"NDC Gov't Deceiving Ghanaians With $3bn Chinese Loan"

A member of the communication team of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Yaw Buabeng Asamoah, has said the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration is deceiving Ghanaians with regards to the much-talked about $3 billion Chinese loan. Mr. Asamoah was emphatic that the loan will never reach the shores of Ghana next year contrary to promises by the Atta Mills-led government that the money will come for massive infrastructural development. Speaking on Joy FM�s news analysis programme News File on Saturday, Mr. Asamoah insisted that there was no way Ghana can source the Chinese loan since the International Monetary Fund (IMF) needs to give their blessing to it before. �The finance minister can�t sign that loan because he needs the consent of the IMF which he hasn�t got,� he said. Conversely, the Minister of Communication, Haruna Iddrisu, retorted it is not entirely true that Ghana cannot sign the Chinese loan because �we can decide to discontinue with the IMF because we�re a sovereign nation which is something being considered. � The Ghana government confirmed its readiness to defy the IMF on Wednesday in a final bid to end moves by the Christine Largarde-led funding agency to suffocate the US$3 billion from the China Development Bank (CDB). The Minister of Finance, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, in the 2012 budget statement disclosed that the NDC government intends to sign the loan agreement, but did not give details. �In the light of our middle-income status and prospects of declining access to concessional financing, the Government has secured a US$3 billion Master Facility Agreement (MFA) on non-concessional but very competitive terms with the China Development Bank. The funds will be used to finance critical infrastructure investments, including a gas pipeline that is urgently needed to avoid the significant risks to existing oil wells,� Dr Duffuor told Members of Parliament last Wednesday.