The United States (US) government has announced that its Department of Treasury’s Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) will deploy a full-time resident advisor to assist the Ministry of Finance to help address economic challenges.
The advisor is expected to develop and execute medium-to-long-term reforms needed to improve debt sustainability and support a competitive, dynamic government debt market.
This was announced after the arrival of the Vice President of the USA, Kamala Harris, in Ghana on Sunday, March 26.
According to the US, the project will complement and build on the Government of Ghana’s debt restructuring efforts.
This project is part of OTA’s ongoing engagement to strengthen public financial management and financial sector oversight across sub-Saharan Africa.
For 2023, OTA will execute 25 projects in 15 African countries. This includes eight new projects in Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Namibia, Tanzania, The Gambia, and Zambia in revenue policy and administration; budget and financial accountability; government debt issuance and infrastructure financing; banking and financial services; and economic crimes.
To further support Ghana’s debt management, USAID is funding fellowships for a team of 10 specialists to work within the Ministry of Finance, providing surge support for a two-year period. The Fellows are all young, qualified Ghanaians and recent university graduates.
The Vice President also announced that the US Administration intends to invest more than $100 million to support conflict prevention and stabilization efforts in Coastal West Africa, including at least $86 million in funding over three years specifically dedicated to the implementation of the new 10-year plan.
The plan is intended to address regional threats of violent extremism and instability in Coastal West Africa and enable the U.S. Government to work with Congress to marshal additional assistance to support efforts in the region over the coming years.
By Vincent Kubi