Fact checked: Seth Terkper defines John Mahama’s policies

For close to 5-years now, the Akufo-Addo led administration has been propagating information on some policies they claim to have instituted in the quest to enhance the transformation agenda of Ghana.

For this reason, most policies that were initiated by the NDC government have been plagiarised by the NPP government without acknowledging their origin.

EXIM Bank Initiative

In 2016, the NDC government under the leadership of President John Mahama swore in the governing board of EXIM Bank Ghana, an institution established to fundamentally transform the country’s economy into one which is export-led and driven by the private sector to also boost industrialization and utilise local inputs.

Hence, it also has an agenda to diversify the economy through non-traditional exports to create jobs for the youth in the country.

Launch of Ghana EXIM BANK G-EXIM

On December 4, 2016, a news report filed by Graphic online explains the launch of the Ghana EXIM bank where the Former Finance Minister Seth Terkper launched the Bank on behalf of President John Mahama in Accra.

During the launch of the bank, Mr Terkper explained that the establishment of the bank was a bold effort towards achieving Ghana’s long-standing quest for the promotion of non-traditional exports (NTEs).

With a mandate to provide trade and investment credit or loans for the export market, Mr Terkper said the introduction of the Ghana EXIM Bank would help to accelerate the country’s drive towards creating a more diversified economy.

“The EXIM Bank we are launching today is one of the several initiatives that the government is putting in place to substantively support the private sector as well as government business entities (GBEs), which are mainly called state-owned enterprises (SoEs) in Ghana, to transform the economy,” he said.

The Trade deficit effect

He also explained that the Ghana EXIM Bank which commenced operation in 2016 is focused on export-oriented businesses that could be assured of financial support, expert advice and grants. This will help them to expand and be able to increase the country’s export base.

He further stated that the bank’s core mandate of stimulating growth in export-oriented businesses was an integral part of the government’s goal of promoting an accelerated and inclusive growth strategy.

“Hence, the Ghana EXIM Bank is indispensable to the transformation agenda for the ensuing years and will help in consolidating several of the gains that we have been making on the macroeconomic front,” he explained.

“It will support and develop, directly or indirectly, trade between Ghana and other countries, and Ghana’s capacity and competitiveness in the global marketplace,” he said.

The aim of establishing the bank was to assist Ghanaian exporters to compete internationally providing insurance, guarantees and export financing facilities to support their overseas activities.

In a news report published on August 2016 on CITIfmonline, Mr Terkper is reported as intensifying his lobbying for private sector businesses to enroll onto the Ghana Export and Import [Exim] bank and promote the country’s exports market.

“I would want to entreat the private sector to partner with government in these institutions, it is true that the State Owned Enterprises will benefit but I think we can be part of changing all these institutions for investment and trade,” the Minister appealed.

Citing the growth witnessed by the country’s cocoa sector with the Ghana COCOBOD adopting strategies to attract investments for the purchase of cocoa beans since 1994, Mr Terkper was hopeful of the prospects of Ghana’s exports with a boost in patronage of the EXIM bank at targeting exports.

“We can learn from this model [adopted by the COCOBOD] and from EXIM bank practices elsewhere: escrow the export earnings for our private sector who are exporters and through the process, bundle all these earnings together and borrow from the international market at competitive rates,” he explained.

Today the Ghana EXIM Bank is exponentially doing well in terms of promoting the development agenda in more structured way, due to the great initiative and vision the Former President John Mahama and Former Finance Minister Seth Terkper had to transform the nations economic growth.

Below is full trade balance over the year’s:

Source: pfmtaxafrica.com/Amos Ekow Coffie