Bussiness
IMF deal: What we need now is creditor coordination – Prof. Lord Mensah
Economist, Professor Lord Mensah, says Ghana has underplayed the complexity of its external creditors and how they stand.
According to him, the country has failed to appropriately coordinate its creditors in its pursuit for debt relief, thus causing the bottleneck that has bedeviled the process.
He has urged government to take opportunity of the ongoing IMF discussions in Washington, DC in the USA to get creditors equally up to speed on the Ghana situation and build confidence in the country’s debt restructuring policy.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express Business Edition, he noted that when this is achieved, it would help iron out the obstacles that have impeded Ghana’s IMF executive board approval.
“We have underplayed the complexity of our external creditors and how they stand. We look at the geographic locations of these external creditors, we’re looking at some of the conditions they gave us and how diverse they are – very, very important. What we need now as a country is what we call creditor coordination”.
“Creditor coordination [is] very very important to ensure that information about Ghana, information about negotiations are equal in front of all our creditors – very very important. And I’m anticipating that the spring meeting will provide that platform for which our officers will meet these creditors, one-on-one, meet them together talking about the Paris club, looking at the commercial lenders from the Eurobond market and then also the Chinese bloc,” he said.
Explaining the current situation, he noted that due to the lack of equal and clear information on Ghana’s debt problem for creditors, some amount of uncertainty and suspicion has been created.
This, Prof. Mensah believes can be handled if all creditors are brought to speed on Ghana’s debt restructuring plans.
“So China at one bloc, the Paris club is looking at ‘o fine, if we give Ghana that kind of debt relief, they’ll use the money to pay China.’ And China is also sitting somewhere looking ‘ok fine, if we go in to provide the debt relief, you know, the money will be used to pay these Paris club countries’.
“So effectively, there’s this kind of back and forth as far as the minds of the creditor space is concerned. And that is why I mentioned earlier that we need that kind of creditor coordination to ensure that they all come at the same level when it comes to information about how we want to go about this debt restructuring,” he said.
Source: www.myjoyonline.com
Bussiness
Charterhouse announces the Business Elevate Series with launch of ‘The Gastro Feastival’
Charterhouse, Ghana’s leading event management and audiovisual production company, is marking its 25th anniversary of delivering top-tier events with the introduction of an exciting new initiative: The Business Elevate Series.
This innovative series is designed to shine a spotlight on key economic sectors through a series of dynamic B2B and B2C events, including industry conferences, seminars, and exhibitions.
Kicking off the series is The Gastro Feastival, a groundbreaking annual food industry festival that will showcase Ghana’s rich and diverse food ecosystem and agribusinesses from production to consumption.
The launch event will take place on Friday, March 7, 2025, from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM at the Grand Arena (Accra International Conference Centre).
This landmark event will bring together food industry stakeholders, enthusiasts, experts, and organizations to highlight the food industry’s critical role in Ghana’s socio-economic development and culture.
It will also promote food security, digital innovation, women’s empowerment, youth employment in agribusiness, and sustainable practices.
The Business Elevate Series is a game-changing initiative designed to foster growth and transformation across multiple sectors. With Charterhouse’s deep expertise in organizing impactful meetings, the series aims to unlock investment opportunities, drive innovation, and catalyze social and economic change.
The Gastro Feastival will address six major pillars that drive industry transformation: Investment Opportunities; Job Creation; Innovation, Technology, and Digitization; Youth Involvement (entrepreneurship and career opportunities); Women’s Involvement; Environmental and Social Governance (ESG); Export Opportunities
The event will also establish a Resource Bank, spotlighting key growth opportunities and ensuring the effective allocation of resources to transform Ghana’s food industry.
The Gastro Feastival is a Charterhouse initiative, with Kosmos Innovation Centre as the technical partner.
Bussiness
Ghana’s GDP shows economy is fast recovering despite DDEP – Finance Ministry
Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) indicates a rapid economic recovery despite global challenges and ongoing debt restructuring, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
The Ministry in a statement today indicated that latest data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), cumulative economic growth for the second quarter (Q2) of 2024 reached 6.9%, a notable increase from the 4.7% recorded in the first quarter of 2024.
The MoF statement further noted that, “The economy’s robust recovery is in response to the macroeconomic stability and growth interventions that government is pursuing under our IMF-supported Post Covid-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG).”
According to them, the overall real GDP growth for the first half of 2024 rebounded strongly, with year-on-year GDP growth averaging 5.8% for the period, significantly higher than the 2.9% recorded in the same period in 2023.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
Read full statement below
