Ghana to benefit from $7 billion initiative by US to help deal with energy crisis

Ghana is to benefit from a $7 billion initiative by the United States to help it deal with the energy crisis.

The $7bn initiative which was announced by US President, Barack Obama over the weekend will run over five years.

The initiative is expected to double access to power in sub-Saharan Africa.

Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania will be the first countries to benefit from the initiative.

Roughly, two-thirds of sub-Saharan Africa lacks power, a level that rises as high as 85% in rural areas. Lack of power inhibits business investment among others.

The programme will draw on a range of US government agencies to achieve its goals.

For example, the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corp will commit as much as $1.5bn in finance and insurance to help U.S. companies manage the risks associated with the projects.

Similarly, the US Export-Import Bank will make up to $5bn available to support US exports to develop power projects.

The private sector has not been left out General Electric Co has already committed to power generation projects in Ghana and Tanzania.

Citifmonline

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ABOUT: Nana Kwesi Coomson

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An Entrepreneur, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communications Executive and Philanthropist. Editor-in-Chief of www.233times.com. A Senior Journalist with Ghanaian Chronicle Newspaper. An alumnus of Adisadel College where he read General Arts. His first degree is in Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (major) and History (minor) from the University of Ghana. He holds MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Energy with Public Relations (PR) from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who studied at Clark Atlanta University in USA on the Business and Entrepreneurship track.

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