The UK Secretary for Development, Vicky Ford has pledged her country’s support for Ghana and Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, to turn things around.
According to her, the United Kingdom has been a trusted partner to Ghana over the decades.
Speaking at a meeting with Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, at the ongoing International Monetary Fund/World Bank Annual Meetings, Vicky Ford, said these are challenging times for economies globally, but development partners continue to remain important to the UK.
She continued that the United Kingdom is happy to continue to offer tax transformation support to Ghana, among other support initiatives.
“We have to advocate for more development funding because nations are facing existential challenges and there is a growing need for development assistance”, she stressed.
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, assured the UK that the Government of Ghana will implement a programme that ensures post- Covid-19 economic growth, whilst addressing rising inflation and exchange rate pressures.
He further opined that “we are in a period where the world needs a Marshall Plan of sorts, to stimulate global economic recovery. None must be left behind”.
“Now is not the time for austerity as poverty will be exacerbated”, he added.
Mr. Ofori-Atta also called for creative ways of bridging the financing gap, through climate financing and debt swaps, among others.
He also revealed that the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority exceeded its revenue collection in September 2022, which Madam Ford highly welcomed.
Again, he pointed out that the government will continue to work on increasing revenue collections by blocking leakages at the ports, amongst other measures, adding, “mobilising additional financing resources is critical in the next few months”.
Other discussions held were on security in the West African sub-region and revenue mobilisation.
