2006年VOA标准英语-Ghana President Launches Fund to Help Small Bus

By Efam Dovi
Accra, Ghana
06 September 2006

Ghana's President, J.A. Kufuor, has launched a debt relief project that aimed at benefiting small businesses in the poverty-stricken country. Efam Dovi reports for VOA from Accra the deal is part of a $200 million multi-lateral debt relief program from the International Monetary¹ Fund.

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Several businesses in Ghana are unable to expand because of a lack of credit available to them. One of the biggest impediments is the high interest rate on commercial loans, which is more than 25 percent.

Under the proposed program, small businesses will have access to loans at a 10 percent interest rate, the lowest in the country.

The $50 million fund is part of Ghana's poverty reduction program that grew out of the U.N. Millennium² Development Goals.

J.A. Kufuor   
  
President Kufuor says, although the latest data from the Human Poverty Index indicates poverty in Ghana has declined, from 51 percent to 41 percent in the past five years, the reality is that many Ghanaians still live below the poverty line.

"The most difficult problem that continues to undermine various anti-poverty program is the lack of accessible and sustainable financial services within the reach of the people who need the service most," he said.

President Kufuor stressed his government's need to speed up Ghana's economic growth and improve socio-economic standards.

Ghana has implemented³ several poverty reduction programs since independence from Britain in 1957, many of which have failed.

Finance Minister Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu says Ghana has the opportunity to correct the mistakes of the past and step out of poverty.

"The message must go out, these monies must be repaid. Wherever the money came from, it was some taxpayer's money, so we need to make sure they get paid back . Whatever be the mistakes of the past, our responsibility now is to fix the future so that we don't repeat the same things," he said.

Ghana is one of the selected developing countries benefiting from various multi-lateral debt relief programs from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank.

1 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

2 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

3 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句