world bank Archives - Page 2 of 6

04 Mar

World Bank Threatens To Cancel Loans To Ghana Over Anti-LGBTQI+ Bill

wontumionlineBusinessAnti LGBTQ+ Bill, world bank

The World Bank has issued a warning to Ghana, threatening to cancel loans worth at least $850 million due to concerns over the recently passed Anti-LGBTQI+ Bill, formally known as the Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2024, Asaase News reports. The Bretton Woods institution has raised alarms about the potential impact of the bill on the implementation of World Bank projects and activities in Ghana. Parliament is expected to consider three major facilities from the World Bank, and a withdrawal of these loans could jeopardize Ghana's entire program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and related debt…

17 Oct

IMF, World Bank Work To Accelerate Debt Treatment For Ghana, Others Under G20

wontumionlineBusinessGhana, imf, world bank

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank are working together to accelerate debt restructuring for Ghana and other countries under the Group of 20 (G20) Common Framework. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, IMF said this during a plenary meeting at the 2023 IMF/WGB Annual Meetings in Marrakech. “The IMF and the World Bank are bringing all relevant creditors and debtors together with promising signs,” the IMF Managing Director said. She explained that the two global financial institutions were doing so because the progress of the Common Framework on delivering on debt restructurings had been slow. The move is one of…

05 Oct

World Bank Africa Pulse Report: Ghana’s Inflation 4th Highest In Sub-Saharan Africa

wontumionlineBusinessenergy prices, food prices, Inflation, October 2023 Africa Pulse Report, world bank

Ghana’s inflation of 40.1% is the 4th highest in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2023, the World Bank October 2023 Africa Pulse Report has revealed. Zimbabwe is 1st with more than 80% inflation and is followed by Sudan (60%) and Sierra Leone (42%). According to the report, food and energy prices are still contributing to driving headline inflation in most countries in the region. By July 2023, it said, nearly half of the countries in the region with monthly available information on food prices (20 of 41 countries) had double-digit year-on-year rates of food inflation, with the fastest increases experienced in Burundi, Ghana, Malawi,…

04 Oct

World Bank Approves $125 Million For Capacity Building Of Environmental Officers

wontumionlineNewsworld bank

An amount of $125 million has been approved by the World Bank for Ghana to undertake capacity building of environmental officers. This, according to a report by graphic.com.gh, is to help these environmental officers prosecute sanitation offences in courts, through the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources. The money follows an amount of $150 that was provided by the World Bank in 2015, for the project to be piloted in the Greater and Ashanti Regions of Ghana, for a period of five years. During a two-day workshop for 40 environmental officers drawn from two regions: Upper East and Upper West,…

04 Oct

Sanitation Ministry Gets $125M World Bank Support

wontumionlineBusinessSanitation Ministry, world bank

The World Bank has approved $125 million to support a five-year project of the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources (MSWR) to build the capacities of its environmental officers to prosecute sanitation offences in courts. In 2015, the World Bank provided funds for the project to be piloted in the Greater Accra and Ashanti regions with $150 million over a five-year period. The Programme Manager of the MSWR, Charlotte Akwaah Adjei Marfo, disclosed this at the end of a two-day workshop for 40 environmental officers drawn from two regions in Wa last Saturday. She emphasised that enforcement of sanitation laws…

21 Aug

Impact Of DDEP Impairment Losses On Banking Sector And Role Of Ghana Financial Stability Fund – The Case Of Local Banks

wontumionlineBusinessBoG, DDEP, Ghana Financial Stability Fund, imf, local banks, ministry of finance, world bank

The Ghanaian financial sector has been in severe distress, characterised by an insolvent banking system as result of the domestic debt exchange in 2022. Using the 16% discount rate for the Net Present Value calculation for government bonds, the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme losses of 22 banks stood at ¢37.7 billion with the private domestic banks and state-owned banks accounting for losses of ¢19.9 billion, while foreign owned banks accounted for ¢17.8 billion. The DDEP impairment losses have technically rendered some of Ghanaian local owned banks insolvent that would require additional capital support from shareholders or participate fully in the…

09 Aug

Ghana Ranked Among 10 Countries Globally With Highest Food Inflation – World Bank

wontumionlineBusinessFood inflation, Ghana, world bank

Ghana has been ranked among 10 countries in the world with the highest food inflation. According to a Food Security Report by the World Bank, the country’s Nominal Food Inflation (year-on-year) of 54% placed the nation at the 8th position. It Real Food Inflation (year-on-year) of 12%, however, placed it at the 9th position. For the Nominal Food Inflation category, Venezuela placed first with a year-on-year inflation of 414%. It was followed by Lebanon (280%), Zimbabwe (256%), Argentina (117th), Suriname (71%), Egypt (66%), Sierra Leone (58%) in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th positions respectively. With regard to Real Food Inflation, Zimbabwe…

28 Jul

World Bank, IMF Partly Responsible For Ghana’s Economic Woes – Dr. Yamson

wontumionlineBusinessDr. Ishmael Yamson, imf, world bank

Economist, Dr. Ishmael Yamson, says the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are partly responsible for Ghana’s current economic situation. According to him, the Bretton-Wood institutions watched on as the government went on a borrowing spree without reprimanding it and putting a stop to the behavior. He said their annual reports warning of a debt distress were not enough as they should have rather threatened to impose sanctions if their warnings were not heeded. He stated that their failure to effectively play their oversight role on the country’s economy is partly responsible for the nation’s debt distress situation. “I…

21 Jul

Ghana’s Economy To Bounce Back After 2025 – World Bank Report

wontumionlineBusinessNana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, world bank

Ghana’s economy is expected to bounce back to its growth potential after 2025, the World Bank has said. “Growth will further decelerate in the short term (2023-24) before returning to its potential after 2025,” it said in its 7th Ghana Economic Update. This is contained in a report in the update titled ‘Price Surge: Unravelling Inflation’s Toll on Poverty and Food Security’. Authored by three economists of the World Bank, Kwabena Gyan Kwakye, economist; Paul Andres Corral Rodas, Senior Economist and David Elmaleh, Senior Economist, the yearly analytical report examined Ghana’s economic development prospects. This year’s report focused on the…

18 Jul

Optimize Intra-African Trade To Address Economic Challenges – World Bank To African Nations

wontumionlineBusinessworld bank

Managing Director of Operations at World Bank, Anna Bjerde, has called on African nations to optimize intra-African trade as part of efforts to address the continent’s economic challenges. She opines that the continent has over the years not fully tapped into the regional trade opportunity and therefore requires more work in boosting intra-Africa trade facilitation. Speaking with journalists in Accra during her official visit to Ghana, Anna Bjerde urged both the public and private sector stakeholders to improve their resolve towards digitization which is a driving force for many countries. “The regional economic trade opportunities across countries in Africa are…