DeniAfrica

The World Bank reports:

The World Bank Board…approved US$140 million in support of the implementation of Ghana’s Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II). This year’s budget support is the fourth in the series under the Multi-Donor Budget Support (MDBS) framework under the new GPRS II.
Referred to as the Fourth Poverty Reduction Support Credit (PRSC-4), it is to be used to promote gains made in the areas of primary education and health, as well as to help sharpen the focus on growth-related areas in the energy, financial and natural resource management sectors.
Three previous PRSCs amounting to US$375 million of direct budget support were disbursed by the World Bank to support GPRS I.

Cameroon Tribune reports:

Executive Directors of the World Bank and the IMF concluded that Cameroon had fulfilled the Completion Point conditions under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, based on satisfactory implementation of macroeconomic, structural, social and governance measures.
More specifically, it was agreed that Cameroon had established a track record of commitment to PRSP implementation and poverty reduction. The authorities were commended on the actions taken in 2005 to restore fiscal discipline and correct the deterioration of public finance, thereby strengthening macroeconomic stability. It was also noted that the share of budgetary resources allocated to priority sectors, especially social development and infrastructure, had increased steadily since implementation of the first full Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). Finally, progress which has taken place in the implementation of structural reform in particular in the transport and forestry sector was highlighted

Frederick’s Kwoba’s DENI presentation at the The Ministerial Conference of the Least Developed Countries on “Enhancing the Development Impact of REMITTANCES” stated that :

The thrust of this conference suggests that we are searching, indeed looking, to go to the next level. Africans in the Diaspora have resolved to go to the next level as level as well – engage in Large Scale Investment opportunities for purposes of poverty reduction. So why haven’t we done it? The honest answer is that if we could, we would have done so already.ADB/World Bank/UNDP: For us to move to the next level of large-scale investments, we need a formal structure as well as credible institutions like ADB/World Bank/UNDP to stand with us. We are not looking for money from ADB/World Bank/UNDP. All we need is ADB/World Bank/UNDP to stand by us as a confidence booster to encourage Africans to pool their resources for large-scale investments.
DENI: Direct Expatriate Nationals Investment: We have developed a program called DENI that was designed to bring Africans together to pool their resources for large-scale investments in their home country. This will be done country-by-country, meaning Beninese will have their own DENI Program for Benin, Ghanaians will have their own DENI Program for Ghana, Malians will have their own DENI Program for Mali, Nigerians will have their own DENI Program for Nigeria and so on down the line until we get to Zimbabweans with their own DENI Program for Zimbabwe.

Reuters reports on Cameroons debt cancellation:

“Cameroon has made sufficient progress and taken the necessary steps to reach its completion under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative,” the IMF and World Bank said in a joint statement.”To reach the completion point, Cameroon met a number of triggers involving macroeconomic stability, commitment to a poverty reduction strategy, investment in social services as well as progress in privatization and reform of the forestry and transport sectors,” they said, adding that the country also took steps to tackle corruption and improve transparency. In addition, Cameroon’s graduation from the HIPC initiative also makes it eligible for a further $1.13 billion debt write-off from the three lenders under the more recent and separate Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), agreed by the Group of Eight major industrialized countries in June 2005.”

via GhanaWeb:

Standard and Poors’ outlook adjudges the country’s sovereign credit outlook to be stable. This is based on an expectation of continued prudent economic policies that foster stability and growth.
The report indicates that the rating could improve if progress is made on structural reform particularly privatization and broadening of the narrow base of the economy.
According to standard and poor, a reduction in the current account deficit and evidence that the financial of deficits is not undermining debt sustainability would also augur well for the ratings.
According to a business week report, “Conversely, any indication that the greater fiscal flexibility afforded by debt forgiveness is being misdirected or that Ghana is embarking on policies that endanger relations with donors would undermine ratings prospects”.