Kofi Ahovi

The Ghana Chamber of Mines (GCM) has projected that the country’s gold output is expected to increase to between of 2.9 million ounces to 3 million ounces by the end of this year. Also, production of manganese is expected to increase to about 5 million tonnes in 2022. Speaking at a media workshop with members of the Journalists for Business Advocacy (JBA), the Research and Analysis Manager of GCM, Chris Nyarko, said “In 2022, we expect most of the mines to operate at a steady-state level and with everything being equal we expect gold production for this year to be between 2.9m and 3m ounces.” Actual and Forecast Production In 2021, Ghana recorded a string of steep declines in the outturns of production and purchases of its traditional minerals, with manganese and diamond being the sole outliers. This caused the country to lose its number one position as gold producer to South Africa. The volume of gold attributable to producers in Ghana declined from 4.022 million ounces in 2020 to 2....

 The total losses to fraud suffered Banking, Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions (B&SDI) and Electronic Money Issuers in 2021 amounted to GH¢61million as compared to GH¢25 million in 2020. The figures contained in the B&SDI and EMI fraud report issued by the Bank of Ghana represents a 144.00% increase in year-on-year terms, although 2021 saw a minimal decline of 12.09% in the number of attempted fraud cases of 2,347 for the Banking and SDI sector as compared to 2,670 in 2020. The report said the significant fraud types that accounted for this figure included ATM card/POS fraud, impersonation, lending and credit fraud, forgery and manipulation of documents, cash suppression and E-money fraud. The report said the increase in usage of electronic and digital platforms in the financial sector resulted in an increase in ATM card/POS fraud. However, there were other fraud types, which also recorded some huge losses. Notable among these were impersonation, lending and...

  The Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Wamkele Mene has called for the need for African Union member states to embrace the idea of industrialisation if they wish to remain competitive within the global trade space. According to him, the over reliance on export of the continent’s primary commodities as well as on external partners to come and invest in the continent has brought about the lack of competitiveness. When you think about why Africa lacks competitiveness, it is because we have been fragmented leading to the continuous reliance on export of our raw materials which are processed abroad and re-exported to us, creating a value chain and employment generation for those countries,” Mene said. Trade Road Show Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Ghana Trade Road Show organised by Afriexim Bank and Oakwood Green Africa, an African trade finance group and the AfCFTA Secretariat in Accra on Wednesday, Mene indicated that intra-African busine...

  Asante Gold Corporation has started trading on the Ghana Stock Exchange after it received approval from both the Ghana Securities and Exchange Commission and the Ghana Stock Exchange. Trading commenced under the symbol ‘ASG’ at the opening on June 29, 2022 with an initial listing price of GHS 8.87. The number of Ordinary Shares listed by introduction was 315,007,462 with a market capitalization of GHS 2.79 billion. In a press release copied to BusinessWeek Ghana , Douglas MacQuarrie, Non-Executive Chairman stated, It is with a great sense of ‘having arrived’ that Asante is now listed on Ghana’s premier stock exchange, one of the best performing stock exchanges in Africa in 2021. This listing complements our listings in Canada and in Germany and provides our Ghanaian shareholders, and potential new investors, the opportunity to invest and trade their shares locally in Ghana.” Asante’s CEO, Dave Anthony, added, “Asante has significant ownership by both private Ghanaian investors an...

The violent attacks on the police by protesters of Arise Ghana on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, has confirmed an earlier security intelligence that there is an attempt to destabilise the country. The Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, made the assertion in an interview on Accra-based television station, Metro TV, in reaction to the clash between the police and protestors at the Obra Spot, Kwame Nkrumah Circle. There is an obvious attempt to create instability in our country, and we don't need to mince words about it. "And there is a trajectory, first there was a group that wanted to demonstrate with weapons, then there was this group that said they wanted to demonstrate throughout the night till the morning and the Police raised obvious questions," Mr Oppong Nkrumah said. The Minister said those trajectory of actions should not be ignored by well-meaning Ghanaians in view of the recent terrorist attacks in neighbouring countries. He, therefore, commended the police for ...

The retooling and repair work at the Komenda Sugar Factory (KSF) are 98 per cent complete. The Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, who disclosed this to Parliament yesterday, said a production test run would be conducted by the end of next month. The minister was responding to a question on the floor of Parliament put to him by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bole-Bamboi, Yusif Sulemana, on the state of the factory. Kyerematen said other works had either been completed or were at the final stages of completion. He named the works to include the installation of a new pipeline to and from the plant to the molasses tank, and refractories. There is also lagging work in the boiler furnace and chimneys, which is fully completed. Another was the completion of the vacuum and water testing facility at the boiler house, which had started working, with steam pressure testing ongoing for the turbine to generate three megawatts (MW) of electricity, the minister added. Kyerematen name...

Dancehall artiste, Charles Nii Armah Mensah aka Shatta Wale has been fined Ghc2,000 by the Accra Circuit Court for falsely claiming he was dead in October last year. Failure to pay the fine will result in Shatta Wale serving a term of three months in prison. The court , presided over by Emmanuel Essandoh, slapped Shatta Wale with the fine after the artiste pleaded guilty to publication of false news. Wale had earlier pleaded not guilty to the offence but changed his plea today with his lawyers urging the court to have mercy on him and give him a lenient sentence.   more to follow...

The Bank of Ghana Ladies Association (BoG Ladies) has donated medical equipment and accessories to the Volta Regional Hospital, Hohoe to enhance quality health care delivery. The items which include a new Mindray DC 30 Ultrasound Scanner, Bank of Ghana branded bedsheets, papers for printing, gels and patient monitor, were donated in a short ceremony in Hohoe. Speaking at the ceremony, the President of BoG Ladies, Ivy Adjimah said, “The call on us for an ultrasound scan machine was to us an emotional appeal and a life-saving necessity that required an urgent provision, given the importance of the machine, especially its assistance with diagnosis, and consequently, the existing clinical deficiency due to its unavailability. Sincerely, I must confess that we are so much delighted for being able to redeem our pledge by providing for the Municipal Hospital a new Mindray DC 30 Ultrasound Scanner for its healthcare delivery services. Beyond the machine being used for obstetrics and gynecologi...

The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund  on 24 June approved a technical assistance grant of $2 million to fund research that will contribute to electricity reforms in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The grant from the African Development Fund — the concessional window of the African Development Bank Group  — will go to the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority. The ultimate objective is to stimulate cross-border electricity trade and improve energy access in the 15 countries in the region. The project has five components. The first involves selecting electricity regulatory principles and key performance indicators from the African Development Bank’s flagship Electricity Regulatory Index for Africa report, to be adopted by the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority. As part of this component, the project will build capacity in member countries for collecting and reporting on these indicators on a common platform....

  Ecobank , the leading Pan-African Banking Group, has been named ‘Best Trade Finance Bank in West Africa’ at the prestigious Global Trade Review’s Leaders in Trade awards. The award comes as recognition of Ecobank’s solutions for domestic and regional supply chain financing across key trade corridors as well as the bank’s arranger roles and participation in key soft commodities campaign financing across West Africa, notably covering cotton, cacao, soya beans and cashew nuts. Ecobank’s offerings are supplemented by our state-of-the-art E-trade module under the Omni Plus platform. Our products are positioned to support both our Corporate and Investment Banking and SME customers in leveraging on the African Continental Free Trade Area’s opportunities and growing intra-African trade. The judges also recognized Ecobank’s Trade Services solutions, which led the bank to commend significant market share on Letters of Credit across the continent, leveraging on its Paris-based affiliate, Ec...

 Bloggers and content creators using the GhanaWeb Reporter have earned approximately GHS 4,383.95 (USD 551.44) as of June 27, 2022. Launched in January to democratize journalism and empower content creators, the digital media sharing platform is the first of its kind in the country and two users have already withdrawn their earnings summing up to GHS 2,374.97. Michael Djan, a French tutor in Accra and a blogger was the highest earner with GHS 1,751.34, and Michael Agyapong follows suit with an earning of GHS 623.63 of which he withdrew GHS 100 in April to “test the system”. The two users are on the Professional Reporter account which is subscription-based and offers them monetized niche blogs and a content performance dashboard to keep track of earnings from advertising revenue generated by their blogs. I intentionally left my earnings…and anytime when I see it [grow], it motivates me… When I got to 1700 getting to 2,000, I said hmm, now the money is becoming huge and GhanaWeb, wil...

  MTN Ghana has been adjudged Health, Environment, Safety and Security Company of the Year at the 4 th edition of the Health, Environment, Safety and Security (HESS) awards. The ceremony was held at the Movenpick Ambassador hotel in Accra. In addition to being adjudged Company of the Year, MTN Ghana was also winner in other categories, bagging a total of eight awards. The other awards won are: Best Company in Customer Safety and Security Management Practices Best Company in Health and Safety Management Practices Employee Empowerment Excellence Award Management of Driving Safety Excellence Award Most Outstanding Contribution for Sustainable Development Health, Environment, Safety and Security (HESS) Team of the Year Health, Environment, Safety and Security (HESS) Manager of the year – Winifred Setor Smith The awards were in recognition of MTN’s commitment to Safety and Security standards which are demonstrated through the establishment of various organizational structures to ensure...

Bank of Ghana (BoG) has been elected as Financial Inclusion Policy Initiative (AfPI) Vice Chair. Also, after two years, Ghana will take over the position of AfPI Chair. AfPI Leaders’ Roundtable will be held in the Seychelles in 2023, Central Bank of Seychelles  took over as the Chair of AFI’s African Financial Inclusion Policy Initiative (AfPI) from  the  Bank of Tanzania  . Prof. Florens D.M.A Luoga Governor Bank of Tanzania handed over the post to his Seychelles counterpart Governor Caroline Abel on 23 June during AfPI Leaders’ roundtable  in Arusha, Tanzania. Governor Abel is the first woman to Chair an AFI regional initiative.   Expressing appreciation and honor given to him and cooperation he enjoyed with AFI Management Unit and from members of the African Financial Inclusion Policy Initiative (AfPI), Professor Luoga welcomed Governor Abel as the new chair during the closed AfPI Leaders’ Discussion Thanking Prof Luoga and the Bank of Ta...

  Unilever Ghana PLC has taken its turn at the ‘Facts Behind The Figures’ forum, organized by the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) for listed companies. The Managing Director of Unilever Ghana PLC, George Owusu-Ansah, said the company’s revenue increased to Gh¢ 559m in 2021, up from the Gh¢456m recorded in 2020. This represented a 23 percent increase in turnover over the period. The company ended the year having recorded a gross profit of Ghc108m, representing a 43 percent increase over the previous year’s performance. Overall, the company’s performance was an improvement over the previous year’s, driven largely by significant investments it made in product innovations and building the equity of its brands. 38 percent of the company’s portfolio gained market shares as a result. The company prioritized the reduction of waste from its operations. George Owusu-Ansah, announced that Unilever Ghana is tracking well on its journey to Rediscovering its Greatness through its purpose-driven brand...

  As the 31st July 2022 deadline for people to link their mobile phone SIM cards to their  Ghana Card  fast approaches, telecoms market leader, MTN has warned that it does not intend to give room for any customer who fails to meet the timeline as directed by government. The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Serlom Adadevoh, gave the warning in Kumasi at a media and stakeholders Forum for selected journalists and others. Adadevoh disclosed that MTN had, as at close of work on Wednesday June 22, 2022, completed the merger process of about 16.8 million representing 60 percent of its customers. He noted that about 10.8 million others representing 40 percent of MTN subscribers have also completed only the first process involving self-service who must necessarily go to any of the set up bio registration centres in the country to complete their National Identification process in compliance with the government’s policy directive. Adadevoh emphasized that MTN Ghana will effect...

MTN Nigeria’s newly licensed Mobile Money Payment Service Bank Limited (MoMo PSB) has dragged 18 Nigerian banks to court to retrieve ₦22.3 billion (US$53.7 million plus) it mistakenly transferred to 8,000 accounts in those banks. Court filing in suit No. FHC/L/CS/960/2022 instituted by MTN Mobile Money Bank against 18 banks revealed that the error occurred via a computer glitch. In an originating summons dated May 30, 2022 and filed before a Federal High Court, MTN’s MoMo Bank is seeking court declaration that the money transferred in error belongs to it and not the customers of the banks. The MTN Bank is also seeking an order of the court directing the 18 banks to individually account for the sums available in their customer accounts and the sums which have been removed by the customers and are no longer available. The requests formed part of the reliefs sought in the suit filed by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Lotanna Chuka Okoli (SAN) on behalf of MTN MoMo Payment Service Bank...

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the Cyber Security Authority (CSA) has reaffirmed their commitment to work together to find ways of collaborating to implement the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038). The two bodies have agreed to improve collaboration and timely information flow to facilitate incident reporting and information sharing on cybersecurity issues, pursuant to Section 44 of Act 1038. They also agreed to collaborate to interrogate and review the existing CISD 2018 to align with Act 1038. The Bank of Ghana and the Cyber Security Authority agreed on the above measures when they met on Tuesday, 21st June 2022, to discuss collaborative ways to improve cybersecurity in the banking sector and to collaborate more closely on cyber and information security related matters and to provide each other with all the necessary assistance for the efficient performance of their respective functions. The discussions were led by the First Deputy Governor of BoG, Dr. Maxwell Opoku-Afari and the Acting...

  The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Selorm Adadevoh, has reiterated MTN’s commitment to deepening digital and financial inclusion as part of its Ambition 2025 strategic vision. He stated during the Company’s 2022 Media and Stakeholder Forum held on Monday June 20, 2022 that “the company was on track to invest 1bn dollars in digital infrastructure by 2025.” Mr. Adadevoh said the core of MTN’s strategy is to leverage technology to build and enrich lives. He explained, “MTN is positioned to lead digital solutions for Africa’s progress. “At the heart our ambition is driving digital and financial inclusion to enhance the quality of life of Ghanaians.” Adadevoh also mentioned that the business was promoting mobile advertising and Ayoba which till date has over 10 million users in Africa with 20% users being from Ghana is the platform to drive it. He revealed that Ayoba currently has 15 micro-apps with majority built by local developers. This is aimed at boosting local content. Th...

 MTN Ghana is pleased to resume the celebration of Ashantifest, its month-long festival for the people of Asanteman. The festival was put on hold following the outbreak of COVID 19. Ashantifest is an annual regional festival created by MTN to bring the brand closer to Asanteman while appreciating the loyalty of its cherished subscribers in the region for contributing to the success story of MTN. Since the inception of the festival over eleven years ago, various life enriching initiatives including the provision of community improvement projects, sports and entertainment have been brought to the doorsteps of several communities in the region.   The celebration also comes with specific promotional offers for customers in the region. Activities planned for this year’s celebration are: Community Soccer (MTN Ashantifest Cup) twelve communities including Asokore Mampong, Dichemso, Bantama and Asafo. The other competing teams are Tech, Abrepo, Suame, Asokwa, Aboabo, Tafo, Fante ...

Cabinet has set up a five-member ministerial committee to investigate the high prices of food items in the country in order to advise the government on actions to take to level-off prices. The committee of Cabinet-rank ministers is to investigate and propose solutions for the pricing of food items to ease the burden on consumers. The members are the Minister of Transport, Kwaku Asiamah; the Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen; the Caretaker Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Cecilia Abena Dapaah; the Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Dan Botwe, and the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto. Dr Akoto, who disclosed this to the  Daily Graphic , said the government was concerned about the rising food prices in the country, in spite of the adequate availability of food in production areas. “There is food in the growing areas, and their markets have enough stocks,” he said, insisting that the rising foo...

  The unending conflict between Russia and Ukraine has brought about the urgent need for countries that depend largely on Russia and Ukraine for some of their basic needs to revise their notes. The area that has really affected major parts of the world is the supply of farming inputs such as chemicals and fertiliser, basic commodities needed to boost farming activities. Inorganic fertiliser It is estimated that about 10 per cent of the world's phosphate and 25 per cent of the world's potassium come from Russia, both of which have been locked up because of the sanctions imposed on Russia. As a result, the price of potassium has gone up from $200 to $700 per tonne, while that of phosphorus has increased from $250 to $700 per tonne. This obviously has dire consequences on global food security as it is becoming extremely expensive to grow a crop, and so the likelihood of a lot of farmers around the world reducing the acres of production is very high. Currently, a bag of fertiliser ...

  The Universal Postal Union in Switzerland has awarded Ghana Post as the World’s Best EMS Customer Care. This is the second time Ghana Post is receiving the award. The award recognises the best Call Centres of EMS Best Cooperative Members. Commenting on the award, the Deputy Managing Director of Ghana Post, Kwaku Tabi Amponsah, said Ghana Post has over the years been committed to providing excellent service to its worldwide partners, customers and stakeholders. With the introduction of technology-enhanced services and customer-centred innovations, we shall continue to prioritise customer satisfaction as a significant growth index of Ghana Post. We are poised to achieve the high standards of serving our customers with excellence and give them value for money,” he added. The winners were selected by the EMS Cooperative Board based on their performance in 2021. Each year, the EMS Cooperative Customer Care Awards is held in Switzerland at a special award ceremony during the EMS Cooper...

Supermaritime Ghana Limited located in Tema Community 1 under the umbrella body of Maritime and Dockworkers Union (MDU) of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) has been dragged to an Accra High Court by a worker of the company, Nana Kofi Anaafi. This follows what Nana Kofi Anaafi, who is the plaintiff in the case with suit no: 11/006/2022 between him and Supermaritime Ghana Ltd., the defendant, has described as the wrongly and unlawfully termination of his appointment by the company. The plaintiff/applicant contends that to the best of his knowledge, at all material times that the MDU has been trying to resolve the matters in dispute, at no point has the issue of compensation or benefits occasioned by the wrongful termination of his employment come up for discussions. He added that he has no knowledge of any payment advice, and has not accepted or agreed to accept any cheque/payment, from the defendant as full and final payment of benefits resulting from the defendant's wrongful ...

  Ghana's economy grew by 3.3% in quarter one of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, the Ghana Statistical Service said on Wednesday. The Government Statistician, Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim announced the provisional real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in volume terms said growth was driven by Information and Communication (1.0%), Crops and Cocoa (0.9%), Transport and Storage (0.4%), Manufacturing (0.3%) and Trade: Repair of Vehicles, Household goods (0.3%). When seasonally adjusted, Ghana's real GDP increased by 0.9% in quarter one (January to March) of 2022; 1.0 percentage points lower than what was recorded in quarter four (October to December) of 2021. The Services sector remains the largest sector of the economy with a 45percent share of GDP. The GDP share of Industry and Agriculture were 32percent and 23percent respectively. Main sub-sectors of expansion Prof Annim said the main sectors with more than 10 percent expansion in quarter one of 2022 are Information and Commu...