News Obiaks News

Only one in three people in sub-Saharan Africa has access to electricity considerable amount of electricity supply and, when available, it can be unreliable and unaffordable, the World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim, said this in speech presented at the Global Launch of “Poverty In A Rising Africa” Report. According to him, in most countries in sub Saharan africa , infrastructure is a major constraint on doing business and depress business productivity by around 40 per cent in some places, further grounding the economic prospects of Africa.

He insisted Africa would have been a leader in the comity of nations, but lack of adequate power supply had hindered development and had rendered many individuals from establishing or tuning profitable business. He went further by saying many African companies have had to close shops due to the seeming insurmountable challenge relating to power problems. This had also fueled increase in unemployment.
He said that the single-largest economic issue that is affecting growth and development in Ghana and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa remained the lack of consistent electricity, even if the country has made progress in increasing access in recent years. “Still, the private sector cannot thrive without access to reliable and competitively priced modern energy”, he added.
He stated further: “Let me give the example of how it affects one business here in Ghana – a company called Blue Skies, which employs about 3,000 people, most of them under the age of 30. The company delivers fresh fruit and juices to supermarkets in Europe each year. But when the power goes out – a near-daily occurrence – Blue Skies relies on diesel-powered generators to keep production going. The company has already spent about $330,000 on back-up fuel this year.
“We are now helping Ghana increase its supply of clean and affordable energy. We’re providing $700 million dollars in guarantees for Ghana’s Sankofa gas project. This will fuel up to 40 percent of Ghana’s currently installed generation capacity, improve the reliability, and replace polluting fuels with cleaner, more affordable resources. Ghana will be able to reduce oil imports by 12 million barrels per year and CO2 emissions by around 8 million tons over five years.
“This won’t fix Ghana’s energy constraints, but improving the availability of clean-energy supply is an important part of the solution. These are the types of solutions that Ghana and other African countries will need to attract and grow businesses, to create jobs, and to help people lift themselves out of poverty – and stay out of poverty”.
The report on power supply in Africa estimates that 388 million people, or 43 per cent of all people living in Sub-Saharan Africa, lived in extreme poverty as at 2012, the last year that figures were available, a decrease of 5 million people from 2011. The report further stated that “Poverty in a Rising Africa,” was released in Ghana at a high-level event commemorating End Poverty Day, which was attended by World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, government leaders, and civil society partners.