President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has expressed optimism that Ghana will come out of the IMF programme successful.
President Akufo-Addo, who is making his first public comment since government took the decision to seek IMF support, said the programme will repair in the short run public finances which have taken a severe hit in recent times as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic and the Russia Ukraine War.
Speaking at the Jubilee House when he swore into office 10 new Ambassadors and High Commissioners, Nana Akufo-Addo noted that government is working on the medium to long term solutions to the challenges confronting the economy.
On the IMF support programme, President Akufo-Addo was confident that with determination, hard work and unity Ghana will succeed.
The President said recent events have thought the world to strengthen and deepen ties of cooperation and bond of friendship with each other.
He, therefore, charged the newly sworn-in envoys to promote the image of the country to the outside world and also attract investors.
“Your appointments have come at a very particularly important moment not only in global affairs but also in the development of mother Africa and mother Ghana,” he said.
“All the countries of the world are working to return themselves to a state on normalcy following the devastating impact of the pandemic of COVID-19 whose effects have been exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Economies have been plunged into recession, businesses have collapsed, lives and livelihoods have been disrupted, food and fuel prices have escalated dramatically as global and domestic inflation pressures mount,” President Akufo-Addo said. He was hopeful the world will soon make up the lost time.
“in our case, we have decided to seek the collaboration of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to repair in the short run our public finances which have taken a severe hit in very recent times as result; whiles we continue to work on the medium to long term structural changes that are at the heart of our goal of creating a Ghana beyond aid that is building a robust Ghanaian economy.
“I am confident that with determination, hard work, unity and the proverbial Ghanaian sense of enterprise we will succeed, we will make it and indeed this too shall pass.
President Akufo-Addo noted that “what these twin events (COVID-19 and the Russia invasion of Ukraine) have thought all of us is that we also have to deepen our ties and cooperation and bonds of friendship with each other; no country can afford to go it alone”. “We either succeed together or perish together and that is why your work as Ambassadors and High Commissioners will be needed the most” he added.
He urged the new envoys to familiarize themselves with the Ghana Cares Obaatanpaa programme his administration has put in place to revamp the economy and to use their offices to ensure its success through the attraction of investments into Ghana from their various duty posts.
“You must familiarize yourself with these objectives (Ghana Cares Obaatanpaa programme) which are at the core of my second term mandate. They represent one of the surest ways out of the crisis confronting out nation”.
“It will help thrust Ghana back unto the path of progress and prosperity. Each one of you must help in contributing to the success of this programme by facilitating among other things, as much foreign investments into the country as you can” he added.
The ten commissioned diplomats are Ambassador Ahmed Hassan, former Director of State Protocol, who will now serve in his new capacity as Ambassador-at-Large. Mrs Merene Benyah, the Ambassador designate for Italy.
She will replace the former Ambassador extraordinaire and plenipotentiary to Italy, the late Eudora Hilda Quartey-Koranteng.
Mrs Worwornyo Agyeman, High Commissioner to Sierra Leone, Mohammed Nurudeen Ismalia, Ambassador to Qatar. The rest are Mavis Esi Kusorgbor, Ambassador to Angola, Mrs Lydia Ofosua Amartey Ambassador to Israel.
Ambassador Emmanuel Kwame Asiedu Antwi, Switzerland, Mrs Florence Buerki Akonor, High Commissioner to Malaysia, Mrs Emma Mensah, Ambassador to Senegal and Henry Tachie-Menson, Chief of Protocol, Ambassador-In-Situ.
On behalf of his colleagues Ambassador Emmanuel Antwi thanked the President for reposing confidence in them and help him accomplish his goals.