Ghana says expects 161 mln euros in EU funds soon

Ghana expects to receive 161 million euros ($180 million) from the European Union (EU) "within weeks" to support the government's 2015 budget, Deputy Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson told Reuters on Friday.
The release of EU funds follows the signing of an aid deal in April between the West African country and the International Monetary Fund aimed at stabilising the country's economy in the face of a range of fiscal problems including a falling currency.
"The EU have been following our progress and they have resumed their support for the budget. We are receiving 161 millions from the Union within weeks," Forson said.
He was speaking ahead of a meeting between President John Mahama and Ghana-based ambassadors of EU member states.
The EU froze funds it pledged to Ghana's budget in 2013 after government overshot budgeted spending by nearly 100 percent.
Forson said some of Ghana's European development partners had also begun releasing frozen funds individually.
"Some of the monies are already on their way to the Bank of Ghana," he said.