Accra, April 8, GNA - Mr John Tia Akologu, Minister of Information, on Thursday said Ghana's economy was steadily progressing as government continued to initiate prudent measures to attain the growth needed to propel its "Better Ghana" agenda.

He was addressing a press conference on the Ministry's maiden programme dubbed "Matters Arising" in Accra which is a platform to periodically present to Ghanaians an insider-account of government's stewardship and forum for interaction and feedback.

Mr Akologu noted that government's "Better Ghana Agenda" was on course and that the expected change would be impressive, massive and crosscutting. He said due to the institution of prudent management policies inflation had reduced from 18.1 per cent in January 2009 to 14.23 per cent by the end of February 2010.

"The decision by the Monetary Policy Committee of Bank of Ghana to reduce the Policy Rate by 200 basis points from 18 to 16 per cent also led to a reduction in the Treasury Bill rate to 17 per cent in mid-February, from an average of 25 per cent in October 2009," he added.

Mr Akologu pointed out that this development could lead to massive reduction in the lending rates of banks to address the concerns of Small and Medium Scale enterprises.

He said government had managed to trim the huge fiscal deficit of close to 15 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to less than 10 per cent of GDP and settled most of the arrears estimated at about GH¢1.7 billion across all sectors of the economy, while public debt was in excess of eight million dollars.

"To address this situation generally, government has in addition to other payments released GH¢160 million for the payment of road contractors.

"A few weeks ago, government paid the management of Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) GH¢450 million as part-payment for debts owed it by the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), the bank was on the verge of collapse and badly exposed as a result of the TOR debt," he said.

Mr Akologu explained that beneficiaries of payments of arrears such as the railway workers, newly recruited nurses and teachers whose remunerati= ons had not been paid for several months in 2007 and 2008, would now have improved living standards, while many other crippling arrears in other sectors had continued to receive attention over the last 15 months. He announced that government was working on plans to revamp the rail= way sector by spending two million Ghana cedis on the rehabilitation of the Takoradi rail lines, ensure refurbishment of the Tema rail lines to help improve human transportation, ease up the Tema-Accra traffic and ensure t= hat the Accra-Kumasi rail lines became operational.

On job creation, Mr Akologu said as government continued to stabilise the economy, many more job opportunities would be created.

"Investment inflows have already started coming in appreciable volum= es and as government continues to promote competitive advantages of the coun= try to the investment world, the country's job markets would continue to expa= nd and absorb the growing number of skilled labour," he added.

Mr Akologu announced that 200 newly registered companies with the Gh= ana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) in 2009 were expected to create about 18,789 jobs for Ghanaians. He said in the Northern Region, some initiatives including the construction of a shea butter processing plant at Buipe, while the Minist= ry of Trade and Industry had released GH¢1.9 million for preparatory works= at the Northern Star Tomato Factory at Pwalugu to commence work.

Mr Akologu said the education sector had received great attention, citing the free school uniform programme for deprived pupils, the distribution of over 42 million free exercise books and a 50 per cent increase in the capitation grant.

He said about 7.3 million Euros had been made available for the upgrading of technical and vocational facilities in some institutions including Takoradi, Tema and Saint Paul Technical Institutes.

Mr Akologu said 600 out of 3,947 schools that conducted classes under trees were being replaced with new classroom blocks and teachers in such deprived communities provided with special incentives.

He assured the citizenry of their safety and security at all times, saying in-spite of the challenges in few areas including Bawku that must be addressed, it was imperative that the security agencies were up to the task. On the Bawku crises, Mr Akologu warned that government would not allow any institution including chieftaincy to foment trouble and disturb the peace in the country.

He announced that National Boundaries Commission would be sworn-in o= n Friday, April 9 to ensure Ghana's boundaries were well demarcated and internationally approved, while special security arrangements had been pu= t in place to ensure the oil and gas resource were protected.