Ghana to receive $19 billion China loan in August – Information Minister

The Minister for Information, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid has revealed that government is on course to submit a $19 billion loan facility from the Chinese government to Parliament for approval.

According to him, the government has completed all the paperwork for the loan.

He said government expects to complete all relevant processes for securing the credit facility by the end of August 2018.

“The loan will come very soon; we have done all the paperwork, very soon we will go to Parliament for the approval. Hopefully, we will hit the ground [between July and August]” Mr Hamid stressed.

Mustapha Abdul-Hamid was speaking on Adom FM’s Burning Issues program hosted by Afia Pokua on a myriad of issues.

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia announced on his return from a four-day visit to China that Ghana has struck a deal with the Chinese government in which about $19bn could be invested into the economy through various MOUs signed.

The funding partnership with China, according to Dr Bawumia, is not based on direct borrowing and aid model.

He noted this is based on the bargaining power of the country’s natural resources such the 2.8 billion metric tonnes of iron ore deposits, 960 million metric tonnes of bauxite, 413 million metric tonnes of Manganese and not to mention Gold, Cocoa and among others.

After his visit, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) described the $19 billion Chinese deal as a hoax, whiles the Minority in Parliament also lambasted the Akufo-Addo led government for expressing its willingness to use the country’s natural resources as collateral in securing a $19 billion loan from the Chinese government.

The Minority spokesperson on Finance, Ato Forson chastised the NPP government’s arrangement with the Chinese, labelling it as “deeply hypocritical.”

But Mustapha Hamid told Afia Pokua that he is optimistic that government will secure the deal to embark on various projects in the country.

He assured the nation that government will do all it can to secure the $19 billion loan facility from the Chinese government after approval of Parliament

-Joyonline

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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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