The board of directors of the World Bank Group is expected to approve a new Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Ghana, Ousmane Diagana, the World Bank vice-president for West and Central Africa has said.
He said the new Country Partnership Framework (CPF) is expected to be presented to the World Bank Group’s board on 22 February 2022 for the necessary approval.
Speaking at a press briefing in Accra on Monday (7 February), Diagana said “In the next couple of weeks, the World Bank would be presenting to its board a new country partnership framework (CPF) and one of the key goals of this strategy is to create the condition for a strong private sector-led growth; put resilience of the population, economy and community, support reform programmes that will lead to job creation and obviously to secure the development path that Ghana is going through.”
He also used the opportunity to praise the country for its management of the COVID-19 pandemic and commended the government for its economic recovery programmes as well.
“Ghana has well managed the COVID-19 pandemic, the vaccination continues, progress has been made, obviously, efforts should be pursued and sustained so that the majority of the population will access to the vaccine…”
“Talking about economic recovery, I must praise the Ghanaian Government for accomplishment so far, growth is already back at a level which was not expected at more than 4%. Obviously, our role as a development institution is to continue to work with the country in order to create the condition for sustaining that growth to make it equitably distributed. So that inclusion which is essential for the development of any country could also be more achieved in Ghana,” Diagana added.
He said Ghana has always defined strategies that have made the World bank’s intervention and support to the country relatively easy.
He said his visit also takes place in very difficult circumstances for the sub-region with the challenge of insecurity at the political front.
“You have seen what is happening in Burkina Faso and what happened in Mali, Ghana is not far from those countries. It is therefore very essential that together we continue to work to make sure that the economic opportunities will benefit all the population particularly the youth who need to have access to the job market and to also have access to decent jobs.”
Ghana Beyond Aid
He said “The vision that Ghana has set for itself; ‘the Ghana Beyond Aid’ is something that needs to be applauded because I think it’s very important if you look at development as a long term agenda really to be visionary and to create the condition, however, to achieve this vision in a realistic manner.
“When you look at all the countries that have been developed in history, they are having a clear vision in transforming their natural resources,” he added.
The World Bank currently has about US$3.2 billion worth of projects from diverse areas of the Ghanaian economy.
The World Bank vice-president is visiting Ghana from 7 February to 9 February 2022.
This is OusmaneDiagana’s first visit to Ghana since his appointment as vice-president for the region in July 2020.
Ousmane Diagana will pay a courtesy call to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
He will also hold high-level discussions with government officials on critical areas of the World Bank’s Ghana’s program including macro-economic, energy sector issues, COVID-19 pandemic, and vaccine rollout
Diagana will also hold high-level discussions with other government leaders and key stakeholders, including the vice-president, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta He will also visit World Bank-financed projects such as the Korle Bu, the Ghana Tech Hub and Ghana Innovation Hub at the Accra Digital.
