Swiss govt pledges support for Ghana

Regional news June 11/2008

Story: Charles Benoni Okine

THE Swiss government has expressed its interest to renew an agreement with Ghana to continue supporting the budget through the Multi Donor Budgetary Support (MDBS) programme.
This is to enable Switzerland to maintain its contribution to the development objectives of the country by supporting the government directly through its central budget when the existing three-year agreement expires at the end of this year.
Ghana has since the signing of the first agreement, benefited from $50 million, paid in three equal tranches since 2003.
Mrs Emeafa Hardcastle, Economic and Trade Officer at the Swiss Embassy in Accra, told the Daily Graphic that the intention of the Swiss government to continue with the support was as a result of the confidence the Swiss government had in Ghana.
She said the first agreement to that effect was initially signed in 2003 and renewed in 2006 and noted that the Swiss government was awaiting a request for an extension of the agreement to enable it to continue with the support.
Ghana is the only country besides South-Africa in sub-Saharan Africa and amongst seven countries worldwide where Switzerland concentrates its bilateral economic development co-operation.
Switzerland’s economic development co-operation with Ghana is oriented towards the implementation of the government’s Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy II (GPRS II) in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Mrs Hardcastle also outlined a number of areas where the Swiss government was supporting the government of Ghana and mentioned for instance financial support of $750,000 to the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) to enable it to develop tools for the monitoring and evaluation of the country’s procurement laws.
She said there was also a technical assistance programme together with GTZ in revenue generation under which Switzerland assists the Ghana government in increasing its financial resource base through the increase of tax and non-tax revenues.
This support was to the tune of $936,000, she said, adding that this was being done through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
On infrastructure development, the Economic and Trade Officer said Switzerland had approved $12 million to support Ghana in the energy sector.