Ghana receives EU funding to plug budget deficit
PANA

The European Union (EU) Commission signed a financing agre ement for the release of 175 million Euros to Ghana to reward the West African s t ate for its “high standards of democracy and good governance”.

European Development Commissioner Louis Michel said Thursday Ghana was amongst a select group of only eight African countries to receive the budget support for h er “high levels of good governance and working democracy”.

Ghana will immediately receive 19 million Euros to plug its budget deficit and t he first disbursement of 17 million Euros to help the country battle the effects

of the global food crisis.

Michel said the agreement was the first of its kind since the election of Presid ent John Atta Mills, which the EU hailed as a milestone in Africa’s politics.

Ghanaian Foreign Minister Muhammad Mumuni signed the financing agreement with th e EU development chief (Michel) after efforts to get President Mills to sign the

agreement failed.

An aide to the President said it was impossible to get the President out of the assembly hall, where African leaders were meeting to discuss the African Union g o vernment as foreign ministers discussed the plan at separate hall.

“We are humbled that we are being acknowledged across the democratic world. This encourages us and we encourage other African states to emulate us,” the Ghanaia n minister told journalists before signing the financing deal.

The European Commission says Ghana is among only eight states, including Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia, which have been designated

to receive the European funding for budget support.

“We are not taking away money from the poor to give to Ghana. This funding is be ing channeled to Ghana in the right way,” Michel said.

Ghana is facing an acute budget deficit which threatens the overall economic sta bility of the West African country, deputy finance minister Seth Terkper said.

“We do have budget deficits and we are negotiating with the World Bank and the I nternational Monetary Fund (IMF) to try to decrease the deficit and ensure the c o rrective measures are taken to bring back the overall stability of our economy,”

the minister said.

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