.
With this Eurobond, the issuance government has the chance of either going back to the market to raise additional Eurobond or explore the three other options, in case it intends to secure more funds from the International Debt Capital Markets.
Ghana successfully raised US$2 Billion in 2018, US$3 Billion in 2019, and US$3 Billion in 2020.
The 2021 bond issuance comes after a series of fixed-income virtual meetings held locally across three (3) days with Investors from the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East, and Asia.
BY Daniel Bampoe