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President Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo will cut next week for the construction of the Tamale Interchange, which is part of the development of road infrastructure in the country.
The development of road infrastructure is part of the barter transaction between Sinohydro Bauxite and Sinohydro between the Government of Ghana and the Chinese company Sinohydro Group Limited.
The government said that $ 1.5 billion would be spent on road construction in the 16 regions to strengthen socio-economic activities and spur economic growth.
The Sinohydro Bauxite transaction agreement, signed in 2017 during Vice President Bawumia's visit to China, indicates that the Chinese company would build roads, interchanges and bridges for Ghana and that we would only pay nothing for three years, hoping that they would have already been completed. projects.
Subsequently, Ghana would mine bauxite deposits estimated at $ 400 billion, refine them in the country to add value to the ore and use the proceeds of the sale of the goods to pay the Chinese company.
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia made the statement when he delivered the keynote speech at the first public meeting of the College of Physicians and Surgeons' Economic Management Team on Wednesday. ; Accra.
The theme of the event was "Our Progress, Our Status, Our Future", to inform the public of the progress made to date and the efforts made to sustain them to foster economic growth and development.
The meeting attracted representatives of civil society organizations, academics, traders, importers, freight forwarders and members of the public, which allowed them to interact with members of the public. the EMT and ask about a wide range of issues related to the economy.
Vice President Bawumia, president of the EMT, said that after the inauguration ceremony at Tamale Interchange, President Akufo-Addo would hold another ceremony in Takoradi for the construction of the roundabout TPC to facilitate traffic in Takoradi and surrounding areas.
He said the government is pursuing inclusive governance in which everyone would be positively affected, adding that it has strengthened its human capacity through the Free High Schools Policy, the National Builders Corps, Plant for food and employment and reduce nuisance taxes and other social factors. interventions.
Vice-President Bawumia noted that recent growth was mainly driven by the industry and agriculture sectors, with the latter reflecting in particular the effect of policy interventions in the sector, including plantations for food and agriculture. employment.
This led to an increase in agricultural sector growth from 2.9% in 2016 to 6.8% in 2018.
There was general agreement that it was prudent for the country to rely on its macroeconomic fundamentals, which would set the tone for business development and attract the investment needed for job creation and economic growth.
He said gains from positive macroeconomic indicators resulted from the efficiency of expenditure management through prioritization and reallocation of expenditures to the most needed areas, noting that the budget deficit had been significantly reduced, from 6.8% of GDP in 2016 to about 3.6% in 2018.
Vice President Bawumia commended the Ministry of Finance for focusing its efforts on aligning government revenue with its spending to reduce the budget deficit and acknowledged the complementary role of the Bank of Ghana in good management of the monetary and financial environment.
"The growing confidence in the macroeconomics I owe a lot to the prudent management of our public finances and monetary affairs over the last two years, "he said.
With regard to the depreciation of the cedi, he said at the end of December 2017 that the cedi was depreciated by 4.9% (9.6% in 2016) against the US dollar – the best performance of the cedi since 2011.
The cedi, he said, has depreciated by 8.4% in 2018, largely because of emerging pressure and rising US interest rates.
The data on annual The depreciation rate in recent years has been the worst in 2017-2018, but better than the best between 2012 and 2016.
The beginning of 2019 he said that he was characterized by the sharp depreciation of the cedi, which has since been reversed.
He noted that the cedi's depreciation was due to an IMF program that forced the Bank of Ghana to build up its reserves in a period of extreme demand pressures of some $ 800 million and left no room for intervention on the foreign exchange market in parallel. with approved intervention policy.
This, he said, partly explains why the Ghana cedi was under significant pressure early this year, exacerbated by speculation.
"The reason for the sudden reversal of the sharp depreciation we observed is that the market is corrected on its own. The opinions, expectations and uncertainties of investors acknowledged that fundamentals were much stronger than suspected and that even without the IMF, fiscal and monetary discipline is badured, "said Dr. Bawumia.
Although macroeconomic stability is needed, Vice President Bawumia acknowledged that it was not enough but that it needed to be translated and reflected in the everyday life of the ordinary Ghanaian.
"Our challenge is to make distribution fair, especially for the weak and vulnerable in society. This is the ultimate goal of inclusive governance, "said Dr. Bawumia.
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