The Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur said the Government of Ghana is pursuing a number of reforms to curtail public spending for the necessary saving to finance infrastructure development and attract investment

He explained that consideration for the vulnerable, under the current tax reforms, had not made the reforms radical enough to yield the desired results.

Also, the international economic system has not worked in favour of the Ghanaian economy, especially for her commodity prices.

The Vice President made the announcement when a delegation of the Steering Committee of the Ghana-US Partnership for Growth paid a courtesy call on him at the

Flagstaff, at Kanda, in Accra, to brief him on the outcome of the meeting on the Second Compact of the Millennium Challenge Compact,

The delegation was led by Pat Alsup, Deputy Chief of Mission of the United States Embassy in Accra. The Vice President said he was happy that the meeting reported that there was substantial progress made in the readiness for the compact.

He however said there had been challenges in efforts to restore micro economic balance, explaining that, the path of adjustment being pursued had not yielded quick results.

According to the Vice President, the Government is looking for efficiency in Government spending, a stable and predictable wage bill and selecting and prioritising projects to attract the necessary investment.

He recalled the recent monetary measures of the Central Bank to slow down the rate of depreciation of the Ghana Cedi against the major foreign currencies, and anticipated further measures to restore stability.

The meeting was to assess Ghana's readiness for the second com-pact of the Millennium Challenge Compact, for which a board meeting is scheduled for the US next May for possible disbursement of the funds in August.

The Ghana US-Partnership for Growth forms part of US President Barack Obama's Partnership for Growth to assist with financing of identifiable projects for poverty alleviation in Ghana, Tanzania and El Salvador

It covers areas of energy and access to credit for small and medium enterprises that fall in line with Millennium Challenge Compact, operating under the Millennium Challenge Corporation, under which the United States of America would advance another package of assistance for projects aimed at poverty reduction in Ghana.

Despite the progress that Pat Alsup said the meeting reported, she said there a few areas where the pace of work needed to be stepped up.

Those areas were however discussions behind closed doors with the Vice President. Ms Alsup however said the US maintains a j working partnership with Ghana,] rather than what she called giving-1 receiving relationship.