Ghana has received a big shot in the arm from its develop ment partners who on Monday announced a US$1.7 billion support for 2008.
They said in Accra – at the end of the one-day 5th Ghana Consultative Group Meet ing of government officials, development experts, partners and civil society org a nisations – that
the assistance was to accelerate implementation of programmes under the Growth a nd Poverty Reduction Strategy II.
Ghana has in recent years witnessed a consistent increase in donor funding, reac hing a level of US$1.2 billion last year, the Ghana News Agency reported.
Mr. Filiberto Ceriani Sebregondi, Head of EU Delegation in Ghana, told a press c onference n Monday night that the increased support was the joint effort of dono r s to align their contributions to the development aspirations of Ghana.
“We have constantly engaged in the last few years in a progressive alignment of aid to the country’s priority of human resource development, private sector comp e titiveness and good governance,” he said
He said he was confident that the donors would deliver on their commitments in v iew of the performance in the last two years.
Development partners had delivered about 95 per cent of their commitments in the last few years.
The World Bank Country Director, Mr. Ishac Diwan, said the meeting paid attenti on to the oil and food price shocks and how it could impact on the country’s gro w th prospects.
He said the country had shown enough economic stability, which had enabled it to withstand the shocks.
The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, said pre ssures from domestic power supply shock, higher crude oil and food prices posed a serious development challenge to the economy.
He said the meeting stressed the need for a move towards better aid effectivenes s through alignment between donor partners’ activity and that of government.
The meeting discussed the results, achievements and challenges of Ghana’s develo pment and poverty reduction efforts on the theme: Ghana’s Aid Policy-A Joint App r oach to Accelerated Development.”
Highlights of the meeting included a long-term national development plan being p repared by the National Development Planning Commission and the Annual Progress R eport on Ghana’s Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy II.
There was also discussion initiated by the development partners on division of l abour to help address donor fragmentation, accountability and transparency and a l so minimise transaction costs and achieve greater comparative advantage.
