Ofori-Attah wins “Finance Minister of the Year” award
Ghana’s Finance Minister, Kenneth Ofori-Attah, has made the country proud by winning the “Africa Finance Minister of the Year Award”.
This is in recognition of his prudent and skilful management of Ghana’s economy – creating conditions for an appealing investment climate.
The African Banker Awards is organized yearly on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB) by the African Banker Magazine.
This year’s event was held in the industrial megacity of Busan, South Korea.
Ghana’s economy had grown from 3.7 percent in 2016 to 8.5 percent in 2017.
There had been interventions towards digitizing the economy to sustain the macroeconomic gains.
Mr. Ofori-Attah would not take the credit alone and praised the Economic Management Team, chaired by the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo, the staff of his Ministry and the entire nation for supporting the government’s efforts.
He announced steps taken to pass a legislation to limit fiscal deficit to not more than five per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The measure had already been approved by Cabinet, he added.
East Africa made a strong showing at this year awards with James Mwangi, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Equity Group Holdings Plc in Kenya, adjudged the “Banker of the Year”.
Tanzania’s former Central Bank Governor, Dr. Benno Ndulu, who served out of his second term, last year, won the “Central Bank Governor of the Year” award for pushing for financial inclusion and sound macroeconomic management.
CRDB, also from Tanzania was named the ‘Regional Bank in East Africa’.
South African banks dominated the investment banking and deals of the year categories.
Standard Bank Group swooped three awards, including the one for ‘Investment Bank of the Year’. Standard Bank and Rand Merchant Bank in South Africa took the ‘Infrastructure Deal of the Year’ for the US$5 billion Nacala corridor rail and port project in Mozambique and Malawi, one of Africa’s largest private sector funded infrastructure projects.
Rand Merchant Bank in South Africa was also recognized for the listing of Steinhoff Africa Retail that took place last year.
Veteran South African banker, Stephen Koseff, won the Lifetime Achievement Award. As the co-founder of Investec he has built a global leader in banking and asset management.
BGFI Bank in Gabon won the award of ‘Regional Bank of the Year’ in Central Africa.
Ecobank won two awards – Innovation in Banking and Retail Bank of the year – largely for the way it has integrated technology to increase its products and reach.
Mr. Omar Ben Yedder, Publisher of African Banker said “the award winners reflect the innovation and energy within the Africa’s banking market”.
“They reflect the true energy and vigour of the banking sector. I cannot stress enough though the important role financial services have to play to drive the development of the continent.”
The awards, held under the patronage of the AfDB, were sponsored by the African Guarantee Fund, the Bank of Industry, Banco Nacional de Investimento, Mozambique, Afreximbank and Crédit Agricole du Maroc.
Source: GNA