IMF programme for Ghana begins January
President John Dramani Mahama has expressed optimism that the three-year International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, to take off in January 2015, would open up investment opportunities for the country.
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It would also deliver infrastructure development, and create social intervention programmes for the poor and vulnerable in the society.
The country and IMF are currently engaged in preliminary discussions over an economic resurgence programme, which the President said was expected to end next Thursday, September 25, after which the way would be cleared for the actual programme to begin in January.
Speaking at the 2014 'Africa Investor' (AI) CEO institutional investment summit held at the offices of New York Stock Exchange in the United States of America on Monday, Mr Mahama said the engagement with the IMF was a good move by government to restore normalcy in the economy.
"We are looking for instance at seeing strong social intervention programmes to cushion the poor. " he said.
The AI summit, which was aimed at boosting foreign direct investment in Africa was attended by the business community in the USA and other parts of the world.
President Mahama who is in New York to attend the 69th meeting of the UN General Assembly was the guest speaker for the Ai Summit.
Bright future
President Mahama said the future of Ghana looked very bright in spite of the current short-term economic challenges.
He was highly optimistic that the engagement with the Breton Woods institution would boost investor confidence in the country.
The President said the coming on board of the IMF did not mean the government was throwing out the home grown economic policies.
Investment
In that context, every effort would be made to pursue measures adopted to increase investment.
Investment potentials
Touching on the enormous investment potentials of Ghana, the President said any genuine investor who decide to do business in the county would never regret.
He mentioned the agriculture, transport and energy as some of the few areas where Ghana reigned supreme and for which the investor community should explore.
The president further told the gathering that the third Eurobond had been a huge success, saying a lot of the money would go into capital investment via the Ghana Infrastructure Fund.
He said plans were underway to expand the Tema port as Ghana moved to further open her doors to business opportunities.
West Africa
President Mahama touched on sub regional growth, saying some significant strides had been made while the future looked even brighter.
However, he mentioned some risk factors that could threaten investor confidence.
These include the general elections that were coming on next year in some of the countries, the Ebola outbreak and the Boko Haram menace, expressing the hope that the threats would be overcomed.
In a welcome speech, Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz, the special adviser to the UN Secretary General on Africa, welcomed efforts of African leaders to come out with business innovative policies to create wealth for their peoples.
He stressed the importance of the private sector to play a more meaningful role in bridging the infrastructure gap in Africa.
The World Bank estimates Africa's infrastructure needs at least $93billion annually against the annual investment by African countries of $45billion.
He said the establishment of a continental free trade by 2017 was a possibility, especially with progressive leaders like President Mahama,
