ECOWAS Bank Governors meet in Accra

Accra, May 20, GNA - Finance Minister Dr Kwabena Duffuor has appealed to countries in the West African sub-region to enhance internal financing instruments and mechanisms to sustain the growth of their economies. He said the move was necessary given the low growth of financial markets, the drop in foreign aid and fallen commodity prices, which put many countries at the risk of suffering negative impact on their development efforts. Dr Duffuor, who was speaking at the Ninth Ordinary Meeting of the Board of Governors of ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) in Accra on Friday, said there must be the resolve to strengthen the economies of countries in the sub-region by pooling resources together through regional groupings and associations. "We must therefore thoroughly discuss the meeting agenda and come out with workable solutions, innovative and pragmatic ideas that will position the bank and continue to make it more relevant to the needs of our economies," he said.

EBID was established in 1979 as the ECOWAS Fund but was transformed into a bank in 2004. Dr Duffuor said since its inception, EBID had performed creditably by supporting the sub-regional financial system and stimulating growth through a rising volume of its investments. From 2004 to 2010, the bank approved 121 projects valued at about 1.2 billion dollars. In Ghana, EBID had financed projects both in the private and public sectors, including electrification of 114 rural communities in Ashanti and Brong Ahafo Regions, rehabilitation of the Bekwai Government Hospital and the modernisation of the headquarters of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS). Mr Mambury Njie, Chairman of the Board of Governors of EBID, said efforts to mobilise financial resources were positive resulting in the signing of the first tranche of the second Indian line of credit, signing of the five million dollars BADEA line of credit and signing of a trade finance line of credit from the OPEC Fund. He called for efforts to operationalise the ECOWAS Community Levy to provide a pool of funds to support public projects, which were important for the growth of the Sub-Region.