Germany has increased the amount for its development cooperation with Ghana to €130 million every year.
The amount, according to the German Ambassador to Ghana, Christoph Retzlaff, will further deepen developmental cooperation with the country and improve trade ties between the two.
Ambassador Retzlaff revealed that the priorities of Germany in 2021 will be on renewable energy, corporate governance, Ghana’s COVID-19 recovery and development of Small and Medium Enterprises.
“We have a substantial portfolio in our development cooperation. It has increased significantly to €130 million over the last four years. I will say relations have been deepened over the last years. We do this because we see a lot of investment potential in the country,” he said.
Ghana has, since May 2020, received a €25 million worth of COVID-19 relief package from the Federal Republic of Germany.
The Ambassador said his government also advanced credit lines through a cooperation with Stanbic Bank to SMEs with over 120 benefiting from the package.
Even as Ghana is expecting the first batch of vaccines in the months ahead, Christoph Retzlaff hints that the country is on the priority list of allies being supported by the German government.
“We were able to put together quite a substantial COVID-19 relief package for Ghana since April 2020 with a volume of €25 million, and we entered into a cooperation with Stanbic Bank to give credit lines to SMEs to safeguard 12,000 jobs in the country,” he said.
The priority is to help Ghana cope and come out of the economic and social challenges regarding COVID.
The latest update on the UN-led COVAX Facility, of which Ghana is a participant has revealed that the country is earmarked to take delivery of 2.4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine which is licensed to the Serum Institute of India (AZ/SII).
Ghana is among 145 countries listed to receive vaccines from a number of suppliers through the COVAX Facility according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
According to the facility’s interim distribution document on February 3, 2021, the vaccine is expected to be administered to persons in key sectors such as health workers in the first quarter.
By Wisdom Jonny-Nuekpe
