Kofi Ahovi

 470 water safety guards from Ecozoil Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of Zoomlion Ghana Limited as part of the Volta Lake Transport Safety Project (VLTSP) has graduated to help save lives and properties in the country’s water bodies. The water safety guards who will be deployed mainly on the Volta Lake were drawn from nine regions across the country. The guards who were trained at the Eastern Naval Command of the Ghana Navy at Tema in the Greater Accra Region were trained in basic water swimming, water surviving skills, fire-fighting, and water rescue among others. The guards will be in charge of checking the overloading of boats, ensure the wearing of lifejackets, cleaning the landing sites. The government through its Private Public Partnership (PPP) is expected to provide free lifejackets for use on the Volta lake. The Flag Officer Commanding the Eastern Naval Command (ENC), Commodore Emmanuel Ayenu Kwafo, in his welcome address commended the management of Ecozoil Ghana Limited for p...

 The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has commissioned two ultra-modern IHC Beaver 50 dredgers and marine equipment of Dredge Masters Limited (DML), a subsidiary of the Jospong Group of Companies (JGC). Unveiling the dredging equipment at the parking yard of DML at Adjei Kojo in Ashaiman, Accra on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, the President said this new fleet of DML will not only help curb the yearly flooding in Accra but also improve marine lives. He commended Dredge Masters for their continuous role in supporting his government's quest to find a permanent fix, especially to the perennial flooding in parts of Accra. He indicated that dredging companies have traditionally contributed to coastal protection. For us in Ghana, Dredge Masters has made significant contributions in this area, and the introduction today of the two ultra-modern IHC Beaver 50 dredgers means that Ghana, within the West African market, has her own indigenous company which can dredge to a depth of 16 metres,...

...Minister charges MDAs The Ministry of Works and Housing has charged the local authorities such as the municipal district assemblies (MDAs) to enforce the bye-laws to prevent flooding in Accra. According to the sector Minister, Francis Asenso-Boakye, the district assemblies are empowered by the Local Government Act to ensure that, for instance, building permits are issued appropriately and not anyhow. Haphazard development of our communities is another major cause of flooding in the capital city. Whenever you are supposed to build you have to go and request for a building permit from the district assembly, and most people don't do that. ...but it is the responsibility of the district assemblies to make sure they issue permits rightly and that whenever permits are not issued, they [the district assemblies] should be decisive to pull down any structure that flouts any of the bye-laws," he urged. Asenso-Boakye made the call when his ministry, in collaboration with the National ...

  ...As Agric Ministry offers support for local companies As part of efforts to address the shortage of agro-chemicals, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has announced that the government was proactively working with local fertiliser producers to produce quality organic fertilisers on a large scale for farmers across the country. According to the sector Minister, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, organic agriculture has taken a huge premium on the international market, adding that the mass production of quality organic fertiliser will make Ghana less dependent on inorganic fertiliser. Dr. Afriyie Akoto was briefing journalists following a stakeholder meeting with local fertiliser producers on the production and promotion of quality organic fertilisers domestically in Accra on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. He attributed the ‘acute shortage’ of agro-chemicals generally, and fertilisers in particular, to the war between Russia and Ukraine, amid the international sanctions on Russia. These d...

  Panellists on the Vodafone Healthline programme, the social intervention arm of the Vodafone Ghana Limited, have cautioned women against the use of unorthodox means to tighten their vaginas after childbirth. This, they said, could have adverse effects on their reproductive parts particularly during childbirth. They added that the vagina was created with the ability to accommodate babies coming out and then revert in order to continue performing its other duties. They stated this to debunk a popular misconception that a woman’s vagina didn’t return to its normal size after childbirth. The panel was made up of the hostess, Fremah Asiedu, a nutritionist; Dr. Aba Folson (Cardiologist) and Dr. Kwekuma Yalley (General Practitioner). Dr. Yalley said women who used such concussions in attempt to tighten their vaginas could have serious complications in the future. He explained that the products being touted as vaginal lighteners use a process known as fibrosis to create scar tissues whic...

  The value of Mobile Money (MoMo) transactions which peaked in March this year suffered a decline the following month. Data from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) showed that the value of money moved on mobile phones declined from GH¢90.5 billion in March to GH¢87.7 billion in April this year. The decline in the value of MoMo transactions bucks the trend that emerged from December last year, when the controversial Electronic Transfer Levy, Act 2022 (Act 1075) was announced in November. The BoG data showed that the decline in money moved on the mobile phone-based platform between March and April was GH¢2.8 billion, equivalent to about 3.1 per cent, within the period. While the number of transactions also fell from 413 million in March to 403 million in April, the amount of money on MoMo float rose from GH¢9.5 billion to GH¢9.6 billion within the period, the first in the year. Rare growth The fall in transactions in April came after MoMo transactions witnessed one of their biggest month-on-mo...

 THE Bank of Ghana (BoG) has assured businesses and the general public that the high increases in prices of goods and services would reduce in the coming months. It said measures instituted by the bank to contain the sustained increases in prices, termed inflation, were yielding results, with internal estimates already showing that the pace of the increment would begin to moderate in the short term. The Governor of the BoG, Dr. Ernest Addison, gave the assurance yesterday when he addressed the press after the bank's third Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) for the year in Accra. Biggest jump The MPC, which Dr Addison chairs, raised the bank’s benchmark rate, the policy rate, from 17 per cent to 19 per cent to help ward off the inflationary pressures. It is the second time in a row that the central bank has increased the policy rate to help stem inflation. It had earlier raised the rate by 250 basis points from 14.5 per cent in January to 17 per cent in March. The rate is a gauge in se...

 African Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) have been tasked to implement policies that will enhance their rating to attract global investments with favourable terms. This will help to support the development of the continent. The Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Ernest Addison, who made the call at the 2022 annual General Assembly of the Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI) in Accra on May 24, 2022, on the theme: "Unlocking Innovative resources for development finance: Agenda for African DFIs", observed that DFIs all over the world complement government efforts through investments in critical sectors that promoted growth and development. He noted that for effective financing of Africa's development in the face of rising inflation and interest rates, soaring sovereign debt levels and low domestic revenue generation, African DFIs should seek to identify and unlock innovative resources by expanding beyond the current sources of funds....

The Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG), the regulatory body of the accountancy profession, has urged the government to ensure proper fiscal discipline to manage the current economic hardships in the country. Speaking at a press conference in Accra last Monday as part of the 2022 Accountants’ Week celebration, the President of the ICAG, Professor Williams Abayaawien Atuilik, said the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the war between Russia and Ukraine, had contributed to increases in prices and high interest and inflation rates across the world. However, he said the government could manage the situation by implementing the right fiscal policies and also ensuring that the country lived within its means. Event The 2022 Accountants’ Week, which is on the theme: “Accountancy and accountability: Transforming Africa’s economies”, commenced last Saturday with a health walk and it is expected to end on Friday, May 27, 2022. The highlight of the celebration is a two-day conference sl...

Governments, regulators and other relevant stakeholders in Africa have been asked to use the African Union (AU) Day to forge a fresh collaboration that will help remove all trade barriers from the continent. That will help further the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement. The Managing Director (MD) of FBN Bank, Victor Yaw Asante, who made the call, stated that the AU should galvanise support from its regional blocs to remove barriers that hindered intra-African trade. “We believe that Africans have not been able to trade among themselves enough and this is the reason AfCFTA was designed to encourage intra-African trade, but more than a year after trading began, there are still challenges which need a collaborative approach from all stakeholders to address,” Mr Asante said. He was speaking in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra on Monday (May 23) ahead of the AU Day. The AU Day The AU Day is an annual commemoration of the founding of the Organisation of Africa...

 Republic Bank (Ghana) PLC is a subsidiary of Republic Financial Holdings Limited (RFHL) of Trinidad & Tobago. Republic Bank is a leading universal banking institution in Ghana and arguably the most diversified financial institution. As a one-stop financial institution, our services include corporate, commercial and retail banking; investment banking; mortgage banking, custody services, trust management and microfinance. We understand that banking is not a repeat purchase of our services by our customers, but a development process where we provide services by appreciating our customers’ needs and building deeper and more effective customer relationships. Having this as the thrust of our business, we provide innovative products that cut across our varied customer base. Our parent company, RFHL, is the largest and most profitable independent bank in the English-speaking Caribbean, having served the region for over 180 years. As of the end of the 2021 financial year, the total ass...

  The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has called on the African Development Bank (AfDB) to position itself as the centre of Africa’s post-pandemic recovery. He said the development bank must lay out a road map through its ongoing annual meetings that would allow the continent to build back better and effect a tectonic shift in the global financial architecture. Ofori-Atta said this in an address at the opening of the AfDB annual meetings in Accra on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. He urged African Finance ministers and the board of the AfDB to use this year’s annual meetings to bring attention to the fact that the global financial architecture did not provide the requisite benefits needed by low- and middle-income countries to develop. Access to external capital markets is limited and costly. Currently, only 21 African countries have a track record of capital market access. “Additionally, African countries with market access pay higher interest rates than their peers with similar or wo...

The Managing Director of Loyalty Insurance Company Limited, Ernest Frimpong, has expressed worry about some unhealthy practices in the insurance sector. According to him, even though Ghana’s insurance market is highly competitive, characterised by a lot of innovation, some unethical practices like premium undercutting could hamper growth of the industry. “The Ghana insurance market is a highly competitive and dynamic marketplace,” Frimpong said. There is a dichotomy; on one hand, the market is characterised by innovation, and on the other hand, there is also some unhealthy competition in the market. The issue of undercutting premiums has been around for a while. We need to change this narrative; we need stronger cooperation among ourselves for the benefit of our industry”. He added. The Loyalty Insurance MD spoke at the company’s fifth anniversary celebration launch themed, “Growing through digitalisation.” The company unveiled four new digital applications which it believes will place...

 Most Ghanaians are unaware of projects funded with oil funds, a public fora held by the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) in the Western North and North East regions have revealed. In both regions, the Committee held regional public fora on the 2021 PIAC Annual Report, which brought together stakeholders from the traditional council, religious groups, security agencies, traders, educational institutions, among others to deliberate on the management and use of petroleum revenues. The participants also called for more projects to be executed with petroleum revenues. PIAC therefore recommended the labelling of Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA)-funded projects for identification. It again reiterated its commitment to carrying out its mandate to ensure the prudent management and use of petroleum revenues in Ghana. PIAC commends some oil funded projects but unhappy about some In terms of the projects funded with petroleum funds, the Committee expressed satisfaction a...

Money market yields will trend higher as investors ask for positive real returns, whilst liquidity conditions remain tight. According to investment advisory firm, Constant Capital, it therefore expects the Bank of Ghana to increase the policy rate by 200 basis points next week and a further increase in July 2022 to mop up excess liquidity from circulation, whilst reducing inflation. Within the context of the persistent inflationary environment, we think the BoG will tighten the MPR further as the MPC’s aggressive stance in March 2022 signaled a firm willingness to tighten to rein in inflation. Our expectation is a hike of at least 200 basis points at the May 2022 meeting with another potential increase in July”. It however said “we perceive further upside risks to inflation in May 2022 and through quarter 2, 2022. Although Cedi depreciation pressures have waned as US dollar liquidity gradually returns to the market, the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine could sustain higher food a...

  A further tightening of the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) of the Bank of Ghana could stifle economic growth, Databank Research has projected. This is because liquidity levels are already tight on the interbank market According to its Weekly Fixed Income Update, while it maintains an additional 200 basis hike in the policy rate in 2022, it expect the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to exercise restraint in May 2022, deferring a potential 100 basis points hike in MPR to July 2022. Real returns on fixed-income securities are also depressed with the high inflation profile, continually undermining the Treasury’s financing operations. We note that short-term interest rates are misaligned, resulting in negative real yields, which could prompt the MPC to act in the week ahead”, it however pointed out. Ghana’s inflation continued the relentless run in April 2022, rising to 23.60% year-on-year as against 19.40% in March 2022. Therefore, inflation has increased by 11% over 4 months in 2022, co...

The Ghanaian economy is growing strongly despite the threat of rising inflation and the recent sharp volatility of the cedi, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison has pointed out. According to him, data secured by his outfit so far indicates that the economy continues to rebound, irrespective of the challenges. Speaking to Bloomberg ahead of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, which began yesterday, 18 th  May, 2022, Dr. Addison said he real sector of the economy has been resilient despite the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. The Ghanaian situation in a sense also reflects what happened in 2020 where the government took a very expansionary stance on policy. Therefore there were many interventions that was put into place in order to protect lives and livelihoods.” “The impact of that was real sector being more resilient than we see in other places. As I said, we are beginning to see a pick-up in growth in 2021”, Dr. Addison emphasised.” Indeed, sectors such as Infor...

  AirtelTigo Touching Lives in collaboration with Dr. Setor Foundation has launched the ‘Every Mind Matters’ initiative with the aim of creating mental health awareness among the Ghanaian population. This project is to give mental health the needed attention to eliminate stigma and prejudice against people living with issues of mental health and educating the public on availability of treatment and referral centres. Speaking at the launch of the event in Accra, the Head of Brand and Communications at AirtelTigo, Nancy Assor Asiedu-Amrado, emphasised on the urgent need to prioritise mental health in both the rural and urban areas in Ghana; since there were limited resources and little knowledge on the issue of mental health in the country. She added, “AirtelTigo Touching Lives, is pleased to collaborate with Dr Setor Abra Norgbe, the first runner-up in the 2021 Ghana Most Beautiful contest as she commences with her laudable project on creating mental health awareness among the popul...

 A group of 24 civil society organisations (CSOs) have called for a national discourse on the Agyapa Royalties deal. The CSOs, which work in the extractive, anti-corruption and good governance sectors, said the Agyapa deal was not in the interest of the country and, therefore, urged the government to offer more explanation on the deal to the citizenry and why it must be accepted. Addressing a press conference in Accra on May 17, 2022, to react to recent views shared by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, on the need to pursue the Agyapa deal, which was suspended in 2020 prior to the general election, the Spokesperson for the group, Kofi Bentil, demanded that the said revised deal be put before Parliament for the people to get its full details. The CSOs include the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), the Centre for Democratic Development-Ghana (CDD-Ghana), the Centre for Extractives and Development Africa (CEDA), the Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL), the IMA...

The Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, Wamkele Mene, has asked African countries to leverage the platform provided by the trade pact to create regional trade networks and global affiliations. He said this would enable their markets to build resilience in the supply chains and reduce reliance on external markets. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided us a once in a lifetime opportunity to make bold decisions that will put us on a path to resilient, inclusive and sustainable economic recovery, he said at the opening of the 13th World Trade Promotion Organisations (WTPO) conference in Accra on May 17. “With the AfCFTA, Africa now has an important instrument to assist countries to look inward for solutions to their COVID-19 economic challenges,” he stressed. The two-day event is being organised by the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) and the International Trade Centre (ITC) on the theme: “Bold Solutions for Resilience and Recovery.” Mene ...

 Parts of the Achimota Forest in Accra is no longer a forest reserve. It follows the coming into force of the Executive Instrument 144 gazetted on behalf of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on April 19, 2022. This means effective May 1, 2022, parts of the Achimota Forest Reserve is no longer a forest reserve. President Akufo-Addo under Executive Instrument 144 has lifted the 1927 classification of the Achimota Forest as a Forest Reserve. This is to pave way for a redesign, reclassification and development of the area. The Executive Instrument was gazetted on behalf of President Akufo-Addo by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor.  

  A book that chronicles the history of Accra Academy since its inception till date has been launched in Accra on Friday. Authored by Simon Ontoyin, a former student of the school (Bleoobi), the 723 pages book is titled "The History of Accra Academy From James Town to Bubiashie." Launching the book, the Deputy Minister for Education Rev. Ntim Fordjour commended the author and the school for the novelty which would go a long way to not only impact on Accra Academy students but education in the country as a whole. The book he said, captured the celebration of 90 years of sacrifice, success and excellence of Accra Academy which must be emulated by all institutions of learning in the country It is important to document the milestones chalked by a great school like Accra Academy which has become the home of some the brightest citizens of the country," he stated. "The best days of Accra Academy is ahead and we would be looking forward to the 180 Anniversary celebrations o...

GhanaWeb’s sister portal CamerounWeb.com has been ranked the leading news website in Cameroon by social media insights companies We Are Social and Hootsuite in their 2022 Digital Report. The ranking places CamerounWeb fourth behind global platforms Google, YouTube and Facebook. CamerounWeb now stands as a powerhouse for advertisers who are targeting Cameroon and the diaspora. CamerounWeb audience spend an average of 12 minutes and 42 seconds on the website per day and they visit an average of 9.40 pages per day, said the latest report released on February 15. Managing editor of CamerounWeb.com, Emmanuel Vitus, said that the professional ethics of the website to always produce relevant content for the Cameroonian people earned them this spot. Our excellent performance confirms the efforts made over the past 8 years by our journalists who are dedicated to credible information for Cameroonians despite the economic situation and the hostility towards our journalists in the field. We remain...