Ghana’s development partners on Monday announced a 1.7 billion dollar
support for the year 2008 to accelerate implementation of programmes
under the country’s Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy II.
The
declaration came at the end of the 15th Ghana Consultative Group
Meeting of government officials, development experts, partners and
civil society organizations in Accra.
Ghana has in recent years witnessed a consistent increase in donor funding, reaching a level of 1.2 billion dollars last year.
Mr
Filiberto Ceriani Sebregondi, Head of EU Delegation in Ghana, said the
increased support was the joint effort of donors 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 competitiveness and good governance,” he
told a press conference shortly after the meeting.
He was confident that the donors would deliver on their commitments in view of the performance in the last two years.
Development partners had delivered about 95 per cent of their commitments in the last few years.
Mr
Ishac Diwan, World Bank Country Director, said attention was paid at
the meeting to the oil and food price shocks and how it could impact on
the country’s growth prospects.
He said the country had shown enough economic stability, which had enabled it to withstand the shocks.
Mr
Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, said
pressures 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 co-ordinating aid
effectively through alignment between donor partners’ activity and that
of government.
Mr Joseph Henry Mensah, Chairman of
the Development Planning Commission, stressed the need to generate
enough domestic resources and consider official development assistance
as a supplement.
The meeting discussed the results,
achievements and challenges of Ghana’s development and poverty
reduction efforts on the theme: Ghana’s Aid Policy-A Joint Approach to
Accelerated Development.”
Highlights of the meeting
included a long-term national development plan being prepared by the
National Development Planning Commission and the Annual Progress Report
on Ghana’s Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy II.
There
was also discussions initiated by the development partners on division
of labour to help address donor fragmentation, accountability and
transparency and also minimise transaction costs and achieve greater
comparative advantage.
Source: GNA
