Britain Gives 1.6 Trillion Cedis To Ghana

The British Government is to make available 1.6 trillion cedis (110 million pounds) in grant to Ghana over the next three years within the framework of the Multi Donor Budget Support (MDBS).

An agreement sealing the deal was signed in Accra yesterday between Finance Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo and the British High Commissioner, Dr Rod Pullen on behalf of their respective governments.

The signing also saw the release of the first tranche of 216 billion cedis (15 million pounds) to Ghana. A further disbursement of an additional 10 million pounds is expected later in the year after the conclusion of the joint progress review currently taking place. It is the first of such agreements to be signed since Ghana reached an understanding with her development partners for support under the MDBS.

The MDBS is a framework of budget support agreed with a number of development partners that harmonises, reporting, review disbursement mechanisms and policy actions necessary to trigger the release of the funds. Money provided under the MDBS provides the government the flexibility and the responsibility to allocate funding for its own priorities.

Mr Osafo-Maafo said the system was to chart a new course to ensure the predictability of external inflows and reduce the transaction costs to government in dealing with donors. He said the signing of the agreement was a positive signal since it constituted the first disbursement to be made under the programme reached with the country's development partners.

Mr Osafo-Maafo said the amount provided would be used to pursue the growth agenda of the government within the framework of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy.

Dr Pullen said the agreement was a mark of confidence in Ghana's determinations to implement the Poverty Reduction Strategy. He expressed the hope that the assistance would be spent in the best way that would benefit the country and makes a real difference to poor people's lives.

Meanwhile, Britain is providing a further 200,000 pounds to monitor the disbursement funds through the Ghana government's treasury.