Accra, March 17, GNA - The World Bank has approved a 1.37 billion dollars Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for Ghana for the next four years.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and signed by the Deputy Minister in charge of Budget, Dr A Akoto Osei said the World Bank Board endorsed CAS 2004-07 on Tuesday, March 16. The statement explained that building on the five pillars of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS), the new CAS sets out three major objectives, including accelerating growth and employment generation; achieving the human development Millennium Development Goals; and enhancing governance for empowerment.

The World Bank Ghana CAS, the statement noted, "comes after extensive consultations with government over the course of one year, following the final presentation of the GPRS.

The statement said views from five regional consultations with civil society and the private sector held in 2003 have impacted the content of the report.

"The CAS is presented in the context of deepening harmonization among development partners, within the Multi-Donor Budget Support framework and beyond," the statement said.