Accra, Jan 26, GNA - Nana Juaben-Boaten Siriboe, Chief Director of Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, on Monday asked the African Development Bank (AfDB) to loosen its procurement guidelines. He said a review of the Bank's procurement procedures was crucial to accelerate project implementation in beneficiary countries to meet current economic trends. Nana Siriboe made the call at the opening of a six-day National Workshop on Project Implementation jointly organized by the Ministry and AfDB.

The workshop, under the theme: "Scaling up Poverty Reduction through Effective Project Implementation," would provide project managers and stakeholders the opportunity to dialogue on ways to ensure effective utilisation of the Bank's resources. Nana Siriboe expressed worry over Ghana's low disbursement level of the Bank's resources for projects, saying the current 15 per cent disbursement rate was not encouraging. "The world had moved beyond strict procurement guidelines and therefore AfDB must re-examine itself and respond to the global call for open procurement procedures," he reiterated. The Chief Director urged the Bank to re-examine itself to find out why countries that adhered to its procurement procedures had not performed very well.

Nana Siriboe also challenged project managers to be more dynamic, saying that the Ministry could not afford to make any commitment to any project without performance.

Mr Alieu Jieng, AfDB Country Representative, in a statement read for him, said the workshop would expose participants to procurement, disbursement and financial procedures of the Bank to improve the pace and quality of project implementation in the country. Mr Jieng hinted that the Bank's disbursement portfolio to Ghana stood at 900 million dollars, but the country's low disbursement rate informed the decision for the workshop to discuss the constraints and implement measures to improve the system.