ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
The Bank has engaged other domestic mining firms in collaboration with the Ghana Chamber of Mines to buy refined gold from their refineries.
At this time only one gold aggregator has been selected for the programme after an independent due diligence was conducted.
In the 6 near-term, other gold aggregators will be eligible to participate in the programme once a roadmap is developed to ensure they meet the governance, risk, compliance and supply chain requirements.
Conclusion 13.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Bank of Ghana views the gold acquisition programme as an efficient way of growing the foreign exchange reserves of the country to supplement the traditional ways that Ghana has built reserves over the years.
Among others, this will help reduce ou r dependence on more expensive ways of building reserves.
The Gold purchasing programme will bring revolution to the small-scale gold mining sector.
Ghana’s domestic purchasing programme for gold has the potential to improve the small-scale gold mining sector by guaranteeing, that they receive a fair purchasing price for their gold, provide an incentive to formalise and move away from damaging environmental and social practices.
It would also lead to a route to formalise and improve ability to sell into for mal gold markets and thereby reduce their vulnerability to illegal actors in the domestic and international gold supply chains.
Ladies and Gentlemen, before I conclude, let me acknowledge the support of His Excellency the Vice President, Dr.
Mahamudu Bawu mia who got this programme started.
I would also want to acknowledge the collaborative roles played by other key stakeholders, including the Ghana Minerals Commission, PMMC, the Ghana Chamber of Mines, and 7 a selected number of licensed gold aggregators.
Their efforts in bringing us to this stage is duly recognized.
On that note, I declare the Bank of Ghana Gold Acquisition programme duly launched.
Thank You Very Much and GOD BLESS GHANA.
GHANA 5TH CEO SUMMIT RESETTING GHANA’S ECONOMY: POLICY RESPONSE & STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING A RESILIENT ECONOMY POST-COVID PANDEMIC KEYNOTE SPEECH DR.
MAXWELL OPOKU-AFARI FIRST DEPUTY GOVERNOR, BANK OF GHANA MAY 17, 2021 1 Chairman of the 5th CEO Summit Founder of the CEO Summit CEOs & Captains of Industry Fellow Keynote Speakers Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen Introduction 1.
It is always a great pleasure to be part of this annual CEO Summit and I would like to thank the organizers for inviting me to speak on the topical issue of ‘Resetting Ghana’s Economy: Policy Response & Strategies for Building a Resilient Economy Post-Covid Pandemic’.
We are all witnesses to the ravaging economic, health, and social effects of the COVID pandemic on the global economy.
Indeed, as we speak, some countries are going through either a second or third wave with its associated human toll and continuous economic devastation.
As a country, we have also gone through these challenges and the topic for discussion today is timely.
Ladies and Gentlemen, my remarks will start with two key questions.
First, what was the state of Ghana’s economy befor e Covid?
Second, what was the impact of Covid on the economy?
2 Then, we can shift our focus to strategies needed to reset the economy amid and post Covid.
What was the state of the Ghanaian economy before the pandemic?
Chairman, implementation of sound macroeconomic policies b etween 2017 and 2019, significantly improved the macro fundamentals of the Ghanaian economy .
Broadly, the economy was characterised by strong GDP growth, averaging 7 percent over the period, and in flation declined to s ingle-digits and within the Bank’s medium -term target of 8±2 percent.
Unwinding of the large macro imbalances resulted in lower fiscal and current account deficits, accompanied by three consecutive years of trade surpluses.
The country’s reserve buffers also improved, providing some anchor to exchange rate stability.
Public debt management policies were strengthened, and the debt profile restructured to lessen the repayment burden.
This created some fiscal space to support the im plementation of growth -enhancing policy initiatives by government.
Alongside these, the Bank implemented c omprehensive financial sector reforms which resulted in well-capitalised, strong, and liquid banking sector , 3 well-positioned to support the country’s growth and development agenda.
With this background, the policy direction at the start of 2020 was to further consolidate the achievements and move the country to the next stage of the development agenda.
Consequently, prudent, and complementary monetary and fiscal policies were programmed.
First, m onetary policy was to steer inflation further down to low and stable levels.
For the financial sector, the successful completion of the clean -up had improved prudential regulations, strengthe ned efficiency, and refocused the banking sector to its intermediary role to finance the growth needs of the country.
Second, f iscal policy was geared towards aggressive tax reforms and pro -growth initiatives in the agriculture and industrial sectors to expand the productive capacity of the economy.
And last but not the least, o ther structural reforms were initiated to increase efficiency of the public sector through digitisation and by so doing, formalize the economy and improve the ease of doing business.
What was the impact of Covid on the economy?
Ladies and Gentlemen, this was where the Ghanaian economy was at the start of 2020, until March, when Covid 4 disrupted the rather very strong economic outlook.
The severity of the pandemic prompted restricted movements, lockdowns, and border closures to halt its spread.
These resulted in a slump in economic activity and almost wiped off the gains achieved over the three-years prior.
For instance, GDP growth slumped to 0.4 percent in 2020 (the lowest in decades) compared with the pre-Covid projection of 6.8 percent.
Inflation spiked from single to double digits , peaked at 11.4 percen t in July 2020, driven mainly by food price pressures due to the lockdown measures, before easing to 10.4 percent in December 2020.
The disruptions in global supply chains adversely impacted trade activity.
Businesses faced supply constraints amid weak consumer demand which set off cost-cutting measures including reduction in working hours, layoffs, and wage cutbacks , worsening the unemployment situation.
Fiscal pressures from the health sector and the social consequences of the restricted movements mounted and disrupted the f iscal consolidation path .
As a result, additional expenditures related to the Covid-19 coupled with revenue shortfalls on account of the economic slowdown and sharp drop in oil revenues, elevated the 2020 fiscal deficit to 11.7 percent of GDP, from a pre-Covid projection of 4.7 percent of GDP.
These 5 unanticipated fiscal developments also pushed up the stock of public debt to 74.6 percent of GDP at the end of 2020 from 62.4 percent of GDP recorded in 2019.
Chairman, t he combined demand and supply shock from Covid requ ired decisive and swift fiscal, monetary, and macroprudential polic y responses to moderate the economic damage.
The policy responses included fiscal stimulus packages, including several social intervention measures .
To complement these, the Bank lowered the monetary policy rate by 150 basis points and implemented other macro prudential measures to ensure adequate liquidity within the financial sector during the pandemic.
The push for financial digitization was intensified with the removal of transfer costs (for minimum transactions) on mobile networks, and the Universal Quick Response Code for payments across banks, Telco’s, fintechs and merchants was implemented to promote e-commerce and e-transactions.
Ladies and Gentlemen, t he economic costs of the Covid- shock, in terms of foregone growth and its implications for employment and poverty reduction, infrastructural development, and economic expansion , are enormous and would require 6 carefully crafted strategies to reset the economic agenda back to stability and growth.
Resetting the Economy (amid and post-Covid) 14.
Chairman, l essons drawn from other countries on “building back better ” from the pandemic indicate that a flattened Covid-curve is a necessary condition prior to massive rollout of policies and strategies designed to reset the economy.
Reason being that subsequent Covid flare-ups could potentially slow the recovery process.
Based on this, the short-term strategies to reset Ghana’s economy should be to:  First, sustain the flattened Covid-curve.
By this, priority must be given to health sector policies and other supportive measures including testing, tracing and treatment, alongside mass vaccinations rollouts should continue to achieve some form of herd immunity.
The flattened curve would keep the economy open for b usiness, provide some certainty to the economic outlook, and prevent diversion of resources to a ny resurgence of the pandemic.
 Second, m aintain the Covid-policy responses to sustain the on-going V -shaped recovery.
To a large extent, the Covid - policy responses (accommodative fiscal and monetary 7 policies, macro -prudential measures, and other initiatives) proved timely and helped moderate what could possibly have been a worst outcome for the Ghanaian economy.
Already, the implementation of these policies has spurred some recovery evidenced by improvement in the Bank’s high frequency economic indicators for the first quarter of 2021.
 Inflation has eased and declined back to single digits in April 2021, the exchange rate remains relatively stable, business and consumer confidence has bounced back, and the Bank’s high frequency indicators have rebounded to near pre - pandemic levels.
Also, the banking sector remains strong with the support of the macro prudential measure s and continues to play its intermediary role to boost growth efforts, post- Covid.
Over time, Mr, Chairman, the strategies should include innovative and actionable macroeconomic policies to unwind the Covid-related fiscal excesses and lower the public debt to sustainable levels.
Broadly,  Prudent fiscal policies would be needed.
The 2021 Budget has already reset fiscal policy on a consolidation path with the deficit projected to decline to 9.5 percent of GDP and unwind 8 over the medium -term to 5 percent by 2024 .
This would ensure medium-term debt sustainability .
To achieve these fiscal targets:  Domestic revenue mobilisation through tax reforms has been given some prominence.
And here, the ongoing national digitization programme would be supportive.
Already, the Ghana Card and TIN numbers are merged, broadening the tax base.
Over time, this is expected to result in some revenue gains for the government.
 Expenditure rationalization programmes that are pro -growth and promote value-for-money projects would also be critical.
 Complementary monetary policy and macroprudential measures are critical.
Monetary policy and financial sector policies should be designed to anchor the disinflation process, create supportive frameworks for credit enhancement, digitisation, and enhanced payments platforms to support growth.
 Effective implementation of the pro -growth Ghana CARES programme.
The socio -economic consequence of the pandemic needs to be addressed and the Ghana CARES programme is in the right direction.
Among others, it seeks to 9 stabilise, revitalise, and transform the economy to create jobs and prosperity over a 3-year period.
 Continued investments in the public health infrastructure over the medium-term are also important to improve the country’s preparedness to adequately handle future health crises.
 Digitisation to improve the business environment.
Pushing the boundaries for economy-wide digitisation through the merger of the National ID systems with other national databases to enhance transparency, facilitate seamless financial transactions, and reduce costs of doing business in the economy.
In conclusion, Ladies and Gentlemen, resetting the economy back to resilience would be a gradual process over the next two or three years and would require our collective and collaborative support, and burden sharing, to “Build Back Better”.
For the Bank of Ghana, we are committed to ensuring that the banking and other non -bank financial institutions remain resilient, inclusive, and supportive of resetting Ghana’s post - Covid economy back to stability and growth.
1 9 5 7 GOODWILL MESSAGE DELIVERED BY THE FIRST DEPUTY GOVERNOR, DR MAXWELL OPOKU-AFARI AT THE LAUNCH OF THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF IT CONSORTIUM GHANA LIMITED 23RD APRIL 2021 With a high sense of pride and appreciation, I extend my warm congratulations and best wishes to IT Consortium Ghana Limited on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of its foundation.
Twenty years in the life of a FinTech in any part of the world is no mean achievement.
It becomes even more significant when placed in the context of a developing country, and truly this achievement is monumental for both IT Consortium and Ghana.
A trip down memory lane to 2001, Bank of Ghana had commenced in earnest implementation of interbank payment infrastructures aimed at modernising the banking sector and guided by a strategy that is focused on banks .
In an era when the word “ FinTech” was alien to the library of finance vocabulary and the thought of technology c ompanies providing financial services would have been considered sacrilegious, IT Consortium was established.
With unusual appreciation of Bank of Ghana’ s direction of financial sector development, IT Consortium has competently supported the digital transformation agenda of the Ghanaian financial services industry with digital solutions relevant to our developmental needs.
A stellar example is the chango crowdfunding product, the first of its kind by a licensed institution in Ghana, introduced to improve on the traditional “susu” model for raising funds among a group of persons.
IT Consortium’s commitment to the norms of the financial services industry over the years has been commendable.
At a time when the regulatory regime did not recognise FinTechs, key management personnel of the company frequently interacted with officials of Bank of Ghana on regulat ory issues.
It is no wonder then, that IT Consortium is one of the first few FinTechs to be licensed by the Bank of Ghana as an enhanced payment service provider.
Remarkably, as a wholly-owned Ghanaian company and staffed by persons trained and worked in Ghana, the company has demonstrated fidelity to the digital transformation agenda of the Ghanaian economy.
Its contribution to the conceptuali sation, designing and implementation of the flagship Ghana.Gov platform which is at the core of the digital economy project is laudable.
Indeed, the successes of the company in the Ghanaian digital financial services ecosystem signifies the capa city of the Ghanaian to deal with the challenges confronting us as a country.
Recently, I had the privilege of gracing the inauguration of the new office premises of IT Consortium.
The beautiful edifice is not only functional but also a symbol of hope and determinat ion of the Ghanaian.
As a pacesetter in this emerging industry, I urge you to be a shining example and a beacon of hope to the many up and coming Ghanaian youth desirous of making a career in the FinTech industry.
This would require that you operate responsibly by being customer-centric and complying with the regulatory regime at all times.
While you relish the accomplishments of the past two decades, may I remind you that you have just entered a new era and a new phase of your existence.
The ecosystem in which you operate is also in a state of flux.
In the midst of the excitement, you should not forget to strategize for the future.
HAPPY TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY!
CONGRATULATIONS!
PANDEMIC, THE ECONOMY AND OUTLOOK UNIVERSITY OF GHANA ALUMNI LECTURE VENUE: GREAT HALL, UNIVERSITY OF GHANA DR.
ERNEST ADDISON, GOVERNOR, BANK OF GHANA DATE: DECEMBER 17, 2020 1 | P a g e Pandemic, The Economy and Outlook Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, President of the Alumni Association, Fellow Alumni of the University of Ghana, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Introduction 1.
It is a privilege to join you today to deliver this year’s Alumni Lecture.
Coming back to this great institution has brought back fond memories of my days on the Legon Campus over three decades ago, shuffling between Mensah Sarbah Hall Annex A and the Economics Department.
I sincerely thank the Alumni Association for the kind invitation and to join the list of distinguished speakers of the University of Ghana Alumni lecture series.
Ladies and Gentlemen, when I received the invitation to deliver this year’s alumni lecture, the first thing that came to my mind was the 2 | P a g e devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the global economy, how that will transmit to the Ghanaian economy and the enormous challenges to public policy, including macroeconomic management.
Since the inception of the pandemic, policies have been crafted and extraordinary measures imposed to contain its spread and manage the human, economic and social consequences.
This single event, which probably happens once in a lifetime, has caused some fundamental shifts in the global economy and disrupted social and cultural norms.
We no longer greet each other warmly and are continuously masked up as if we are at a masquerade party.
This has become the new normal.
In some circles, the Covid-19 pandemic has been described as a tail event or black swan event.
Such events rarely happen and when they do, they rest within the tail en d of a probability distribution.
Indeed, 2020 has turned out as exceptional and will surely leave an indelible mark on our thinking for years to come.
3 | P a g e 4.
As grim as it sounds, Covid-19 is not the first pandemic to hit the human race.
Throughout history there have been several pandemics, with some arguably much worse than C ovid-19 in terms of the number of people who succumbed to the disease.
Let me highlight a few of these, starting with - The Antonine Plague (165 AD -180 AD) which was also known as the Plague of Galen and killed over 2,000 people per day at the height of that pandemic; - The Black Death (1347 -1352) which swept through Europe and Asia among other continents , and killed an estimated 25 million people; - The Small Pox Pandemic (1870 -1874) which spread from Europe to Asia through America , causing 500,000 deaths worldwide.
- Cholera (18 17-1824) which emerged in India in 1817 and reached different countries in Asia , Europe and Eastern Africa, also killing more than 100 thousand people; 4 | P a g e - Russian Flu (1889-1890) which started in St.
Petersburg and spread through Europe with an estimated 1 million deaths.
- Spanish Flu (1918-1919) which is considered the deadliest in history, infecting one-third of the world’s population and killing 20 to 50 million people worldwide; - H3N2 Pandemic (1968) which first emerged in Hong Kong in July 1968 and by December the virus ha d reached the United States, United Kingdom, and other countries in Europe and killed an estimated one million people, and the - SARS (2002 -2004) outbreak, first reported in Guangdong, China in February 2002 and spread throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.
It infected more than 8,000 people worldwide and killed 774 people.
All these pandemics varied significantly in terms of the human costs, depending on its severity and how it was dealt with.
The stark difference between these other pandemics and the Covid-19 pandemic is that it has led to much stricter public health measures 5 | P a g e and birthed a new soci o-economic order.
As we know, Covid-19 brought in its wake unprecedented disruption s to global supply chains due to travel restrictions, business closures and weakened demand for goods and services.
Notwithstanding these events, we have now learnt that “ decisions write history” and this pandemic presents an opportunity for policy makers to write an impactful history through their decisions.
In fact, from history, humankind has fought and overcome several pandemics and major economies have subsequently recovered even more strongly after pandemic episodes.
So, we remain optimistic about the final outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic and hopefully our collective decisions will be viewed positively by historians for posterity to judge.
COVID-19 Pandemic and the Global economy 6.
Mr Vice Chancellor, President of the Alumni Association, Fellow Alumni, Distinguish ed Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends and Colleagues, at the global front, the emergence of the coronavirus in late 2019 and subsequent explosion into a full-blown pandemic has 6 | P a g e been described as the most serious health crisis since the 1918 Spanish Flu, and the most economically costly in recent history due to global interconnectedness.
It moved rapidly across borders, along principal arteries of the global economy and catapulted a global health crisis into a global economic shock.
The topmost public policy objective in Covid-affected countries was to strike a good balance between saving lives (a public health objective) and protecting existing structures that support livelihoods (an economic policy objective).
This game theoretic objective, I believe has challenged policy makers globally.
It is one that I strongly believe John Nash could not have easily addressed with his Nobel Prize winning masterpiece on the Nash equilibrium.
Different countries have managed this challenge differently.
Governments imposed restrictions such as quarantines, border closures, workplace closures, and social distancing rules to slow the rate of transmission and deaths associated with the pandemic.
Although these public health counter measures succeeded in 7 | P a g e flattening the C ovid-19 curve, they also caused significant disruptions to global economic activity .
Global demand and activity fell sharply.
Exports decreased in both the advanced and emerging market economies and almost halved in the large oil producing countries.
The initial lockdowns and closure of borders also interrupted international trade, tourism and regional trade which are important sources of export revenue for many countries.
Remittances were affected too, as migrant workers were hit by the pandemic hard.
The World Bank estimates a 20% fall in global remittances for 2020 although remittances have proved resilient in some countries including Ghana.
Global financial markets were also stressed by the pandemic.
For instance, the months of February and March 2020 were characterised by large swings in global stock markets, reversal of capital flows to Emerging Market and Developing Economies (EMDEs), and widening of EMDE sovereign bond spreads.
In addition, the weak global demand and the inability of OPEC and its 8 | P a g e allies to agree on production cuts led to the collapse of oil prices, and further worsened financial market risk sentiment s. These developments led to tighter global financing conditions in both advanced and EMDEs.
The intensity of the virus and its socio -economic consequences demanded swift and decisive policy reactions.
Synchronised massive fiscal response packages and supportive monetary policy measures were implemented in many countries to deal with the fallouts from the crisis.
In particular, central banks deployed a mix of conventional and unconventional measures depending on country-specific policy space to ease off the socioeconomic consequences of the pandemic.1 Consistent with traditional responses to such negative economic shocks, the toolkit deployed by central banks in advanced and emerging market economies was to aggressively cut policy rates.
For instance, the U.S.
Federal Reserve cut its policy rate by 150 basis 1 Survey of 29 countries [6 Advanced, 9 Emerging Market economies, and 14 Sub-Saharan Countries] revealed the following COVID-19 Responses 9 | P a g e points in March 2020, while the Bank of England cut the rate by 65 basis points.
Similarly, in the emerging market economies, policy rates in Turkey, Brazil, and Russia, were all cut by 300, 150, and 115 basis points, respectively.