UK reviews aid to Ghana | Economy

The UK government is currently reviewing its aid to Ghana in light of the attainment of lower middle income status in 2010.

It covers all of the United Kingdom's Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Ghana from 2011 to the end of the 2018/2019 fiscal year.

Over the past 20 years, the United Kingdom has granted more than £ 2 billion in aid to this country in West Africa.

This is the first Country Portfolio Review undertaken by the Independent Commission for the Impact of Aid (ICAI), which examines UK aid spending.

The British government has now recognized the changing nature of its aid to Ghana.

IACI notes: "Since 2012, the portfolio has been reoriented to help Ghana overcome its economic and governance challenges and mobilize resources to finance its own development.

"However, persistent poverty and growing inequality in Ghana suggest that UK aid still has a role to play in achieving better human development outcomes and protecting the results of past aid."

In its portfolio review approach paper released this month, IACI commended Ghana for maintaining its political stability since returning to democracy in 1992.

He also noted that Ghana has managed to become the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target 1 of halving extreme poverty.

In 2015, Ghana halved the number of people suffering from hunger, as well as the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water, universal primary education, and gender equality in primary education, reduce HIV prevalence and expand access to information communication technologies, in line with the MDGs.

But from 2012, Ghana began to experience a deterioration of the macroeconomic situation, with fiscal and balance of payments deficits exceeding 10 percent of gross domestic product, noted the ICAI document.

"In 2014, the macroeconomy had developed large budget and current account deficits, high inflation and a sharp depreciation of the currency.

"In April 2015, a three-year extended credit facility of about $ 916 million from the International Monetary Fund was approved, thus contributing to the economic recovery, but economic growth has been significantly slowed down between 2014 and 2017, even though the country has retained its status as a middle-income country.

"In 2016, the number of people living below the threshold of extreme international poverty had further increased and the income inequality overall was slightly worsened," the paper said.

He continued: "During the reporting period, Ghana continued to face development challenges. "It has only progressed slowly in improving the quality of education, reducing under-five mortality and infant mortality and improving the quality of life." 39; sanitation.

"Governance problems, an inefficient public sector, growing indebtedness and excessive dependence on commodities are all risks to Ghana's continued development.

"Ghana continues to face significant challenges to improve agricultural productivity, manage rapid urbanization, adapt to climate change and other environmental constraints in its economy, and fight hunger." and other forms of malnutrition.

"There are inequalities in development outcomes between the north and south of the country and there is a growing gap between urban and rural areas.

"Inequalities within regions have also increased.

"Women and other vulnerable groups face unequal opportunities and resources and, all too often, violence," the paper adds.

IACI noted President Nana Akufo-Addo's "Beyond Aid" agenda in Ghana, underscoring that this was a sign of a strong commitment to growth and reduction in poverty.

He said that this was "generally understood as a policy of reorienting Ghana's external partnerships towards greater autonomy to face the challenges of development".

However, IACI pointed out that overall aid to Ghana has decreased.

In the five years between 2008 and 2012, donors committed an average of $ 1.79 billion a year, in constant terms, to Ghana in 2016.

Over the next five years, from 2013 to 2017, the equivalent commitment was $ 1.35 billion on average per year, a decrease of 25%.

The review seeks to determine the extent to which UK badistance has responded to Ghana's development needs and strategic objectives; to what extent this badistance has been effective in achieving its strategic objectives in Ghana; and what is the likelihood that the United Kingdom's aid results will be maintained in the future.

An ICAI team will travel to Ghana in June to "conduct a stakeholder consultation to gather feedback from key institutional informants and Ghanaian citizens on topics of interest to the review".

Preliminary results will be presented in August and the final report will be released in December.