Accra, Oct. 5, GNA - Finance and Economic Planning Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo has been voted the 2004 African Finance Minister of the Year at the ongoing World Bank/International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual meetings in Washington DC, a statement from the Ministry said in Accra on Tuesday.

The statement said this was announced at an award ceremony organized by EUROMONEY to present the award to the Minister and Mr Tito Mboweni, Governor of the Central Bank of South Africa, who was voted as the best African Central Bank Governor of the Year. The statement said the award was given to Mr Osafo-Maafo in recognition of reforms he had initiated.

These included achieving Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Completion Point in record time and macro-economic achievements, such as slashing inflation and sustaining the growth rate in a bid to reduce poverty.

"Ghana's achievement in reaching the completion point of the (HIPC) programme is the culminating story of macro-economic improvement under the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, MP, who has launched a programme of reform that has attracted increasing attention from international donors," said an article published in Emerging Markets, a World Bank/IMF publication.