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The Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, has directed the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the Bank of Ghana to adopt and implement pragmatic measures to halt the depreciation of the cedi. He has also directed government agencies and departments to ensure that government expenditure is within the agreed regime. The Vice-President who gave the directives during his meeting with the Economic Management Team at the Flagstaff House in Accra yesterday, underscored the need for an urgent meeting between stakeholders in the downstream petroleum sector early next week to discuss recent developments in that sector. The meeting, which was held behind closed doors at the Flagstaff House, was said to have been dominated by issues such as the exchange rate, revenue mobilisation and government expenditure. It also dealt with the threat of disruption in the supply of petroleum products in the country after the Vice-President had been briefed by the Energy Minister, Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, and officials of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA). Chinese Loan Briefing the Daily Graphic after the meeting, a source close to the meeting said on the delay in the disbursement of the Chinese loan, Mr Amissah-Arthur asked the Ministry of Finance to expedite action, while on the petroleum sector, he had urged the NPA to stick to the automatic adjustment formula for fixing the prices of petroleum products. Projects The source said there had also been deliberations on projects selected under the public-private partnership policy initiated by the government in 2012 and Mr Amissah-Arthur had directed the stakeholder ministries to ensure that the selected projects commenced as early as possible. Other issues discussed included Ghana�s commitment to the Millennium Challenge Compact II, maximisation of government revenue for the 2014 fiscal period and the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP).