Kofi Ahovi

Hani Salem Sonbol, ITFC CEO and Benedict Okey Oramah president Afreximbank signing a finance agreement in 2019 The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), member of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, signed a US$200 million syndicated Murabaha financing agreement with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), a multilateral financial institution established by African governments and institutional investors. The facility seeks to help African countries address some of the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. This syndication is supported by number of partners and financial institutions who allocated resources to the agriculture sector in African. The agreement, which is indicative of ITFC’s ongoing commitment to and trust in Africa, will finance the export of soft commodities, such as raw cashew nuts, cocoa, sesame seeds and maize. The financing will provide critical support for the agriculture sector (the continent’s largest employer and a key driver ...

EasyJet says it has begun consultations on plans to close bases at Stansted, Southend and Newcastle. It follows an announcement by the airline that it may need to reduce staff numbers by up to a third because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Unite union said nearly 1,300 UK crew members faced losing their jobs. Pilots' union Balpa said it had been told by EasyJet that 727 of its UK-based pilots were at risk of redundancy. That is equivalent to one in three of its pilots, Balpa said. EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said: "The lower demand environment means we need fewer aircraft and have less opportunity for work for our people. "We are committed to working constructively with our employee representatives across the network with the aim of minimising job losses as far as possible." EasyJet plans up to 4,500 job cuts However, Balpa general secretary Brian Stratton said the job cuts were "an excessive over-reaction". "EasyJet won't find a suppl...

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to dry up a vital source of income for poor and fragile countries The COVID-19 pandemic is crippling the economies of rich and poor countries alike. Yet for many low-income and fragile states, the economic shock will be magnified by the loss of remittances—money sent home by migrant and guest workers employed in foreign countries. Remittance flows into low-income and fragile states represent a lifeline that supports households as well as provides much-needed tax revenue. As of 2018, remittance flows to these countries reached $350 billion, surpassing foreign direct investment, portfolio investment, and foreign aid as the single most important source of income from abroad (see Chart 1). A drop in remittance flows is likely to heighten economic, fiscal, and social pressures on governments of these countries already struggling to cope even in normal times. Remittances are private income transfers that are countercyclical—that is, they flow from migrants int...

The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, PFAG, has warned that the country could suffer rice shortage this year following the negative impact of COVID-19. Ghana imports about US$1 billion worth of rice annually to meet a monthly rice demand of 940,000 tonnes. But according to the Association, the COVID-19 restrictions in countries that Ghana imports rice from, coupled with last year’s ravaging of rice farms in Northern Ghana, poses a threat to the country’s food security. The Head of Programs and Advocacy for the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, Charles Nyaaba,  told Citi Business News  they want government to urgently support rice farmers to mitigate the impending consequences of rice shortage.   “It will be useful if government could get us inputs like fertilizer or seeds to produce and payback. They could also connect us to the banks for credit at reasonable interest rates. We are pleading with them to pay heed to our pleas. Usually, they don’t listen to our call...

The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison, has said reduced domestic interest rates will empower local banks to participate in the cocoa syndicated loan. COCOBOD is seeking to raise 1.3 billion dollars to finance the 2020/2021 crop season. But some financial analysts have maintained that the funds used in purchasing cocoa beans would have been retained in the country if more local banks participate in the process. Appearing before Parliament’s Public Account Committee, Dr. Addison stated that there is the need to work on interest rates to encourage local banks fund cocoa purchasing. This is an important matter primarily because interest rates in Ghana have been relatively high, therefore, COCOBOD has found the syndication to be cost effective. I think that as we bring domestic interest rates down, then financing the entire crop from domestic resources will be better. We have to work towards financing cocoa purchases from our domestic banking system as we bring inflation rat...

The Executive Head Corporate and Enterprise Banking at Bank of Africa (BoA), William Boateng, has noted that the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic is changing the dynamics of banking across the globe. He explained that the pandemic is ushering the banking system into a new era where bank and customers heavily rely on technology to transact business. To this end, he says the Bank of Africa will leverage on available technology and its global presence to meet the demands of customers. Speaking during a business webinar on the theme: ‘Banking in a Covid-19 environment, Dynamics for Corporate, SMEs and Individuals’ organized by the Bank of Africa in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI France Ghana, Boateng said:   Covid-19 is testing trust, and businesses are worried that the banks are not strong” adding that “Banks are now shifting from the usual ways of doing things and we are leveraging on our presence across the globe to be able to support our customers.” ...

First National Bank Ghana has appointed Dominic Adu as its first Ghanaian Chief Executive Officer. A press statement issued by the bank said Dominic Adu’s appointment will commence, effective Wednesday, July 01, 2020. Dominic takes over from Richard Hudson, who has served in this position since the inception of the bank five years ago. Mr. Adu was the Chief Executive Officer of the erstwhile GHL Bank, which was recently acquired by First National Bank Ghana.   Chairman of the board of directors of First National Bank Ghana, Mr. Joseph Tetteh, in the statement noted that, “On behalf of the Board of Directors, we are excited to welcome Dominic to lead the First National Bank Ghana team. He has a wealth of experience in domestic and international Finance, private equity, entrepreneurship and leadership which will add great value to our team.” “Notably, this appointment marks another milestone in the history of First National Bank Ghana to have a Ghanaian citizen as CEO. We are confide...

Parents and guardians have been urged to provide their children with nose masks and alcohol-based hand sanitisers to complement the central government's efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Giving the advice on the sideline of a disinfection exercise in St James International School, Lashibi, in the Tema West Constituency, the Tema General Manager of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Seth Appiah Ocran, said the central government alone cannot fight the pandemic. "And so as parents, we must support the government by ensuring that our school-going children have, at least, nose masks and hand sanitisers to protect them from the Covid-19 pandemic," he urged. Again, he charged parents to educate their children on the Covid-19 safety protocols. The exercise, which saw the disinfection of about 17 basic schools in the Tema West Constituency, was part of the President directives for all basic schools in the county to be disinfected before reopening date--...

The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, has launched a $ 9 million dollar Grant Scheme for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in the tourism sector. The Scheme, earmarked for interventions to strengthen the industry severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, is under the Ghana Tourism Development Project, a world bank funded project. According to the Sector Minister, Barbara Oteng-Gyasi, this new intervention has come to complement already existing support schemes introduced by government. “There is the GHS 1 billion stimulus package launched by the President to support Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SME) affected by the novel Coronavirus pandemic. There is also a GHC 3 billion Cedis facility for larger businesses. All these are available to our industry. So if you are a player in our industry you can apply to access these funds.” The Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Marfo, said it is critical that every effort is made to sustain the industry after the COVID-19 pandemic. “None of ...

The Senior Minister has lamented the inability of the tourism sector to produce corresponding returns on government’s past investments or to list among top 10 on the continent. Yaw Osafo-Marfo touted the support of sector by the Nana Addo administration since its inception in 2017 as a proof of their commitment to improving tourism in Ghana. “It is unfortunate that despite these investments, Ghana has not seen a corresponding rise in our tourism earnings or break into top 10 Tourism destination in Africa,” Yaw bemoaned, June 24. Speaking at the launch of Ghana Tourism Development Project (GTDP) SME, he stated that the initiative which is “a very important milestone in the history of the country’s tourism, arts and culture industry as we launch the first-ever Tourism Enterprise Support Program.”   This is the first time such a scheme is being implemented in the history of the country to support the tourism industry. The Kakum National Park in the coastal environs of the Central regi...

Insurance Group, Hollard Ghana has partnered Melcom Ghana to make insurance more accessible to Ghanaians and widen insurance penetration. The partnership will see Hollard provide insurance, starting with life insurance and savings policies to customers of the retail giant, Melcom Ghana, via an in-store Hollard-on-the-go booth. “We continue to do our part to improve insurance penetration in Ghana by making insurance more accessible. Melcom is where Ghana shops so it makes sense to enable shoppers to easily pick up insurance as they do their regular shopping. “Melcom customers can shop, buy insurance, pay premiums, make claims or simply enquire.” said the Group CEO of Hollard Ghana, Patience Akyianu, at the launch held at the Melcom Plus store at North Industrial Area in Accra. She added, “There is great benefit when insurance and retail giants’ partner. Our partnership with Melcom speaks to our continued effort to put our customers and Ghanaian public at the forefront of what we do. “We...

Vodafone and MTN’s are allowed to share subscriber data with the government to help it track down the contacts of coronavirus cases, a high court in Accra ruled. It would go against citizens’ “overall wellbeing” for the court to stop telecommunications providers from sharing data with authorities amid a pandemic, Justice Stephen Oppong said in his decision. A private citizen had filed an injunction order asking the country’s two biggest operators to suspend data-sharing with the government, saying it breached domestic and international privacy laws. “The purpose of the collection of the data is for the protection of the whole state of Ghana,” Oppong said. “Even the applicant benefits” from that effort, he said. Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo issued an executive order in March calling for providers to tighten their collaboration with the country which reported its first cases of the virus on March 12. The West African nation had 14,568 cases, including 95 deaths, as of Tuesday, accor...

The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison, has expressed some reservations about the processes being used in the prosecution of officials found culpable in the banking sector crisis. He however says although the banking sector regulator has no control over the judicial processes, it is collaborating with the relevant state agencies to ensure that justice is served. Dr. Addison made the comments when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament. “In terms of the processes, we wish that it could have been faster. But I think that we are working on it. We are supporting the Attorney-General’s Department with some materials to help them prosecute shareholders and directors that are culpable,” he said.   The Bank of Ghana, between 2017 and 2019, revoked the licenses of nine local commercial banks and over four hundred financial institutions comprising Micro-finance, Savings and Loans as well Finance Houses, for violating various regulations guiding their op...

COCOBOD, Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA and other Development Finance Institutions have announced a $600 million credit facility for COCOBOD’s Productivity Enhancement Programmes (PEPs). The facility is part of a number of projects in line with the Ghana beyond Aid agenda. In November 2019, Development Finance Institutions (DFI) including African Development Bank (AfDB), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Spa (CDP), and commercial finance agencies such as Credit Suisse AG(London Branch), the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China(London branch) and other International agencies, signed a $600 million syndicated receivables-backed loan facility with Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to boost cocoa productivity in Ghana. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo stated that the money will help COCOBOD to contribute to curtailing the challenges wi...

Most Rev. Dr. Paul Kwabena Boafo,  Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana The Methodist Church Ghana has commended waste management company, Zoomlion Ghana Limited (ZGL), for “doing a good job” with the disinfection exercise in its 4,000 planted churches across the country. “We can say that Zoomlion has done a very good job for us! They have given us a certificate to show to the medical team that will be coming round for inspection for which we are also very happy", expressed, the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana, The Most Rev. Dr. Paul Kwabena Boafo. The presiding bishop of Methodist Church Ghana was briefing journalists on his church's nationwide disinfection exercise at the Church’s Conference Office in Accra on Wednesday. To facilitate the work for Zoomlion, he said the leadership of the church deployed all its bishops, superintendent ministers, and leaders throughout the country to make sure their chapels, washrooms, offices, and all others facilitie...

Zoomlion Ghana Limited (ZGL) on behalf of the Ghana Electrical Dealers Association (GEDA) on Wednesday morning undertook a disinfection exercise at Opera Square, Accra, also known as Cowlane. With the help of its boom atomizer, a disinfection crew with knapsack spraying machines, Zoomlion disinfected the two lorry terminals at the Opera Square area including about 400 shops and stores at Opera Square, open spaces along the Old AMA traffic light, Judicial Service, the Ghana Post Office, and the Rawlings Park areas, and the Cowlane Central Mosque. Hajia Muina Buari, 2 nd  Vice-Chair GEDA Speaking to a cross-section of journalists after the exercise, the 2 nd Vice-Chair, GEDA, Hajia Muina Buari, explained GEDA engaged Zoomlion to undertake the exercise in order to protect their members and also keep their customers safe from the Covid-19 pandemic. She added that before the partial lockdown, members of GEDA were religiously implementing the preventive protocols. “Before the announceme...

  Vivo Energy Ghana, the Shell licensee, in partnership with its fuel retailers, have constructed and handed over a 10-seater water closet toilet facility, with an overhead water tank to the Ahinsan Camp Prison in the Adansi District of the Ashanti Region. This timely intervention by Vivo Energy Ghana and its retailers means that the personal health and safety of inmates is now improved. The initiative forms part of Vivo Energy Ghana’s Retailer Sustainability Programme, launched to complement the government’s efforts in combating COVID-19 from Ghana and ensuring the decentralisation of developmental support to communities where it operates. Speaking on behalf of the Managing Director, the Corporate Communications Manager, Shirley Tony Kum, reiterated the company’s commitment to its communities as a partner in sustainable development. “Following an engagement and needs assessment with authorities of the prison, it became evident that the inmates needed a decent place of convenience...