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Ghana's governance credentials lauded

Published date:
Thursday, 05 May 2011

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Mr. Daniel W. Yohannes, has lauded Ghana for meeting the benchmark on good governance to qualify for a second compact under the Millennium Challenge Accounts (MCA).

Ghana has already benefited from $547 million from the US government under the MCA for some development projects, including the ongoing dual NI highway that connects the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange to the Mallam Junction in Accra.

The compact deadline for Ghana is scheduled for February 2012, but Mr. Yohannes told selected journalists in Africa via a telephonic conference call that, the fact that Ghana had demonstrated commitment to further deepen good governance made it eligible to apply for a second compact after the completion of the first compact.

The conference comes on the heels of an upcoming 2011 African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) forum on US/ sub-saharan Africa Trade and Economic Co-operation with the MCC in Lusaka, Zambia, from 9-10 on the theme, “Enhanced trade through increased competitiveness, value addition and deeper regional integration.”

Mr. Yohannes, who addressed questions from Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, Mozambique and South Africa, said, the MCC was vital to President Obama’s development plan for Africa and that $8 billion had been invested in various projects in Africa towards reduction poverty.

The MCC, according to the CEO, was funding Venchpro, a pineapple producing company in Ghana, to cultivate the fruit on a 1,00 – acre farm for export to the European market, adding that, training for 65,000 farmers in the country had been provided for the cultivation of various crops.

Responding to how the MCC could help Ghana develop a ceramic industry, Mr. Yohannes explained that, the goal of the corporation was to reduce poverty through economic growth and that, funding from the MCC was anchored on country generated projects with the view to creating conditions for bridging the trade gap between Ghana and the US.

He said, a US government team was currently working with the government of Ghana to complete economic growth constraints analysis and also help determine the appropriate sectors and geographical regions to focus the investments of a potential seconds compact.

Much of the current compact’s funding is already committed to the rural areas, including numerous rural roads being rehabilitated, the building of post harvest infrastructure, schools, small-town water system and rural electric lines and the computerization of rural banks.

As the economic growth constraints analysis is still not complete, the CEO said, the MCC and the government had still not determined the focus of investment for a potential second compact.

The AGOA forum which will be in sessions, is expected to attract more than 800 participants, such as senior US and African officials, as well as people in the private sector and civil society.

AGOA represents a progressive US trade and investment policy towards the African continent in working to reduce trade barriers, increase diversified products, create jobs, as well as expand opportunities for Africans.



“ Latest AGOA Trade Data currently available on AGOA.info


Click here to view a sector profile of Ghana's bilateral trade with the United States, disaggregated by total exports and imports, AGOA exports and GSP exports.


Other regularly updated trade statistics on AGOA.info include: (click each link to view)

  • AGOA-Beneficiary Countries’ AGOA and GSP Trade Aggregates

  • AGOA Trade by Industry Sector

  • Apparel Trade under AGOA’s Wearing Apparel Provisions

  • Latest Apparel Quotas under AGOA

  • Bilateral Trade Data for all AGOA-eligible countries individually.




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