{"id":331893,"date":"2017-06-27T15:30:50","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T15:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=331893"},"modified":"2017-06-27T15:30:50","modified_gmt":"2017-06-27T15:30:50","slug":"were-working-to-settle-2-4-bn-energy-sector-debt-nana-addo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=331893","title":{"rendered":"We&#8217;re working to settle $ 2.4 bn Energy Sector debt &#8211; Nana Addo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Government is devising measures to find the requisite funds needed to clear the huge debt the Energy Sector is saddled with.<\/p>\n<p>The President, Nana Akufo-Addo, who made this revelation in Zambia, during his interaction with the Ghanaian community, said the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, is championing this cause.<\/p>\n<p>[contextly_sidebar id=&#8221;9i6WkZKFKUKKX0rxxo9IOyaXTxZVyYZe&#8221;]He revealed that government had already initiated programmes and policies that will ensure that the debt is settled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe debt of some 2.4 billion dollars in our Energy Sector is making it difficult to attract investment into the Energy sector. This is not allowing us to retool and recapitalize our facilities and therefore once again, solving this financial problem is a very acute problem for us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have a very imaginative and excellent Finance Minister. He has a problem and I have a problem. He is also my cousin and a lot of people say I have made my cousin the Finance Minister, but I say to myself that if I find someone who has the capability and the ability because he is my cousin I should deny myself the opportunity to work. I will not think of it that way. He is one of the best Finance Ministers our country will ever have. He is already beginning to show it,\u201d the President told the Ghanaian community.<\/p>\n<p>These measures that the President have hinted of may <span style=\"color: #666699;\"><a style=\"color: #666699;\" href=\"http:\/\/Akufo Addo on Ken Ofori Atta 27\/6\/17 Government is devising measures to find the requisite funds needed to clear the Energy Sector\u2019s debts. The President who made this revelation in Zaambia, during his interaction with the Ghanaian community said the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta is championing this cause. He revealed that government had already intitiated programmes and policies that will ensure that the huge debt the Energy Sector is saddled with is settled. \u201cThe debt of some 2.4 billion dollars in our Energy Sector is making it difficult to attract investment into the Energy sector. This is not allowing us to retool and recapitalise our facilities and therefore once again, solving this financial problem is a very acute problem for us. \u201cI have a very imaginative and excellent Finance Minister. He has a problem and I have a problem. He is also my cousin and a lot of people say I have made my cousin the Finance Minister but I say to myself if I find someone who has the capability and the ability because he is my cousin I should deny myself the opportunity to work. I will not think of it that way. He is one of the best Finance Ministers our country will ever have. He is already beginning to show it,\u201d the President told the Ghanaian community. This is not the first time the President has spoken about the challenge facing the Energy Sector. He spoke about this when he appeared before Parliament to deliver his first State of the Nation Address. Addressing Parliament in his first state of the nation address, the President noted that, the sector has enormous problems that must be addressed urgently. \u201cWe have inherited a heavily indebted energy sector with a net debt reaching $2.4bn as of December 2016. I have to point out the alarming facts that $800 million of this debt is owed to local banks which threaten their stability and that of the whole financial sector. Indeed, the huge indebtedness of the energy sector constitutes the single major hurdle to Ghanaians enjoying reliable and affordable electricity supply,\u201d Akufo-Addo said. The President has said he will introduce a tariff policy at the sector as part of measures to settle the huge debt. The Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko also made mention of the same challenge, saying te sector does not have enough revenue to run its activities. \u201cThe energy sector we find now is seriously cash-strapped to the extent that we now live in a debt merry go round.\u201d\"><strong>include government&#8217;s decision t<\/strong><\/a><\/span>o issue a 15 year bond to settle the huge debt.<\/p>\n<p>This is not the first time the President has spoken about the challenges facing the Energy Sector.<\/p>\n<p>He spoke about it when he appeared before Parliament to deliver his first State of the Nation Address, saying the sector has enormous problems that must be addressed urgently.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have inherited a heavily indebted energy sector with a net debt reaching $2.4bn as of December 2016. I have to point out the alarming facts that $800 million of this debt is owed to local banks which threaten their stability and that of the whole financial sector. Indeed, the huge indebtedness of the energy sector constitutes the single major hurdle to Ghanaians enjoying reliable and affordable electricity supply,\u201d Akufo-Addo said.<\/p>\n<p>He indicated that he will introduce a tariff policy in\u00a0the sector as part of measures to settle the huge debt.<\/p>\n<p>The Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, also made mention of the same challenge, saying the sector is cash strapped to run its activities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe energy sector we find now is seriously cash-strapped to the extent that we now live in a debt merry go round,&#8221; \u00a0Boakye Agyarko complained.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>By: Marian Ansah\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Government is devising measures to find the requisite funds needed to clear the huge debt the Energy Sector is saddled with. The President, Nana Akufo-Addo, who made this revelation in Zambia, during his interaction with the Ghanaian community, said the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, is championing this cause. [contextly_sidebar id=&#8221;9i6WkZKFKUKKX0rxxo9IOyaXTxZVyYZe&#8221;]He revealed that government had already [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11],"tags":[7551,3,156],"class_list":["post-331893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-slider-1","category-top-stories","tag-energy-sector-debt","tag-ghana-news","tag-nana-addo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=331893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331893\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=331893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=331893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=331893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}