The MTN Group President and CEO, Ralph Mupita, Senior Vice President for Markets, Ebenezer Asante, and Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer, Nompilo Morafo, paid a courtesy visit to the President of Ghana, H.E. President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly set of meetings.
They discussed issues related to the current global macro-economic developments and the impact on African countries, developments in the telecommunications sector and rural broadband coverage.
Also discussed, were progress with MTN’s localization plans, now at 23.7% and MTN’s commitment to Ghana as a key market for the MTN Group.
MTN Ghana is the market leader in the mobile telecommunications industry in Ghana, offering subscribers a range of exciting options under Pay As You Go, Pay Monthly and Mobile Financial Services.
The company is part of the MTN Group which is a leading emerging market leader with a clear vision to lead the delivery of a bold new digital world to its customers.
The telecommunications giant is inspired by its belief that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life. Scancom PLC is listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange and its strategy is Ambition 2025: Leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress.
International Financial System Skewed Against Africa
Meanwhile, taking his turn to speak at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, September 21, 2022 in New York, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo called for an urgent reform of the international financial system, as the current monetary system is skewed against developing countries.
According to President Akufo-Addo, “the financial markets have been set up and operate on rules designed for the benefit of rich and powerful nations, and, during times of crisis, the façade of international co-operation, under which they purport to operate, disappears.”
“These are the savage lessons that we have had to take in, as the world emerged from the grip of the coronavirus to energy and food price hikes, and a worldwide rise in the cost of living. The necessity for reform of the system is compelling.”
President Akufo-Addo
Stressing that “our world is currently not in a good place”, he recalled an observation by the World Bank which has described the global economy as “enduring its steepest slowdown since 1970”.
With the world confronted by a devastating global economic pandemic, pushing Africa into its worst recession for half a century, President Akufo-Addo stated that a slump in productivity and revenues, increased pressures on spending and spiraling public debts confronted the continent without relent.
In Ghana, the President indicated that “we are experiencing the highest inflation for 21 years. The high costs of food are hurting the poor, especially the urban poor, the most”.
The spill over from the raising of interest rates by central banks across the world to combat inflation, according to the President, has been severe beyond borders, as global investors pull money out of developing economies to invest in bonds in the developed world.
This, he explained, has led to depreciating currencies and increased borrowing costs; meaning economies in Africa “need to raise and spend more of our own currencies to service foreign debts in US dollars”.
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