Government and representatives of the United States Government will today meet to review the Joint Country Action Plan (JCAP) performance under a Partnership for Growth (PFG) agreement they signed in 2013 and also discuss their second year work plan.

The Partnership for Growth is for a select group of countries to accelerate and sustain broad based economic growth through engagement with governments, the private sector, and civil society.

Ghana is one of four countries in the world selected for the PFG programme.

The others are the Philippines, El Salvador and Tanzania. It seeks to replace the traditional donor recipient model of international development assistance with a partnership based on mutually-agreed upon actions and commitments.

According to the Ministry of Finance, “The new framework is to also deepen and strengthen the countries’ bilateral engagement with US Government in promoting Ghana’s broad-based economic growth and inclusive development. The goal of the PFG is to assist Ghana to sustain and broaden its economic growth by addressing key constraints that inhibit private sector development and participation in the Ghanaian economy.”

Informed by current research and field assessment, a joint GOG and USG economic team conducted an analysis of the Ghanaian economy and identified key binding constraints to private sector investment and economic growth, which include unreliable and inadequate supply of electric power, lack of access to credit, access to secure land rights and access to portable water.

Both the US Government and the Government of Ghana have agreed that unreliable and inadequate supply of electric power and the high cost of borrowing reflected in high interest rates and collateral requirements hindering private sector competitiveness are the key areas of focus for this effort.

Key objectives of the PFG Joint Country Action Plan this time will be to strengthen the power sector, increase access to credit, especially for the SME sector.

Selected as a PFG Country, Ghana (GOG) has engaged in extensive analysis and consultation with the U.S. Government counterparts in developing the five-year Joint Country Action Plan (JCAP.