[ 2017-04-21 ]

Bawumia, Ofori-Atta leave out Osafo Marfo
The Chairman of the Economic Management Team, Vice
President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and the Finance
Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta are leading a government
delegation to the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings
leaving out Senior Minister ,Yaw Osafo-Marfo and
Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, Minister for Policy
Monitoring and Evaluation.

Although, details are sketchy, The Herald is
informed that, Mr. Osafo-Marfo, Ken Ofori-Atta and
Dr. Bawumia are not getting on well.

Dr. Bawumia and Ken Ofori-Atta, have been good
friends for years, and claims are that they have
teamed up and sidelined the 76-year old Yaw
Osafo-Marfo, who together with Dr. Anthony Akoto
Osei are the two most experienced heads in the
Akufo-Addo Economic Management Team, having served
in the Kufuor government as Ministers of Finance
at various times.

Ken Ofori-Atta and Dr. Bawumia are having a
feeling the Senior Minister wants to control them
using his seniority in years to bully them. The
two, however, hold the view that, the Senior
Minister, who is an engineer by training, but a
banker by profession, has outlived his
usefulness.

It is not clear what accounts for Dr. Akoto
Osei’s absence from the IMF/World Bank Spring
Meetings, but another experienced hand, left
behind in Accra is the Minister of Planning, Prof.
George Yaw Gyan–Baffour, who is also the Member
of Parliament (MP) for the Wenchi Constituency in
the Brong Ahafo Region.

The delegation is rather made up of officials from
the Bank of Ghana led by the Governor, Dr. Ernest
Kwamina Yedu Addison; the Chairman of the Finance
Committee in Parliament, Dr. Mark Assibey Yeboah,
as well as officials from the Finance Ministry.

Each spring, thousands of government officials,
journalists, civil society organizations, and
participants from the academia and private
sectors, gather in Washington DC for the Spring
Meetings of the World Bank Group and the
International Monetary Fund.

Seminars, regional briefings, press conferences,
and many other events, focused on the global
economy, international development, and the
world’s financial markets are held.

Whilst there, the delegation will meet with the
World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, as well as the
IMF Managing Director, Christian Lagarde.

They would also attend the African Consultative
Group Meetings with Christian Lagarde and the
World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim.

A major highlight for the delegation is the Center
for Strategic and International Studies,
“Spotlight on Ghana” event, a spotlight event
being organized for Ghana to examine the major
political and economic trends in Ghana as the new
Government charts its course.

The Ghana event at Washington DC from April 18 –
28, 2017, will bring together policy makers,
business leaders, country analysts, opinion
leaders from Ghana, the United States, as well as
other countries.

They will discuss Ghana’s prospects for economic
recovery, explore issues of governance and
regional leadership and examine the multiple
strands on US policy engagement.

Other meetings the delegation would attend
include, the G24 Deputies Meetings and the African
Caucus Bureau.

The G24 Ministerial Meeting, provides an
opportunity for the G24 member countries to
consider key areas in which international
Financial Institutions and multilateral actions,
can effectively complement and support their
policy efforts.

The delegation will also hold investor related
meetings with holders of Ghana’s Bonds, as well
as institutional investors.

These meetings provide an opportunity for the
delegation to highlight Government’s economic
policies and strategies, as well as investment
opportunities in Ghana.

Also on the agenda are meetings with Senior
Executives of ratings agencies: Standard and
Poors, Fitch, and Moodys.

These meetings present a window of opportunity to
re-emphasize government’s policies and
strategies in solving macroeconomic imbalances and
strategies to ensuring debt sustainability.

Aside the obligatory meetings with the IMF and the
World Bank, the delegation will hold bilateral
discussions with other partner countries,
financial institutions and private sector
investors.

Source - theheraldghana.com

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