Ghana receives record $211.6m AfDB support in 2012

The year 2012 was a record year for the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) engagement with Ghana as it supported the country’s development with an amount of $211.6 million, the highest in a year the bank has given since it started of operations in the country in 1973.

The support came in both grants and loans.

“The total 2012 grant and loan approval amount represents the highest level of support the country has received from the Bank within a one-year period since the Bank Group began operations in Ghana in 1973,” the AfDB said today March 21, 2013.

According to the Bank, it has financed 105 loans and grants in Ghana valued at approximately $3.755 billion, and the projects funded primarily fall within the areas of transport, energy, agriculture, water and sanitation, education, health and multi-sector.

In 2012, the AfDB’s Board of Directors approved four projects aimed at assisting Ghana to achieve its development objectives as outlined in the country’s Shared Growth and Development Agenda, it indicated in a press release.

The projects, which cover the agriculture, education and energy sectors, were the $76.5 million in financing approved for the Rural Enterprises Programme III (REP III); The Ghana Institutional Support Programme (GISP), which received $14.5 million in Bank funding; The Development of Skills for Industry Project (DISP) and the TICO Phase II, which attracted $120 million and $60,000 funding respectively.

The AfDB explains that the approved projects were aligned to the Bank’s new Country Strategy Paper (CSP), which was approved in June 2012.

By Ekow Quandzie