Despite a sick economy, Ghana says cut poverty by 50%

AFP & M&G Africa Reporter

South Africa has also met the goal of cutting poverty by 50% by 2015. Most of the rest of the Africa is “off track”.

The cedi has taken a beating .

THOUGH the Ghana economy has been having horrible days at the office in recent months, the government emerged to finally announce some good news – the number of people living in poverty in Ghana halved between 1992 and 2013.

The Friday announcement means Ghana has met a key development benchmark, despite its struggles.
The Ghanaian currency, the cedi, has lost nearly 37% of its value since the start of the year.
The government has said it will approach the International Monetary Fund for help in stabilising the cedi and closing a budget deficit that stands at 10.1% of GDP.
According to new data from the national statistics body, just fewer than 24.2% of Ghanaians were living in poverty in 2013 compared to 51.7% in 1992.
The figures were based on Ghana’s own measure of poverty which for 2013 counted individuals living on less than 3.60 cedis—equivalent last year to an average of $2.34—a day.
The UN measure for poverty counts those living on an even smaller amount, of less than $1.25 per day.
By halving the poverty rate, Ghana becomes one of the few African countries to achieve the first of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG), a set of benchmarks that developing countries are aiming to meet by next year.
Sarah Hague, the head of social policy for the UN children’s fund UNICEF in Ghana, said South Africa has also met the target but that much of the rest of the continent is under-performing.
“Africa as a whole is far off track,” she said, adding that poverty across the continent had only dropped to 48% in 2010 from 56% in 1990.
Anthony Amuzu, from the Ghana Statistical Service, said anti-poverty initiatives such as cash transfers and school feeding programmes were behind Ghana’s success