Kofi Ahovi

British Airways considers the last decade to been one of the most eventful and revolutionary periods in the history of air travel, as it looks back at technological innovations, over the period. From online check-in to onboard connectivity, British Airways has rolled out products designed for ease and convenience of its passengers, which it believes have made it the “World’s favourite airline” over the years. The airline’s website, ba.com, launched in 1995, has evolved to become a one-stop shop for British Airways customers, giving them greater control over their travel plans. The site currently has an average 2.5 million people visiting the site each week, and is available in 11 major languages including, French, German, Spanish, Hungarian and Chinese. Ba.com was voted, “Best Airline Website” at the 2008 Travolution Awards. The website also allows customers to book flights, manage their booking, and much more. In 2009, the website introduced a dynamic packaging facility, enabling cust

Raleigh has launched its first branch in Africa, Raleigh Ghana to developing and inculcating leadership skills in the youth. Raleigh Ghana becomes the first branch in Africa. The associations would also develop the mental resilience of young volunteers, discover their full potential as well as challenge them to take up responsibilities. According to the country director, Michael Nmai Maxwell, Raleigh Ghana is to create a new of training and developing young global citizens, inspiring them to be part of an innovative international network of people who cooperate and work together in solving problems and building better sustainable communities and environments. The country director urged the government to make volunteerism part of the curriculum for all educational institutions as done in other part of the world. “We believe this will strongly help to revive and revitalize the real national spirit of volunteerism and create a platform for people to get themselves involved in voluntary an

Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) has paid a record high dividend of GH¢2.99 per share representing 65% to its shareholders at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) held last week. Last year it paid GH¢1.89 as dividend. The banks operating income rose by 56% to GH¢182.5 million in 2009 while profit before tax was up by 91% to GH¢83.7 million. It assets grew from GH¢984,944 in 2008 to GH¢1.4 million in 2009. Hemen Shah, Chief Executive Officer of the Bank said the performance was delivered in the face of increasing competition within the industry and without compromising on standards of service, risk management and the disciplined approach in the way we do business. "Our 2009 results confirm that we have effectively managed the inherent risks in the industry over the year and have consistently been able to strengthen our foundation for efficient and sustainable growth within our strategic segments in the market," he said. "Our focus on and dedication to the basics of banking, that

By Kofi Ahovi The Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) is calling for the enactment of a competition law to safeguard and promote competition in the country. The law is to create a comprehensive competition regime to be administered by an independent competition commission or authority. The law would prohibit the most serious anti-competitive restrictive agreements, provide investigation and control, where necessary, of other types of restrictive agreements and of monopoly and merger situations as well as promote the role, and understanding of competition in enhancing efficiency and adaptability in the economy. The call for the law is being necessitated by issues relating to competition among corporate organizations which are not well understood by many Ghanaians. A research conducted by ISSER with support from Consumer Utility and Trust Society (CUTS), a non-governmental organization that pursue social justice and economic equity, showed that 58% of Ghanaian

By Kofi Ahovi Lending rates of universal banks operating in the country continue to remain high despite Bank of Ghana (BoG) reducing its policy rate from 18% to 16% in March this year. According to the latest Annual Percentage Interest (APR) and Average Interest (AI) released by the BoG for the first quarter of this year, figures on vehicle, mortgage and other consumer credit loans, remain high at an average of 33%. With this development, Ghana still remains one of the countries in the sub-region with high interest rates. The APR report indicates that SG-SSB offered the best lending rates after all the banks were surveyed. It charged 27.01% for mortgage and other consumer credit and as well as vehicle loans. However it paid interest rate of 10.89% on deposits. The APR is the true interest rate banks and non-bank financial institutions charge their clients on loans and advances. It reflects the true cost of borrowings and includes charges and commissions levied by banks. The APR repor

…Pressure on banks to cut lending rates By Elorm DESEWU Universal banks in the country would this week begin slashing their respective base lending rates between 50 and 100 basis points in response to the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the central bank’s policy rate cut. The MPC, led by the governor of the Bank of Ghana (BOG), Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, cut the policy rate by 100 basis points to settle at 15%, a reduction from 16%. The policy rate, which serves as a benchmark, is the rate at which the central bank does overnight lending to universal banks in the country. It serves as a basis for the banks in setting their respective base lending rates, as well as lend to their most favoured customers. Headline inflation dropped from its March 2009 level of 20.5 per cent to 13.2 per cent last month. Monthly changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) continue to grow at a pace lower than trends observed in 2009. Food inflation, which was 18.4 per cent in March 2009, declined steadily to

By Solace AMANKWA The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has launched the West African Media Development Fund (WAMDeF) in Accra. The fund is to be used to improve and expand access to finance and technical assistance to private media entrepreneurs by lending and investing in private media enterprises. Products that would be offered by the fund include quick operating loans of up to $10,000, repayable between 60- 120 days, short term loans between $10,000 and $50,000, repayable between 120 days and two years, medium term loans between $50,000 and $100,000, repayable between three and five years and long term loans between $100,000 and $200,000, repayable between five and seven years. The loans would attract small interests up to about 10%t to be charged on case by case basis This would provide innovative and customized financial and capacity-building solutions to private media companies in West Africa. The WAMDeF would also strive to engender the emergence of successful, vibrant

By Kofi AHOVI The government will from next week begin clearing the nationwide unpaid claims of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) totaling GH¢50 million. This would cover all outstanding arrears to service providers up to February, this year. The announcement comes as a big relief to service providers, who have been complaining of delays in claims’ refund. The delays, they say, were affecting their operations, especially, drugs re-stock, and procurement of other supplies and equipment, a situation which has resulted in growing anxiety among subscribers about the possible collapse of the scheme. According to a source at the NHIA, the authority is determined to maintain a clean sheet. “By June, this year, the Authority would no longer allow itself to be accused of delaying payment and would keep to payment in arrears of not more than three months as provided for in the law,” the source stated. The source stated that the target is to approach a maximum of two months’ arrears by

By Fred SARPONG Year-on-year inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) dropped by 0.91% for the 12-month period ended March 2010, from the 14.23% recorded in February 2010 to 13.32% last month, according to figures released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS). The March 2010 inflation rate is the lowest in the past 26 consecutive months. The monthly rate of inflation in March 2010 was 1.14%, which was the lowest figure this year, and compares with 1.59% recorded in January 2010. Inflation had been on the increase since October 2008 when it recorded 17.30% and in June recorded its peak of 20.74%, but since then has been declining significantly until it recorded 13.32%, the lowest since January 2008. The food component of the CPI which constitutes about 45% of the weighted items in the basket, contributed to the decline for March 2010 inflation. Non-food inflation for March was 17.55%, while food inflation for the same period recorded 7.35%. BusinessWeek learnt that the mos

By Kofi AHOVI The West African Gas Pipeline has restarted operations, following a one-year outage, which was caused by vandalism and fuel quality problems in Nigeria. The volume of gas flowing is approximately 30 million standard cubic feet per day (mmcfd), which is enough to generate 110 megawatts to fuel one out of the four installed turbines at the Takoradi Power Station in the Western Region. The resumption of flows on the line would allow power plants in Takoradi to switch from the expensive light crude it has been using to produce electricity since the shutdown in May 2009. Flows along the pipeline, which were originally started in 2008, were suspended due to the destruction of supply lines in Nigeria, where energy infrastructure is routinely targeted by rebels who are angered by unequal distribution of oil wealth. The 678 kilometre (420 mile) line was designed to transport gas from Nigeria's oilfields to Benin, Togo and Ghana to help ease chronic power shortages around West

…First oil confirmed for December By Kofi AHOVI Tullow Oil Plc, the majority stakeholder in the Jubilee field, plans to list on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) by the end of this year, BusinessWeek has gathered. The decision to list on the Ghanaian bourse would play a significant role in the development of the country’s oil industry. Additional information gathered indicates that the company may also list on Uganda Stock Exchange. If the listing of Tullow is successful, it will mean that Ghanaians would have the opportunity to own shares not only in the operations of Tullow Ghana but also operations of Tullow worldwide. It is however unclear what percentage of the company’s shares would be listed on the bourse. The Communications Manager for Tullow Oil Ghana, Gayheart Edem-Mensah, who confirmed this, said this is yet to be established, but the move had been under consideration since early last year but is at its

South African Tourism, the organization responsible for the marketing and promotion of South Africa as a world-class destination, has done this year’s version of its annual West Africa Trade Road Show event in Ghana. The event featured a one-day, tailor-made trade workshop which aims to update Ghanaian tour operators and travel agents on available business and leisure tourism products, enhance their destination marketing skills and create excitement for the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup. “SA Tourism is embarking on this workshop as Ghana has become a tactical source market for arrivals into South Africa from the West Africa sub-region and it presents the opportunity to share SA Tourism’s marketing and activation calendar for the year with the trade, consumers and the media,” explained Phumi Dhlomo, Regional Director, Africa & Domestic Markets for South African Tourism. In addition to the trade workshop, Media Roundtable, Round Robin Session/Product Presentations and a Consumer Activ

By Jeorge Wilson KINGSON The utility service providers in the country, comprising the Volta River Authority (VRA), Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Ghana Water Company (GWC) and the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDco), have been urged by the public to take urgent steps to address the problem of wastage in their operating systems before contemplating the idea of tariff increments. The belief is that wastage contributes about 50% loss to the utility companies, causing them to record series of losses which has impeded their retooling and expansion drives. Proponents of these concerns are further of the view that if the utility providers are able to do a clean exercise by controlling the waste in their system, there would virtually be no reason for them to call for tariff adjustments. These were among concerns expressed by participants at last week’s public forum, organized by the utility service regulator, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC). It was aimed at allowing members of

By Kofi AHOVI City and Guilds Skills Development (CSD), a non-profit organization, has launched a report dubbed ‘Training for Rural Development: Agriculture and Enterprise Skills for Women’ in response to growing concern on the lack of skills development for women smallholders. The report highlights the need for agricultural and enterprise training for women smallholders to facilitate the reduction of poverty in developing countries. Commenting on the report, spokesperson Justice Amoah said, “The report provides some excellent examples of good work by projects in rural Ghana, saying it is an excellent contribution to efforts being made to help women smallholders, and we are very pleased to have been involved in it.” He added that CSD has explained the critical importance of understanding women’s needs, and how agriculture and enterprise training must be combined with access to technology. The report provides project leaders throughout Ghana and other countries with practical and clear