Gov’t receives good signals on IMF programme – Mahama

Source: Daily Graphic Ghana - The government is receiving good signals from the ongoing three-year economic stabilisation programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), President John Dramani Mahama has said.

He mentioned the handling of expenditures as one area where the result was positive, adding, "We are also doing our best to stabilise the microeconomy, bring down interest rates and inflation."

President Mahama made this known when officials of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) and Meridian Ports Services (MPS) called on him at the Flagstaff House last Friday, to brief him on the expansion of the Tema Port

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GPHA and MPS, which are in a joint venture with Bollore? Africa Logistics and APM Terminals, signed the agreement last Friday to expand the Tema Port.

The project, which is scheduled to be completed in three years, will have four new berths that can take the largest vessels in the world. Terminal facilities to be constructed will include bulk, liquid bulk and general cargo terminals.

President Mahama said the $1.5 billion agreement signed for the expansion of the Tema Port was a testimony of the growing investor confidence in the country. "You won't have this investment coming in when you know that the Ghanaian economy is going down," he said.

In a separate project but with links to the port expansion, APM Terminals and Bollore? Africa Logistics will upgrade the Accra-Tema Motorway to a six-lane modern highway along with improved connecting roads and access points to enhance the movement of cargoes in and out of the port of Tema and the hinterland.

President Mahama said he was excited about the works going on at the Tema Port because they were all privately funded. “They will thus not add to the problems government has with debt management. That is why I think it is unique and it is worth celebrating," he said.

He indicated that the project was going to be the single largest investment in Ghana in the non-oil sector. When the project is completed, Ghana can rank high as one of the best in terms of port efficiency in the world.

President Mahama congratulated the parties on what he described as that extraordinary collaboration.

Touching on the ongoing Takoradi Port expansion project, the President said it also demonstrated the determination by the government to bolster economic development.

Present at the briefing included the Minister of Transport, Mrs Dzifa Attivor, and the Board Chairman of GPHA, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo.

Touching on the power problem, President Mahama said everything was being done to stabilise the situation. "I am sure that sooner rather than later, we will have stable and adequate power for all investors," he said.