Kofi Ahovi

British Airways Ghana (BA) has announced a special fare for its Business Travellers to London. The amazing $1,499 offer is available immediately, and sells until 30 November, with outbound travel between now and the same date. Paul Dhami, Country Manager for British Airways in Ghana in a press statement said customers can take their money further as they enjoy the comfort and privacy of their own space in the Club World (Business Class) cabin. “This offer is just one of the ways British Airways is appreciating its Ghanaian customers, and we are keeping our promise of being committed to Ghana, where we have operated for nearly 75 years,” he stated. Dhami said BA is committed to constantly finding new ways to making its customers happy, and the airline regularly invests in new products and services to ensure customer satisfaction. “We are fitting new First-class cabins that create an exclusive experience based on classic British design and understated luxury,” he said, “We are also rolli...

By Kofi Ahovi Government has made clear of its intentions to continue the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure contrary to reports that it wants to defer the implementation to 2011. In a joint statement issued by Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning and Enoch Teye Mensah, Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, it said the government was rather committed to the implementation of the roadmap and was supporting the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to ensure the smooth implementation of the SSSS. "We want to place on record Government's commitment to the effective implementation date of 1st January, 2010," it said. "We wish to give assurance to our stakeholders that the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy is on course." The statement stressed that the implementation of the SSSS was not a onetime event but a process. "This fact is buttressed by the Government White Paper on the implemen...

By Kofi Ahovi The Government has made available an amount of GH¢ 250,000 to the Bui Power Authority (BPA) to begin the control of black flies threatening the smooth implementation of the Bui Hydroelectric Project. The estimated cost of the proposed intervention over the next three years is GH¢750,000. The Bui Dam is a 400 megawatt hydro-electric project currently being built at the Bui Gorge at the southern end of Bui National Park in Ghana. It is a $700 million, project between the government of Ghana and Sino Hydro, a Chinese construction company. In addition to increasing the domestic electricity supply, power generated from Bui is expected to be exported to Burkina Faso, Mali and Cote d'Ivoire. The Minister for Energy, Oteng Adjei, made this know when he appeared before Parliament last week to response to question tabled by the Member of Parliament for Tain constituency, Honourable Ahmed Ibrahim on measures been instituted to control the black fly nuisance at the Bui Hydroelect...

By Kofi Ahovi Performance of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) rebounded in August with renewed investor interest bolstered by continued deepening of macroeconomic stability and further declines in interest rates. This occurred after the GSE ended June and July 2010 down with profit taking activities and selling pressures as well as concerns over earnings performance of some of the listed companies,. Market turnover during the first eight months of 2010 was 93.8 million shares valued at GH¢60.6 million. This compares with 55.4 million shares valued at GH¢49.6 million traded during the same period in 2009. Market capitalization was similarly up by 17% to GH¢18,655.7 million. At the end of August 2010, the main gauge of stock market performance, the All-share index, posted a return of 22.4%, up from the return of 14.6% in the preceding month and a loss of 43.4% in August 2009. The performance was underpinned by stocks in the banking and finance sector, agric, food and beverage and energy s...

By Kofi Ahovi Government is reviewing Patent Act (Act 657) to promote, enhance and use it as a tool for economic development, Business Week has gathered. The patent system provided incentives to individuals by offering them recognition for creativity and material rewards for their marketable inventions. The review had become necessary to enhance the Agreement on Trade Related Aspect on Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and also focus on the question of access to information and knowledge by ensuring that the country took advantage of the exception clause. The review would provide a better legislative environment, create an efficient patent protection system and boast research work and inventive activities. The process is spearheaded by the national Intellectual Property Policy Committee (NIPPC) and Technical Coordination Group which is charged with the mandate to establish national Intellectual Property Policy development. The committees are to enable forma...

By Kofi Ahovi The Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) would from January next year begin the re-introduction of the Automatic Adjustment Formula (AAF) to address any adverse movement of external factors that affect tariffs. The introduction of the mechanism should have started in October this year but was re-scheduled to enable the PURC embark on an educational campaign. Currently, PURC is engaging with utility providers to educate them on the formula and its technicalities. It will later also meet with consumers across the country for the same purpose. The mechanism allows the tariff to be adjusted periodically taking into account the foreign exchange rate and other factors that affect tariff adjustments. AAF would reduce the financial burden on consumers associated with one-time tariff adjustments whilst at the same time ensuring the financial viability of the utilities. The formula was reviewed by the commission to take into account the current trend of crude oil prices on t...

By Kofi Ahovi The five years exemption period granted to companies engaged in the construction for letting or sale of residential premises to Ghanaians has been scraped off. This would take effect from next year. The tax holiday would however still apply to estate developers who wish to partner with the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing to provide affordable housing to lower income Ghanaians. The tax incentive was provided to the estate developers mainly to create affordable accommodation for the middle to low income earners. This according to the government is being abused by the developers. The real estate developers who benefited from this incentive unfortunately focused on building residential accommodations for the high and upper class of the society while abandoning the original purpose. The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, explained in the 2011 budget statement that “given government’s heavy involvement with the provision of affordab...

By Kofi Ahovi The government has achieved some of its major projects and programmes it set itself in 2010, according to provisional data from the financial statement and economic policy for 2011. During the 2010 fiscal year, construction, rehabilitation and upgrading of a number of roads and highways were completed during the year to reduce road infrastructure backlogs in the country. The Ho-Fume, Sogakope-Adidome-Ho, Kumasi-Techiman, Doyormu-Prampram and Nkawkaw-Obemeng were among the major roads that were completed during the year. Routine maintenance were also done on 3,975.07 kilometers of highways, and re-gravelling and resealing of 444.36 km of road were also completed. In addition, some 810.13 kilometers of road improvement works was executed under the Improvement Work, Partial construction, Upgrading and Rehabilitation Program. During the same period, a total of 253 rural communities were supplied with electricity under the SHEP 4 Project, and a survey to connect additional 1,...

By Kofi Ahovi Government is likely to meet all the macroeconomic targets it set for the 2010 fiscal year as provisional data suggests. As at September 2010, the economy had expanded by 5.9% against a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) target of 6.5%, according to provisional GDP estimates based on actual January to June data released by the Ghana Statistical Service. Government set itself a real GDP growth of 6.5%; average inflation rate of 10.5%; end-period inflation of 9.2%; an overall budget deficit of 7.5% of GDP; and a gross international reserves of not less than 2.5 months of import cover for the 2010 fiscal year. According to the provisional data, the agriculture sector grew by 4.8% in 2010 against a target of 6.0% and constituted about 32.4% of GDP, relinquishing its position as the largest contributor to output to the services sector. All sub-sectors in the agriculture sector achieved their targets except the Crops and Livestock sub-sector, which posted a growth rate of 5.0% agains...

By Kofi Ahovi The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS), is set to roll out the Automated Clearing House (ACH) from next week as part of efforts to modernize the country's payment system. The ACH is primarily an electronic funds transfer system that is increasingly becoming the preferred form of funds collection for organization in developed and emerging economies. ACH is considered as the paperless option to the processing of cheques and has a low cost per transaction. Archie Hesse, General Manager, Business Development, GhIPSS briefed journalists last week on the ACH process so far. The ACH normally comes in two forms, the Direct Debits and the Direct Credits and much of the activities surrounding the fund transfer take place among the participating banks and GhIPSS, which will act as the Clearing House. The implementation will begin with the Direct Credit. With regard to its mode of operation, a customer, be it an individual or organization, will instruct its ...

By Kofi Ahovi An independent entity to regulate cross-border trade of electricity and provide support to national regulators of the electricity sector in West Africa has been launched in Accra. The body, known as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA), was created in 2008, to oversee the development and monitoring of uniform technical rules for the management of the exchanges between interconnected systems to maximize their technical efficiency. It will also supervise wholesale electricity sales between the various operators in Member States and analysis of their efficiency in order to avoid anti-trust practices and also monitor compliance with commercial rules and contractual commitments by partners, as well as the developing of procedures for the settlement of disputes. Dr Joe Oteng-Adjei, Minister of Energy, in an address read on his behalf, said efforts to link electricity networks in the Sub-Region through the West ...

Governments around the world are making strides at achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Kofi Ahovi seeks to outlines Ghana’s progress so far. At the end of the 20th century, governments around the world agreed on a set of common goals for developing countries, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These goals pave the way forward, from that period to the year 2015, to cut world poverty by half. With the accomplishment of these goals, billions of people can benefit from the global economy while tens of millions of lives can be saved. The MDGs are eight sets of goals that respond to the world's main development challenges. The goals are drawn from the actions and targets contained in the Millennium Declaration that was adopted by 189 nations-and signed by 147 heads of state and governments during the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000. The eight MDGs break down into 21 quantifiable targets that are measured by 60 indicators. The goals are 1: Eradicate extreme poverty...

By Kofi Ahovi The Deputy Attorney-General and Deputy Minister of Justice, Hon. Ebo Barton-Odro, has advised the general public, particularly business owners, to be patient to enable the government come out with a comprehensive new Companies’ Code. According to the minister, who spoke to Business Week during a seminar for judges of the superior courts by the Ghana Shippers’ Authority, cabinet is vigorously considering every aspect of the new code to ensure that it efficiently addresses every aspect of setting up a business. He observed that business owners most often call on the ministry to find out current development of the new code, while others invariably put pressure on the ministry to work assiduously on the document even though it is with cabinet. The new Companies’ Code (Act 179) of 1963was presented to cabinet for the second time after it was returned to enable more consultation with stakeholders. Cabinet returned the revised document to the Ministry of Justice and Attorney Gen...

By Kofi Ahovi The government of Ghana has signed an agreement with their Denmark counterparts to provide a total of US$ 70 million, equivalent to DKK 357 million, as a budgetary support through the Multi Donor Budget Support Programme (MDBSP). The assistance also includes support for the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) which runs from 2010 to 2014. The programme support has two components, a second phase of general budget support and a public finance management component, the GIFMIS, which is an electronic system for government’s budget, financial accounting and reporting, disbursements, internal control, and auditing. Both the MDBSP and GIFMIS support are harmonized, aligned assistance, in the case of MDBSP with 10 other partners and with GIFMIS, with three other partners. The proposed MDBSP phase two is intended to support government of Ghana implement the medium term development policy framework, the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA...

By Kofi Ahovi The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, would this Thursday November 18, 2010 present to parliament the budget statement and economic policy of the government for the fiscal year 2011. The presentation of the budget statement to parliament before its implementation year was started in the previous government and has since been successive. The budget is expected to provide detailed implementation strategies on how the government plans to migrate all public workers into the Single Spine Salary Structure as well as the total cost to the nation and the deadline for implementation. So far, the Fair Wages and Salary Commission had completed the migration of about 20 Public Service institutions onto the SSSS. These include the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Prisons Service, Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana Fire Service, National Commission for Civic Education, Ghana Co-operatives Council, State Enterprises Commission, and West Africa Examinations Council...