The World Bank has denied claims of suspending funding for two key projects in Ghana, totalling US$400 million over the government’s dismissal of some staff.
“No World Bank financed portfolio in Ghana are currently suspended,” Mr Kennedy Fosu, the External Affairs Officer, World Bank Ghana, told the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Thursday.
The projects are a US$200 million Tree Crops Diversification Project and another US$200m Ghana Digital Acceleration Project (GDAP).
The Tree Crops Diversification Project, a six year initiative (2023 to 2029) is to improve economic, climate, and social resilience in selected tree crop value chains.
Launched in November 2024, it is to tackle key challenges among key tree crops such as cocoa, cashew, coconut and rubber, thereby improving productivity and their long-term sustainability.
The US$200m financing is expected to directly benefit 12,800 cocoa farmers and 39,975 cashew, coconut, and rubber cultivators, and their households, with about 40 per cent of on-farm beneficiaries to be women.
Also, 20,000 jobs are expected to be created in downstream value addition by mobilising private capital for post-harvest management, value addition, and market access.
On the other hand, the Ghana Digital Acceleration Project is to expand access to broadband, enhance the efficiency and experience of selected digital public services, and strengthen the digital innovation ecosystem.
The project, to be implemented between 2022 and 2028, is to support the building of a strong enabling environment to fast-track digitisation by accelerating country-wide digital transformation.
GNA
