By Stephen Asante
Accra, Nov. 25, GNA – Incomes could reduce by up to 40 per cent for poor Ghanaian households by 2050 if urgent climate actions are not taken, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister, has noted.
“Global warming poses major threats to the economies of climate vulnerable countries like Ghana,” he said, citing the Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Loss and Damage Report, which estimated that the country lost US$15.20 billion from 2000 to 2019 to climate change.
Given the prevailing threats, he said, the Government was leveraging its bilateral engagements to expand consultations on debt-for-nature swaps as well as increased private sector investments “to accelerate our transition to low carbon growth and finance our climate action measures”.
Mr. Ofori-Atta, who was delivering the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government, in Accra, on Thursday, indicated that Ghana had assumed the Presidency (from 2022 to 2024) of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) and Chair of the V20 Group of Ministers of Finance.
Therefore, the agenda was to leverage that opportunity to accelerate “our climate agenda which is outlined in Ghana’s Climate Prosperity Plans”.
According to the Minister, there was the need for the country to pursue its strategies with all the commitment needed to prevail despite the climate adversity.
GNA