Ghana gets US$211.6m support from AfDB in 2012

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, has stated that the year 2012 was a record year for its engagement with Ghana, having provided a total of US $211.6 million in grants and loans to support the country’s development during the year.

AfDB further discloses that the total 2012 grant and loan approval amount represents the highest level of support the country has ever received from the Bank within a one-year period since the Bank Group began operations in Ghana in 1973.

To date, the Bank Group has financed 105 loans and grants in Ghana valued at approximately US $3.755 billion, while projects funded by the Bank primarily fall within the areas of transport, energy, agriculture, water and sanitation, education, health and multi-sector.

According to a press release issued in Accra March 21, 2013, the African Development Bank, last year alone, had its Board of Directors approving four projects in Ghana, which was unprecedented.

The Bank says the approved projects are aimed at assisting Ghana to achieve its development objectives as outlined in the country’s Shared Growth and Development Agenda and cover the agriculture, education and energy sectors.

AfDB listed the first project as the US $76.5 million in financing approved for the Rural Enterprises Programme III (REP III), which aims to assist the Government of Ghana to scale up the impact and outcome of REP I and II, in response to Ghana’s Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA), which focused on inclusive growth, youth employment, and women’s economic empowerment.

REP III is part of the government’s efforts to reduce poverty and improve living conditions in rural areas, by promoting the infrastructure, technologies, and skills needed for private sector development.

The Rural Enterprises Programme will be implemented in 161 of the country’s 170 rural districts and is expected to create 100,000 new jobs among other benefits.

The second approved project is the Ghana Institutional Support Programme (GISP), which received US $14.5 million in Bank funding, and aims to enhance the capacity of selected institutions in both the private and public sector.

In particular, the programme will strengthen the non-tax revenue mobilisation framework, enhance the capacity of the Private Enterprise Foundation, National Board of Small Scale Industries and the Ghana Stock Exchange to support small and medium enterprises and enhance capacity in financial sector policy formulation.

Other projects approved for Ghana, is the Development of Skills for Industry Project (DISP) and the TICO Phase II, which attracted US $120 million and US $60,000 respectively.

These projects will support quality intermediate level, technical and vocational training skills needed to foster increased productivity and consequently, economic growth to reduce poverty in Ghana.

In addition to the support to TICO, a power company operating in the Western Region of Ghana will finance the expansion of the Takoradi Thermal Power Plant (TTPP).

The funding is meant to assist TICO expand its existing T2 Unit currently at 220 MW, to its final capacity of 330 MW, through the addition of a steam turbine to convert it to combined-cycle operation.

All the approved projects are aligned to the Bank’s new Country Strategy Paper (CSP), which was approved in June 2012.

The CSP which is based on two pillars: improving productivity in Ghanaian enterprises, and supporting economic and structural reforms aimed at improving the business environment, forms the basis for the African Development Bank Group’s operations in Ghana for the period 2012-2016.