The governments of Netherlands and the Fedral Republic of Germany last Tuesday, signed a loan agreement covering an amount of 6.0 million Euro (equivalent to ?65.2 billion) at a ceremony in Accra.

The Minister of State for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Samuel Nii Noi Ashong, signed on behalf of the government of Ghana while Dr Wolfpang Weth, Country Director, KFW, Accra Office, initialed on behalf of the German Government.

A release issued and signed in Accra said the loan facility, which is being extended to Ghana from the German Government through KFW Frankfurt am Main, Germany, constituted that country?s contribution to the Multi-Donor Budget Support (MDBS) Programme for the 2004 financial year.

Specifically meant to support the government implementation of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS), the German contribution is also in line with the Framework Memorandum on the MDBS programme signed between Ghana and her Development Partners in Accra on 30th June, 2003.

The release stated that with the signing of the loan agreement, the way had been paved for the release of the Base Tranche of 3.0 million Euros.

The Performance Tranche of the same account would be released later in the year, it said. In a related development, Eunice Asidua Kotoku reports that the Netherlands government has made available to Ghana, 113,000 Euros to assist the country assess the impact of climate change on human health, crop production, warmth in the temperate zone and floods in the tropics, among others.

The money, which is under Phase Two of the Netherlands Climate Change Studies Assistance Programme (NCCSAP) is also to enable Ghana to explore the linkages between climate change and the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy.

The Deputy Minister for Environment and Science, Dr Mathew Antwi, announced this last Tuesday when he launched the Second Phase of the NCCSAP Project.

The project seeks among other things to assist Ghana to prepare, formulate, implement and evaluate policies in relation to climate change and raise awareness about problems occasioned by such change.

In a speech read for him, the Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Mr Jonathan Allotey, said climate changes could cause grain yields to decease for many African countries thus, diminishing food security, particularly in small food importing counties.