Mr. Boako made the revelation while responding to former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Inusah Fuseini’s caution against government’s move.

[contextly_sidebar id=”xg5S1xBiWC8yHmaACBimL3xS64ZNA7qk”]Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Boako said, “I want to ask the former Minister which part of the concession did they sell to the brother of the former President…? They sold 58 percent on 29th December 2016 when they were leaving office. The NDC government sold 58 percent of our bauxite concession to the former President’s brother. The one they sold to him, was it possible to mine or not. They should stop this argument.”

Mr. Inusah Fuseini had warned that the potential mining of Bauxite could see the Atiwa forest reserve in Kyebi and other natural resources in specific areas compromised.

But Mr. Boako in a rebuttal assured that government with the help of the Minerals Commission will not flout the rules as far as mining of Bauxite is concerned.

“We are in government. We know the concession that is viable and ready to be mined and we will go for that. If there is an area that we are not suppose to mine, we will not flout that rule. The Minerals Commission knows all the concessions in Ghana that have bauxite so if clearly there is a particular concession that is not possible to mine, the Minerals Commission will make that available to government and we will not be the first government to overstep the laws of the country to do something that is illegal.

“As far as we are concerned, we are talking about bauxite deposits at Kyebi… and the understanding we have from the Minerals Commission is that all of them are possible to mine.”

Chinese facility

The offer from the Chinese government was made during the Vice President’s five-day official visit to the country, at the invitation of the Chinese government.

It is the first by a high level government official since the New Patriotic Party took office in January 2017.

Dr. Bawumia led a delegation of Ministers and government officials to the Asian country in a quest to deepen diplomatic and economic ties, as well as create opportunities for Ghanaian businesses to form partnerships with their Chinese counterparts.
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

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According to him, the situation will leave worsen Ghana’s debt status which could seriously affect the country’s economic growth and development.

[contextly_sidebar id=”ia8Likw2U3tkL5HRm7wMSQCe98qnpQSC”]The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has announced that the government of China has agreed to commit 15 billion dollars worth of investment in Ghana.

Dr. Bawumia pointed out that, Ghana was able to secure the commitment due to a new financing model designed by the Economic Management Team.

But Speaking on Eyewitness News on Tuesday, the NDC MP chastised the Vice President, Dr. Bawumia for spearheading the agreement to contract the loan from the Asian country, despite he being a heavy critic of the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government’s decision to contract a similar loan.

“We are dealing with a country where borrowing $1bn of Eurobond was described by Bawumia himself as very reckless borrowing and he put in perspective the GDP ratio when we were borrowing just $1bn. In the 2017 budget by this government, the debt to GDP of 72% was vilified as the worst this country could ever have, now to add $19bn of an additional loan in such a short period will push our debt to GDP to the region of 120% and 130% of GDP. That is the worst that you can find in the world,” he said.

“For a person like Bawumia to now be saying that we should be clapping for him for ditching us into 130% debt to GDP is frightening, scary and reckless,” he noted.

But the Deputy Finance Minister, Kwaku Kwarteng, discounted the claims saying that the government believes that conditions for the loan were appropriate.

He said although the modalities for the disbursement of the funds were yet to be drawn, the government is working to ensure that the interest of Ghanaians remain paramount.

Kwaku Kwarteng further discounted claims that the NPP government will exceed its debt to GDP target.

He said the government will be responsible for ensuring the country’s debt sustainability is within acceptable limits.

“It is not as though we said one thing to parliament and we are doing something different. Let not anyone suggest we said we will not borrow. I think the minority’s concern is a legitimate concern,” he said.

He, however said it was premature for the minority to raise concerns about the facility since the modalities and other details for the release of the funds are yet to be drawn.

China’s Eximbank in 2012, agreed a $3bn facility to the previous Mills and Mahama governments, but only $1bn was released after years of back and forth between the two countries.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post NDC MP blasts Bawumia over $15bn ‘reckless’ Chinese loan appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The task force according to a document sighted by citifmonline.com is made up of five members.

The document titled ‘Decisions Memorandum on the Work of the Presidential Special Task Force on utilizing the US$3 billion CDB Facility’ stated that the amount would be spent on the team’s “negotiation support costs including hosting in Accra and travel to Beijing; technical advisor’s fees and contingencies.”

“The preliminary analysis of the three costs…above are budgeted at an amount of US$ 6.00 million (i.e. CDB Task Force Support Costs; Technical Fees; and contingencies). And it is estimated that the CDB Team and Advisors may well make up to a minimum of 6 to 8 separate negotiation visits to Beijing over 12 to 10 months on the assignment,” the document added.

The Decisions Memorandum however explained the Task Force’s lack of offices or attachment to any Ministry Department and Agency (MDA) “poses peculiar challenges.”

“…The more substantive needs of hosting several days of engagement with a visiting CDB negotiation team of usually 20 people more or less at a time requires more substantial logistical backup,” the document stated.

Background of CBD loan

The governing National Democratic Congress about five years ago started chasing for $3 billion loan facility from the China Development Bank to finance some government projects.

Though government finally secured the loan, the amount was slashed by half.

Renegotiation of deal

Meanwhile the newly constituted Task Force is expected to ensure that the rest of the $3 billion is released to Ghana.

NPP accuses NDC government of luring Chinese with gas

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) at a press conference on Wednesday accused the Mahama-led cabinet of approving a proposed agreement which could see Ghana offering its gas to China in a bid to lure the China Development Bank to reactivate the reaming $1.5 billion of the $3 billion to the Ghanaian government.

The opposition party claimed that the agreement has bleak implications on the future of Ghana.

The agreement if successful could see Ghana offer one of the country’s gas fields to China for a period of 19 years starting in 2018.

We’ll mortgage Ghana’s gas to China but

Though the Minister of Finance, Seth Terkper, confirmed the deal with China on the Citi Breakfast Show, he downplayed assertions that it has bleak implications for the country.

He indicated that it was “gas going to the Atuabo plant only under the GNPC. That is the only one we are talking about.”

Mr. Terkper also explained that this agreement was in line with government’s self-financing loan strategy following the negotiations with the CNB by a task force mandated to discuss the utilization of the $500 million remaining $1.5 billion of the $3 billion deal.

“The premise for the CDB facility, which is in tune with our self-financing loan strategy is that proceeds from any commercial project must be used to pay for any loans that are used to finance the project,” he said

“The payment was to be from revenue flows from crude oil which is sold on the international market at bench mark prices but crude oil prices fell and that source of financing the loan became inadequate… So we had indicated that once the processes start, there could be other source of financing repayment for the facility. That is the discussion that we are holding now, to see how we can use the proceeds from lean gas and from other gas sources to finance any infrastructure that is built and not put the load for such infrastructure on the tax payer and increase public debt,” Mr. Terkper noted.

Target for the Presidential Task Force as captured in the Decisions Memorandum:

The work of the CTF and TA will initially focus on bedding down the three RSAs for the project that were agreed upon to close the US$ 1.5 billion, and to assist the Ministry of Finance to document and negotiate the early disbursements that will free those subsidiary to implement the three projects.

The next focus of attention is the application of the remaining US$ 1.5 billion, as directed by H.E. the President.

A key consideration in the analysis for the foregoing work is whether or not the new structure of the project for which the remaining US$ 1.5 billion will be applied will fall within the parliamentary approval of 2012 or a new approval may be needed. This strategic and process analysis to be done by the NSA.

Navigating through the “establishment” (GoG Executive Machinery, Legislature, MDAs, MMDAs, Legal system, approval and authorizing agencies, etc.) can be a daunting task. Indeed, this can constitute a key impediment to rapid negotiation decision-making. The technical advisor will facilitate the CTF’s interface with the establishment to achieve speedy and timely closure to specific issues that may require their involvement in the course of the negotiations.

While the above provides a guide to the nature of the outcomes that may be bench marked for the work of the CBD Task Force, the broad targets can be narrowed down to specific negotiation issues, or be expanded to include others. A key principle underlying the approach to the work by the CTF and also covering the TA’s advisory inputs is the avoidance of the undertaking tasks or activities like feasibility studies that are best left to project contractors to conduct to show evidence of their capability.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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