The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has lashed out at financial rating agencies for their reckless pro-cyclical downgrades, which resulted in Ghana being blacklisted from the international capital market.
“I can comfortably and convincingly say this, as the AU champion for African financial institutions and leader of a country that recently had to deal with one of the most difficult periods in its post-independent history; difficulties that were exacerbated by the reckless behaviour of rating agencies that engaged in pro-cyclical downgrades, shutting Ghana out of the capital market and turning a liquidity crisis into a solvency crisis,” he said.
Delivering the keynote address at the opening of the 30th Annual Meeting of the Africa Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank) in Accra yesterday, Nana Akufo-Addo had a contrary observation of the exercise that was undertaken by credit agencies.
He, however, noted the timely support offered by the Afrieximbank under its counter-cyclical response mechanism, which helped Ghana navigate macro-economic management.
INVESTMENT
He, therefore, stressed the need for stakeholders to be assiduous in working to expand and improve the capital base of Afreximbank to firmly support African economies.
He urged other African countries to be committed to the treaty and ideals underpinning the establishment of the Bank for shared prosperity and sustainable growth on the continent.
The President noted that it was imperative for African countries to invest in the Afrixembank for the continent’s growth and thus appealed the African Union (AU) Commission to expedite action to make the bank a special financial institution, championing Africa’s growth at all levels.
He argued that the dynamics of global economic trends, particularly when the COVID-19 pandemic struck and that the geo-political crises had reinforced the need for the continent to look within itself to finance its own development agenda.
“Unless we have strong financial institutions, we are not going to be there. The continuous growth of Afrixembank and Africa are intertwined,” the President noted.
Afrixembank has disbursed over US$45 billion in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
This has enabled the majority of the countries to weather the combined effects of those setbacks by helping them to honour maturing trade debt payment obligations to pay for critical imports and to pursue strategic investments.
THE MEETING
The theme for the 30th annual meeting of the bank, which would also celebrate 30 years of existence of Afreximbank, is “Delivering the Vision, Building the Prosperity for Africans.”
The three-day programme, hosted by Ghana, is being attended by Heads of State, some former presidents, ministers of state, captains of industry, economists, financial experts and analysts among others.
Highlights of the programme, featuring high-profile Speakers from the continent, as well as the Caribbean, include a meeting of the Advisory Group on Trade Finance and Export Development in Africa and shareholders of the Afreximbank.
The topics being discussed by the participants encompass implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), delivering prosperity through industrialisation and building prosperity for Africans: the challenges of peace and security.
PROACTIVE
The President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Afreximbank, Professor Benedict Oramah on his part said the bank had been instrumental in the cause of the continent’s growth, since its establishment three decades ago.
He assured that the Bank was proactively mobilising continental and global resources and partnerships to build industrial complexes across the continent.
Afreximbank was established in 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors, as well as non-African financial institutions and private investors, for the purpose of financing, promoting and expanding intra-Africa and extra-Africa trade.
The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, commended the bank for supporting the economies of Africa, especially during the economic crisis when foreign banks turned their backs on Africa.
He also advocated for more investment in the bank to raise its capital and make it stronger for the benefit of the continent.
MOU
A US$1 million Ghana Railway Company Limited PPF Head of Terms & Ghana Railway Mandate letter was signed. The Managing Director for the Ghana Railway Company Limited, Michael Anyetei signed for Ghana and the Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade Bank, Mr. Kanayo Awani signed for the bank. The project will bring on stream an asset estimated at US$3.5 billion.
