IFC Loan: Signing in Accra by December - Schneider

THE BOSS of the International Finance Consortium (IFC), Mr. Horst Schneider, says he is working on coming to Accra from Frankfurt in Germany to go ahead with the signing of the $1billion loan agreement that has been the subject of many controversies over the last week.

Mr. Schneider, a German who comes across as an unconvincing forex bureau operator though secretive was bold enough to give his word that the deal to lend a $1billion to Ghana was the first of its kind in Africa after a couple of such transactions in Eastern Europe and some Asian countries.

It was gathered that Tanzania was close to receiving a similar package. Mr. Schneider said he was very impressed with the quality of representation from the Ghanaians he dealt with because, unlike other nationals he came across over the years, they made no under-the-table demands to cut deals with him.

?We have been very impressed by the ethics of the banking establishment representatives, your public officials, they were honest and transparent and we are extremely well pleased in our dealings with the Government of Ghana,? he said in a 25-minute searching interview last week.

He mentioned that the United Nations Office for Population Studies (UNOPS) had been contacted to be the disbursing body to ensure transparency and accountability.

Schneider however would not be drawn on the question of the identity of the banks or syndication of banks, preferring rather to say ?they are private people, private foundation who do not want to be mentioned.

He said he takes the front row position in the transactions because the South Africans want to stay in the back ground.

He mentioned a few names of the Board that make up the IFC, namely two Germans including him, two Brits, four South Africans - Ms. Esther Buckley and Mr. Lentse (the names remembered among the list).

The law firm in the center of the transaction he gave as Oricks, Sutcliffe and Harrington.

?I hope they will act fast on this because Ghana needs money more than we do. I know the opposition in Ghana has tried to discredit this, but I have news for them, we are going to pull this off.?

On the extremely good terms of the loan agreement - 2 percent interest rate with three years? moratorium - he said that they have a social conscience and have a humanitarian agenda.

Then he said with a chuckle, ?We are potential alternatives to the World Bank, We do not advertise.?

But even as he said these there wase enough credible information to warrant a more cautious approach to the deal.

He was at pains to explain that the arrangement fee was not going to come out of the pockets of the Ghana Government but rather will be deducted at source from the first tranche of $350 million.

He said Ghana was very much qualified for this unprecedented windfall opportunity to access credit at the time the country has chosen the path of the Highly Indebted and Poor Countries that makes it almost impossible to raise loans on the international money market