Inflation Drops Further

Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of Finance on Tuesday said Ghana's inflation rate by the end of April was 14.9 per cent, dropping from about 42 per cent when the government assumed power in January last year.

He said the depreciation of the currency had also dropped from 52 per cent to about 25 per cent. Mr Osafo-Maafo said this in a presentation on " Ghana-Beacon of Hope in Africa", a documentation prepared by the Economic Management Team when Mr Paul

O'Neill, United States Treasury Secretary, led a 16-member delegation to call on President John Agyekum Kufuor at the Castle, Osu. Mr O'Neill is in Ghana on a three-day official visit to begin a two-week African tour that would also take him to South Africa, Uganda and Ethiopia where he would meet key business, trade and government leaders.

His wife Nancy and daughter as well as Paul "Bono" Hewson, a renowned musician, accompanied Mr O'Neill. The tour will give Mr O'Neill the opportunity to highlight efforts to enhance the effectiveness of development assistance, the importance of increasing productivity through investment in human capital and the role of the private sector as an engine of growth in Africa.

It will also highlight and enhance the effectiveness of US department's policies. Mr Osafo-Maafo said the micro-economic framework being pursued by the government required budgetary support rather than support for specific projects. He said the government was now keen on public financing management to improve revenue collection from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Value Added Tax (VAT) and the Customs, Excise and Preventive Services (CEPS) and these were the areas government required assistance from the donor communities.

The Finance Minister said fluctuations in the crude oil prices and delays in the inflow of funds from donor agencies were the problems facing the implementation of government policies and programmes and appealed to the US for support and technical assistance for public financing to be transparent, reliable, on time and accurate.

Mr Osafo-Maafo said forensic audit conducted by the government into some state enterprises that were divested were found to be fraudulent and not transparent which had to be reviewed and this had delayed the divestiture programme because of government's determination to ensure transparency. "We are making a lot of sacrifices and we need your support to become the role model of Africa, " he added.

Mr Joseph Henry Mensah, Senior Minister said efforts would be made to put agriculture on priority with regard to Ghana-US relationship to enable Ghanaian farmers create much wealth to improve their living standards. Mr O'Neill said he was impressed by the presentation and gave the assurance that the US would provide the needed technical assistance to Ghana, adding," we need to support your efforts".