Francis Asenso-Boakye
Deputy Chief of Staff and Political Assistant
to the President, Francis Asenso-Boakye, says government is implementing its
current policies and programmes to end poverty by 2030.
He said policies such as Free SHS, ‘Planting
for Food and Jobs,’ ‘One District, One Factory’ and the Infrastructure for
Poverty Eradication (IPEP), are important steps towards achieving the United
Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal of ending all forms of poverty by the
year 2030.
According to him, Ghana’s current efforts are
direct and focused on alleviating the plight of the poor and that the impact
even within two years of their implementation is obvious.
Mr. Asenso-Boakye disclosed this while speaking
at a High-level Dialogue on Big Data and Global Poverty Reduction as part of
the China International Big Data Industry Expo 2019 held between 26 and 29 May,
2019 in Guiyang, Guizhou Province, China.
The deputy chief of staff, who is also a development
planner, discussed Ghana’s efforts and experiences over the years in
alleviating poverty.
He indicated that “Ghana’s journey towards
poverty alleviation took a concrete form when by year 2000 the country had
taken the unenviable title as a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC), with a GDP
per capita of US$265 and 51 per cent of the population described as poor.”
He added that “a national development
plan, under the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy, was developed and implemented,
focusing on poverty reduction by investing in the production areas of the poor
such as rural agriculture, informal sector, processing and commerce.”
“By 2008, poverty in Ghana had dropped to 25 per cent of the population while the African average was 43 per cent. The economic improvement had with it corollary social benefits, including free basic education, national health insurance scheme, school feeding programme for deprived areas and targeted welfare scheme for the poor and aged,” he added.
By Melvin Tarlue
The post Gov’t Targets Ending Poverty By 2030 – Asenso-Boakye appeared first on DailyGuide Network.
