Mr Evans Asare, Senior Associate of Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG) Advisory, says Ghana is making moderate progress in the implementation of nine out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with seven of the goals being stagnated.

Mr Asare who was speaking on the Country Financing Roadmaps at the closing ceremony of the third Virtual Accra SDGs Investment Fair in Accra on the theme: “Regaining Momentum in SDGs Implementation during and post COVID-19” said there was lack of data to measure the progress of goal one.

In 2018, the Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the Ghana Investment Promotions Centre and the SDGs Advisory Unit, launched the annual SDGs Investment Fair to encourage private financing of the SDGs.

The fair aims at facilitating collaborations between investors and sustainable public and private sector project/businesses.

Mr Asare mentioned gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, good health and well-being, zero hunger, industry, innovation and infrastructure, partnership for the goals and life on land as the eight goals that the country was making moderate progress in, with a little date on goal one.

He said with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the Co-Chair of the United Nations Secretary General’s Group of Eminent SDGs advocates, there was a strong commitment to ensuring that goals were met by 2030.

Mr Asare said there was a special advisory group set up to assist the President with advocacy to drive awareness and interest in the SDGs.

He said the country had also set up a diverse structure for SDGs implementation, which involved both the public, private and civil society organisations, and had an inter-ministerial committee with supervisory coordinating and implementing bodies.

He said the multi-stakeholder approach allowed for transparency and inclusion in the implementation of the goals.

On SDGs financing, Mr Asare said, Ghana had fused the SDGs budgeting and financing into its national budgeting process, which involved a bottom up approach, where local authorities also actively participated.

“This facilitates tracking of budget allocation to each goal,” the Senior Associate said.

Mr Asare said from the baseline assessment done, there was the absence of the public-private partnership law, absence of budgeted SDGs programme and initiatives, low domestic tax and funding and ineffective prioritisation of public funds.

He said there should be a PPP law to provide investor comfort and need for government to prepare a feasibility study for projects in priority sectors to attract private partners.

Mr Asare said for private capital and private equity, domestic fund managers and financiers should take the first layer of risk and make it attractive for external capital to flow into the country.

Dr Eugene Owusu, the Special Advisor to the President on SDGs commended the organisers of the SDG investment fair, saying, it was helping to address implementation challenges.

He said traditional sources of funding for the implementation of the SDGs would always be woefully inadequate, adding that the COVID-19 had caused investors to withdraw about 700 billion dollars from emerging and development markets.

Mr Owusu said the pandemic had changed the financing landscape in the implementation of the SDGs and called for innovative financing.

He said some works had started in the area of the Country Financing Road Map to address the financing gap space.

Mr Owusu said the government was fully committed to addressing the financing challenges in the implementation of the SDGs and pledged that government would continue to engage the private sector in the implementation of the SDGs.

He called on stakeholders, especially private sector players to collaborate with government to actualise the implementation of the goals of SDGs.

The 2020 Virtual Accra SDGs Investment Fair is to provide a platform to explore new opportunities within the new normal, identify innovative ways to access financial resources during the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery, share experiences relating to individual and corporate adaptability in the wake of COVID-19 and rebuilding momentum for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Accra SDGs Investment Fair brought together high-level government officials, community facilitators, investors, civil society organisations, entrepreneurs, knowledge institutions and other stakeholders to help develop a sustainable network for post-COVID-19 strategies that will support Government’s vision of a Ghana Beyond Aid.