Parliament approves three loans

Parliament on Thursday unanimously approved three loan agreements totalling 222.3 million dollars and 11 million Deutsch Marks (DM) for the execution of various projects in the country.

The 220 million dollars being contracted from the International Development Association (IDA) goes into the Road Sector Development Programme (RSDP) while the 11 million DM from Germany is to support the District Capital III Project in ten districts in Brong Ahafo and Ashanti Regions.

The third is 2.3 million dollars from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Fund for poverty reduction in Ghana.

Except the last loan that was described as meagre and a "little bit demeaning", the rest went through the approval process without comments.

Mr Moses Asaga, the Minority Spokesman on Finance, ridiculed government for taking the loan but called for the implementation of stringent economic measures to reduce poverty.

The Minister of Finance, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo retorted that Mr Asaga negotiated for the loan when he was a Deputy Minister of Finance in the former government.