Ghana and her Development partners, last Monday, in Accra, held a day’s 2008 Consultative Group Annual Partnership Meeting, under the theme “Ghana’s Aid Policy-A Joint Approach to Accelerated Development.”

The meeting sought to discuss the updates of the Partnership Results Framework, the Government of Ghana Infrastructure financing gap paper and an overview of the Ghana Development Partnership.

The Vice-President of Ghana, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, said as a result of continued efforts and measures put in place by the government to ensure a better economy in the country, Ghana has been able to achieve in all three Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy Pillars.

According to the Vice President, government had succeeded in stablising the economy and growing it to an appreciable rate. This, he said, was an achievement made possible for Ghana to successfully issue a Euro-bond to the tune of 750 million US dollars on the London Stock Exchange in September 2007 to fund infrastructure development in the country.

“This is a strong indication of the confidence and goodwill Ghana is currently enjoying from the international community,” he said.
 He added that with the level of achievements and progress being made, the target of accessing a middle income status by 2015 could be possible.

“Though the economy has been under pressure due to escalating crude oil and food prices as well as wage agreements necessary for the stable governance of the country, it has remained fairly resilient due to the strong macroeconomic fundamentals sustained since 2001,” Alhaji Aliu Mahama noted.

Alhaji Aliu Mahama, was however, optimistic that with the discovery of oil in commercial quantity which is expected to start operation by 2010, Ghana could be the next exporter of crude oil to alleviate some of the challenges being confronted with.

The Vice President expressed the government’s gratitude to the partners for their continued support to the country and called on the international communities to take up the challenge of addressing the difficult but necessary policy and procedural reforms required of them to maximise the development impact of aid.

Mr Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, Ghana’s Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, assured the development partners that government was committed to ensuring a vibrant economy even after the 2008 general elections.

The Country Director of the World Bank, Mr Ishac Diwan, said there was the need for capitalisation in the financial sector in order to meet the current challenges.

The meeting, which was hosted by the Ghana government and the World Bank, brought together 350 participants from the United Kingdom, Japan, World Health Organisation, European Commission, International Monitary Fund, United States of America, Civil Society Organisation and Members of Parliament among others.