Ghana Still Needs ¢100 billion To Recover From COVID-19 —Info Minister

Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has said that Ghana still needs Ghc100billion to fund recovery from the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking at a media interaction in Koforidua on 28th September 2021, the Minister reiterated that the government plans to mobilize Ghc70billion from the private sector and the remaining Ghc30billion from the government itself.

What is interesting is that this is the umpteenth time that the Akufo-Addo government has bandied a humongous amount about as COVID recovery bill. The first time it was mentioned, the Ghc100billion was sold as the Ghc100billion Obatanpa CARE program.

The CARE program was launched in November 2020. Almost a year down the line the government is still talking about needing Ghc100billion for recovery.

On 18th November 2020, the then-Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Maafo launched the Ghana COVID-19 Alleviation and Revitalization of Enterprise Support (CARES) initiative in Accra.

The Ghana CARES programme is a bold and audacious GHȻ100 billion post-COVID programme to stabilize, revitalize and transform Ghana’s economy to create jobs and prosperity for Ghanaians over a three-year period. 

It was sequenced in two phases: a Stabilization Phase that is running from July to the end of the year (2020); and a medium-term Revitalization Phase from 2021-2023.