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GHANA: People have a message for G20

02 Apr 2009 13:17:28 GMT
Source: IRIN

ACCRA, 2 April 2009 (IRIN) - As G20 leaders meet in London to discuss how to revive and reform the global economy, Ghanaians have a message for the group: They are already feeling the effects of the crisis and need solutions now.

The myth that African economies might be insulated from the global economic downturn was officially dispelled by the International Monetary Fund in early March when it warned the crisis could wipe out African countries' financial successes of the past decade.

Ordinary Ghanaians did not need an official warning. Aku Johnson, 55, relies on regular remittances of US$350 from her son in the USA to put two children through school, but a few months ago the son lost his job as a supermarket attendant and he now sends far less. Johnson withdrew the children from school mid-March.

"This money can't take care of me and the children," she told IRIN. "Living is now very hard [there], my son told me. I am just praying for him to get another job soon."

Thinly insulated

The Ghana Ministry of Finance estimates that remittances were $50 million less in January 2009 than one year earlier. Remittances made up an estimated 11.5 percent of the country's 2008 global domestic product, according to the World Bank.

Ghana is better-protected than some of its neighbours; oil revenues will soon start coming in and recent presidential and parliamentary elections kept the country in donors' favour.

But Caroline Pearce, NGO Oxfam's West Africa advocacy coordinator, said even in relatively stable Ghana people have been hit hard. "The reality is that millions of Ghanaians who live under or just over the poverty line are still vulnerable to any impact of the crisis. The fact that Ghana's growth is slowing rather than going into reverse is encouraging, but does not help the poor mother who can no longer afford food or healthcare."

During economic collapses, infant deaths increase on average by almost three percent, according to a senior World Bank economist.

Ghana ranks 135 out of 177 countries in the UN Development Programme's human development index.

Agriculture

Ghana's new administration is looking to agriculture to boost the economy; the government projects the agriculture sector will grow at 5.7 percent in 2009.

The government says it will support farmers to meet these targets. But not all farmers are convinced. John Akarebo, a shea nut farmer in the Northern Region says he used to sell a sack of shea nuts for $19 but now his clients who buy for export will pay only $10.

"Any time I protest, they say their partners abroad are no longer buying enough, and even when they buy they also want it at significantly reduced prices, so I don't really have a choice," Akarebo told IRIN.

Akarebo said he would usually turn to NGOs for help buying seeds and tools, but several in the north have scaled back assistance.

International NGO Oxfam's Ghana director Justin Morgan told IRIN Oxfam can no longer finance all of its projects in the country and have closed down in the Northern Region.

Bright Appiah, Executive Director of Accra-based NGO Child Rights International, told IRIN: "Because of the financial crisis we are unable to get the manpower for many of our projects this year. It's eight months until the end of the year and we have received five percent of the contributions we need. If this continues, many NGOs including ours will be forced to close down."

Oxfam is appealing to the G20 on behalf of Ghana and other developing countries. "Our point is, countries like Ghana should not be made to suffer for a crisis they knew nothing about, and developed countries must keep their aid commitments," Morgan said.

Aid stagnant

Aid agencies, including the Make Poverty History coalition, have been pushing G20 donors to live up to promises G8 leaders made in 2005 to double aid to Africa. In 2008 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development members' aid rose by just 0.4 percent, according to Oxfam.

And in 2008 donors gave on average just 0.3 percent of their budgets to overseas aid – the same proportion as in 1993.

Ghana's new government presented its first budget on 5 March, showing the growth rate projected to drop from 7 percent in 2008 to 5.9 percent in 2009.

Donors have pledged to fund 68 percent of the $143 million budgeted for agriculture in 2009 according to Kwabena Oku Afare, head of policy and research at the Finance Ministry.

"We just want to be realistic. The target is informed by the global economic meltdown," he said. "We will not be spared, especially when a quarter of our national budget is donor-funded and we know that donor support might hit an all-time low."

Martin Derry, director of Ghanaian water and sanitation NGO PRONET told IRIN: "We've seen [aid] packages to bring back car manufacturing industries and to salvage banking institutions…The strongest voices are on the side of bigger business…It is very easy to forget an entire continent that has no voice at a place like the G20. But Western governments should not forget Africa."

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