The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has denied reports that it has sanctioned Ghana over its failure to pay debts owed the bank.
[contextly_sidebar id=”4nH7ztHWGUZV33j0AhRKsaHvE7eIjR9g”]The New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) 2016 vice presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia speaking at the Distinguished Speaker Series at the Central University College on the topic:
“IMF Bailout, Will the Anchor Hold?” on Tuesday, alleged that Ghana has been sanctioned by the African Development Bank (AfDB) over non-payment of its debt to the institution.
The AfDB according to him, has suspended the granting of new loans and disbursement of loans for on-going projects to Ghana and furtherdisclosed that the sanctions took effect in January 2015.
According to him other countries on the AfDB’s exclusive list are Somalia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Djibouti, but AFDB in statement has denied the report.
According to the bank Ghana has fulfilled its obligations with the AFDB and is not on the list of countries that have been sanctioned by the bank .
“Our attention has been drawn to a press report that Ghana is under sanctions with the African Development Bank Group (AfDB). We wish to state that Ghana is current on all its obligations with the AfDB. Ghana is not on the list of countries under sanctions by the AfDB.”
The bank however explained that Ghana was mistakenly put on the list last month but that anomaly was immediately corrected when detected.
“On 18 February 2015, due to an administrative oversight, Ghana was erroneously included in the list of countries under sanctions by the AfDB. However, the error was detected that same day and a corrected list was immediately issued in replacement,” the statement said.
The AfDB sanctions according to Dr. Bawumia joined Ghana to an exclusive list of nations currently under AfDB sanctions.
The other countries on the AfDB’s exclusive list are Somalia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Djibouti.
The former Deputy Bank of Ghana Governor further stated that Ghana’s arrears on its AfDB debt obligations “only serves to emphasize the pressure on government cash reserves as well as the poor debt management.”
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By: Vivian Kai Lokko/citifmonline.com/Ghana
