The African Development Bank (AfDB) is rethinking its credit package for African countries, Cecilia Akintomide, Vice President of the bank, disclosed here?on Monday.
?? ?The bank also seeks to expand its capacity to grant credit facilities to countries and private sector institutions in their quest to attract more development financing for economic development and expansion.
?? Akintomide was addressing the opening ceremony of the West African Regional Stakeholders Workshop on accountability, disclosures and transparency in the bank?s financed projects.
?? ?The bank has been challenged by the efforts of low income countries assessing the international capital markets to access credit at a higher premium for development activities,? she said.
?? According to her, the bank had the capacity to increase its credit for these countries even if at some interest rate, adding that the bank?s interest rate would be far lower than what pertained in the global capital markets.
?? The new thinking, which is not yet a policy, is part of the bank?s new 10-year strategy yet to be endorsed by its board.
?? The Vice President explained to Xinhua in an interview later that the bank had enough capacity to increase its credit facilities to give the countries the resources needed for their developmental activities.
?? ?For every one dollar we give out to countries as concessionary financing, the bank has the capacity to give three times that; and for every dollar to the private sector, we have the capacity to give six times that,? she stressed.
?? Ghana in July issued its second 10-year Eurobond for 1 billion dollars at a rate of 7.8 percent.
?? On the 10-year strategy, the Vice President explained that there were two objectives of Inclusive growth and transition to green growth.
?? ?The first and overarching objective is to achieve growth that is more inclusive, leading not just to equality of treatment and opportunity but to deep reductions in poverty and a correspondingly large increase in jobs,? she intimated.
?? Green Growth on the other hand? is to ensure that inclusive growth is sustainable by helping Africa gradually transition to ?green growth? that will protect livelihoods, improve water, energy and food security, promote the sustainable use of natural resources and spur innovation, job creation and economic development.
?? ?The Bank will support green growth by finding paths to development that ease pressure on natural assets, while better managing environmental, social and economic risks,? she added.
??? For the bank to achieve the objectives of the new strategy, Akintomide said it had set out five core operational priorities, namely Infrastructure development; regional integration; private sector development; governance and accountability; as well as skills and technology.
?? In her keynote address, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong,?minister of Justice and Attorney General, pointed out that the United Nations (UN?s) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) could not be achieved if corruption was not eradiated in the governance system.
?? She urged that since corruption was the major hindrance to economic development, the fight against it must be done in an all-inclusive manner to ensure the effective use of development resources to better the lots of the people.
?? Appiah-Oppong announced that the country?s Freedom of Information Bill had been placed before parliament while efforts were under way to strengthen the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Public Procurement Act to ensure greater accountability in the use of public resources.
