Aid pours into Ghana
2013-01-08 22:16
Accra - The European Union has disbursed almost €16m to Ghana's government, an EU delegation said on Tuesday, a day after the West African country ushered in new leadership.
Ten million euros will support the Ministry of Health, while €5.65m has been allotted for general budget support, the Delegation of the European Union to Ghana announced.
The aid is only the first installment of a total €52m and is primarily intended to help Ghana halve its high maternal death rate of some 350 deaths per 100 000 live births by 2015.
Mark Simmonds, Britain's Minister for Africa, separately praised Ghana for its stable democratic transition following the inauguration of John Dramani Mahama as president on Monday, and said Britain was looking to increase investment in the country, the Ghana News Agency reported.
Ghana, the world's third largest cocoa producer and Africa's second biggest gold producer, has seen its coffers swell thanks to oil production that began in 2010 - yet two-thirds of its 25-million population still live below the poverty line. Eszter Farkas
- SAPA
