The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has disputed claims that Ghana was under sanctions with the bank.
Economist and the New Patriotic Party Vice Presidential running mate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on Tuesday delivered a lecture on the IMF bailout programme and said Ghana has recently been sanctioned by the AfDB for non-payment of debt obligations due.
That, he said meant that the signature of new AfDB loan agreements, disbursements on all AfDB on-going projects and the granting of any new loans have been suspended until the situation was rectified.
The sanctions according to him were effective in January 2015 and said Ghana in that regard joined an exclusive list of nations such as Somalia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Djibouti which were currently under AfDB sanctions, the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana said.
But in press statement signed by Director of Communications of AfDB, Joel Kibazo clarifying Ghana’s status with the bank, it said Ghana was current on all its obligations with the AfDB.
When Graphiconline called Joel Kibazo on telephone from his Abidjan base, he said his office had been inundated with phone calls from Accra the whole day following Dr Bawumia’s lecture hence the issued the media advisory for clarification on the issue.
The statement read: “Our attention has been drawn to a press report that Ghana is under sanctions with the African Development Bank Group (AfDB).”
“Accordingly, Ghana is not on the list of countries under sanctions by the AfDB.
On 18 February 2015, due to an administrative oversight, Ghana was erroneously included in the list of countries under sanctions by the AfDB.
However, the error was detected that same day and a corrected list was immediately issued in replacement, the statement said.
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