Ghana’s Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, has warned emerging economies and developing countries to be wary of economic overheating as growth in advanced economies slows down due in part to the downgrading of the US sovereign debt rating, the euro zone crises and the continuous pull-ups in global commodity prices. Dr Duffuor gave the warning in his capacity as the Board Chairman of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) when he addressed it governors during the opening ceremony of the EBID sixth extraordinary general meeting (EGM) currently underway in Accra. He observed that while events such as the volatile nature of commodity prices in the world scenes, the continuing sovereign debt crises in the euro zone and the downgrading of the US sovereign debt rating were trailing a slowdown in development in these advanced economies; development in emerging and developing economies remains strong. As a result, Dr Duffuor noted that there are emerging signs of overheating in these economies as the pace of growth increases. Economic overheating usually occurs when growth in an economy is so quick such that producers in the said economy are unable to produce enough goods and services to meet rising demand thereby leading to a surge in commodity prices. In emerging markets and developing economies, inflationary pressures are expected to increase slightly reflecting the largely higher food and energy prices, he added and thus called on his colleague finance ministers in the sub-region and governors of EBID to pool their ideas and resources towards any anticipated challenges. Dr Duffuor’s warning comes at a time when some member countries of the bank are preparing to go into an election year or are just coming out of them, events that normally tighten up countries’ public expenditure. On the bank’s performance, the EBID Board chair said, the activities of the bank from January 2011 had increased significantly culminating in the positive balance of the financial statement of the bank as of June this year, a development he said was the reversal of the negative balance recorded at the end of last year. EBID’s provisional financial statements as of June, this year, showed a surplus of US$2.66 million as against a US$4.8 million deficit recorded in the bank. He thus condemned the management and staff of the bank for ensuring positive mid-year showing in the bank’s activities. The acting president of the bank, Mr Bashir M. Ifo, said the bank had opened talks with some leading Chinese bank and companies for the purpose of raising funds to finance projects in the various sectors of member countries. According to him, the said funds secured, would be used in financing about 13 projects in Mali, Senegal, Togo, Burkina Faso estimated at $US1.million. The EGM is expected to deliberate the increment in the authorised capital, the bank, the calling-up of the bank’s set and tranche of subscribed capital and appointment of a new president to take over from Mr Ifo.