Kofi Ahovi

A bicycle ride to raise funds for the establishment of a six-class room block for Nouri Imam Primary School at Tootingli near Tamale in the northern region has taken place in Accra. The aim of the ride, which was sponsored by Vodafone Ghana, is to raise about GH¢30,000. Vodafone provided GH¢10,000 for the project. The one woman bicycle ride was embarked by Princess Umul Hatiyya Ibrahim Mahama who rode the bicycle through most of the principal streets of Accra. She was very hopeful to achieve the said target due to pledges she received during the ride. Princess Mahama embarked on similar activity in January this year to raise GH¢60,000 for the same project but was only able to raise half of the amount hence the Accra ride. She indicated that works on the school project has however started and is expected to be completed in four months. She however requested individuals and other corporate institutions to support the cause in cash or in kind. Princess Mahama also plans to send 10 needy b

By Kofi Ahovi Stakeholders have challenged marketers in the country to aspire for higher positions particularly in financial institutions. According to them it was high time that marketers secured positions among board of directors to champion the interest of the profession. Speaking at a two-day annual strategic marketing conference of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana (CIMG), both the managing directors of HFC Bank, Asare Akuffo and Stanbic Bank, Alhassan Andani argued for the presence of marketers at the highest decision making body of institutions. According to Andani, the presence of a sub committee on marketing at Stanbic Bank has contributed immensely to the bank’s success and prays that other institutions do same. Akuffo lamented how some marketers declined to sit on the board of HFC when the need arouse. The conference which was held in Accra last week on the theme “The Global Economic Downturn-A case for Marketing Metrics” brought together professional marketers and

By Kofi Ahovi The Institute of Certified Bookkeepers Ghana (ICB-Ghana), another professional institute, has been launched in Accra. The institute aims at bringing certainty to the bookkeeping profession as well as to all involved and affected by it such as small, medium and large enterprises. ICB-Ghana is the local chapter of ICB-Global founded in 1986 and which is the largest bookkeeping institute in the world, headquartered in the United Kingdom, and with membership across North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. Ghana’s latest professional institute is solely charged by regulations to develop bookkeeping as a profession in Ghana. It aims to enable bookkeeping to gain recognition as an integral part of the financial profession, promote training in the principles of bookkeeping, in order to raise professional standards and improve the career prospects of all its members. Inaugurating the institute, the Executive Director of ICB-Ghana, John Harsoo, noted that the institute wa

….to handle oil export By Kofi Ahovi The government is contracting a consultant to undertake feasibility studies on the expansion of the Takoradi Port. The expansion has become necessary due to the expected traffic at the port when the country starts extracting crude oil for export during the latter part of next year. It is estimated that the expansion of the port would cost the nation about US$300 million. The expansion is schedule to start in the third quarter of next year. Facilities to be provided include new berths for bulk cargoes like crude oil, two new container berths, three new multipurpose berths, breakwater extension, new and deeper turning basins, rehabilitation of port access roads, container and breakbulk storage facilities, equipment and floating craft, dredging of main wharf and other areas including the container and bulk cargo berths and the turning basin. The Takoradi port under took similar expansion works about five years ago to handle the ever growing traffic. Th

By Kofi Ahovi African insurance experts are expected to meet in Accra next week to hold a life and education insurance conference from November 11-14, 2009. The conference is being organized by the African Insurance Organization (AIO) Life under the theme “Ghana the gateway to Africa”. Speaking to Business week, Eric Adane, CEO of Professional Orientation and Planning Services (PROP), a management consulting firm, event managers of the this year’s AIO life said preparations for this year’s conference is far ahead. He hinted that AIO Life has received enormous support from companies both in Ghana and outside. About 200 delegates are expected to attend this year’s conference which brings together the chieftain of life insurance companies in Africa. Registration for the conference has been skewed towards the southern and eastern African markets because of their expertise in the life markets. More than 100 participants have so far registered and more were expected to follow suit. Topics to

By Kofi Ahovi The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has directed all State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) to adopt the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by December 2010. The purpose of the directive is to ensure that institutions particularly state owned operating in the country meet international best practices with regards to financial reporting. Universal banks in the country were also charged to adopt the standards about a year. IFRS is a set of accounting standards, interpretations and the framework for the preparation and presentation of financial statements, developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) which is becoming the global standard for the preparation of public company financial statements. The IASB is an independent accounting standard-setting body, based in London. It consists of 14 members from nine countries, including the United States. The IASB began operations in 2001, when it succeeded the International Accounting Standards Committee. The IFRS i

By Kofi Ahovi The government has declared its intentions to collaborate with Trinidad and Tobago to find out how best to manage Ghana’s oil resources. Dr. Kwabena Donkor Deputy Energy Minister, after meeting with a high level delegation from Trinidad and Tobago last week said "We will look at the Trinidad and Tobago model," adding that the government would collaborate more with that country to tap into its rich expertise and experience in the exploration of oil and management of the resources. The Trinidad and Tobago model of managing oil ensures that local firms actively participate in the oil industry as well as maximise the benefits of oil by exploring the use of by-products. “This is one of the measures being undertaken to ensure that Ghanaians benefit fully from the country's oil find,” Dr. Donkor stressed. The deputy minister added that it was vital that adequate measures were taken to make the oil find a blessing to the citizenry. The delegation led by Victoria Men

By Kofi Ahovi The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) is yet to compile its figures to enable it to predict whether the country would be able to achieve the 2009 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) target of 5.9%. The Assistant Statistician in charge of Economic Statistics, Ebow Duncan, told Business week that the service could not immediately tell if the nation is on track to achieving the set target. He said the service has only received data from four out of 13 sectors of the economy namely mining, electricity, banking and finance, and wholesale and retail. The other sectors which are yet to provide data include crops and livestock, cocoa, fishing, forestry and logging, manufacturing, and construction. He added that some micro indicators have surpassed their targets while others have fallen short. It is expected that within the next couple of weeks GSS will have completed compilation of data to enable it assess whether the nation is on track in attaining the set target or otherwise. The Mill l

By Kofi Ahovi The Ministry of Roads and Highway has suspended as well as terminated some of the projects awarded in the last quarter of 2008. According to the sector minister, Joe Gidisu, the suspension and termination of the project is mainly due to severe funding constraints. “The ministry have had to suspend and in some cases terminate some of the projects which were awarded in the last quarter of 2008 due to severe funding constraints,” the Road and Highway Minister stated last week during the ministry’s turn at the weekly meet the press. He noted that though the government has since January 2009 paid GH¢154 million under the government of Ghana budget to contractors, it still owes them about GH¢136 million as at September this year. Similarly, there is an outstanding balance of GH¢118 million to be paid to contractors from the Road Fund as at September 2009. It has already paid GH¢87.91 million from the fund to contractors between January and September this year. “There is the nee

By Kofi Ahovi The Ghana Export Promotion Council (GEPC) has outdoored the Salt Sector Strategy Document to enhance the production of salt in the country. The strategy seeks to attract immense domestic as well as foreign direct investments into the Tekperbiawe area in the Ada traditional area and subsequently its environs. The strategy document is a product of three earlier missions that collected data and held discussions with key stakeholders including selected financial institutions, donor partners and government institutions to ascertain financial schemes and support packages available to the sector. The document was facilitated by GEPC, Private Enterprise Foundation and the Commonwealth Secretariat in London. Tepkerbaiwe area holds the potential of producing an estimated 1,438,000 metric tonnes of salt per annum relative to the total potential capacity of Ghana to produce three million metric tonnes per annum. “Significantly, the salt industry in Ghana has the potential of generati

By Kofi Ahovi Management of The Trust Bank Limited Ghana (TTB) has refuted reports that the bank has discontinued merger talks with Merchant Bank Ghana (MBG) and is now considering Fidelity Bank. “The management of the TTB wishes to state emphatically that no such approach has been made to us by Fidelity Bank, neither are we aware also of any purported decision of the board and management of Merchant Bank to terminate the on-going merger discussions.” An Accra based radio station last week reported that “the new board of Merchant Bank does not appear keen on the proposed merger, however, another bank, Fidelity, could be heading for The Trust Bank’ it further reporter “Our sources say this merger could even take place before the year ends, if the majority shareholder of The Trust Bank, SSNIT agrees to the deal.” The Head of Marketing and Corporate Affairs of TTB, Daniel Kasser Tee, stressed that the bank is under very capable and experienced management and supported by a strong board un

…as world population approaches 7 billion Africa’s youth population between the ages 15-20 has seen a rapid growth rate in the last 12 years according to the Population Reference Bureau’s (PRB) 2009 World Population Data Sheet. The report said “the growth of the world’s youth population is shifting into the poorest countries’ especially Africa and Asia. According to the report, Africa’s population which has just passed 1 billion is growing by about 24 million per year, and will double by 2050. Carl Haub, PRB’s senior demographer and co-author of the data sheet said “the great bulk of today’s 1.2 billion youth are in developing countries with eight out of 10 living in Africa and Asia. The report said the global population numbers will reach 7 billion in 2011, just 12 years after reaching 6 billion in 1999. Bill Butz, president of PRB, who described the increase as ‘unprecedented in the world history”, noted that the world population is still growing despite the decline in fertility rate

By Kofi Ahovi The Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB) in collaboration with players in the financial sectors of ECOWAS sub region and with support from the African Caribbean and Pacific Countries has established a Private ECOWAS Financial Improvement Board (PEFIB) to facilitate greater financial integration within ECOWAS. The success of PEFIB initiative, which is yet to be commissioned, would be based on the implementation of four identified road-map program activities which includes the improvement of market insights and banking penetration rates, resolve consumer cross border disputes and provide, improve strategic capability and perspective among middle and senior bank management and analytical basis for improving financial infrastructure and lobbying policy makers. The strategy advocated is to focus on the implementation of policy measures that are within the authority and competence of stakeholders to pursue and implement without any official intervention. The objective of PEFIB is

By Kofi Ahovi A recent survey undertaken by the Labour Research and Policy Institute of the Ghana Trade Union Congress (TUC) has revealed that the National Youth Employment Program (NYEP) is flouting the labour law. It was identified that out of 301 employees under the program who had worked between seven months and 1 year, 236 representing 78% were casual workers. Also 82.1% of people who had worked between 1 year and one and half years were also casual workers. According to the labour law (Act 2003), a temporary worker who is employed by the same employer for a continuous period of six months and more shall be treated as a permanent worker, however this not adhere to by the NYEP. The survey also revealed that out of 471 people working under the scheme, 321 representing 68% had no employment contract. However, 90% of the workers worked within the internationally accepted eight hours a day or 40 hours a week. 41% worked exactly eight hours a day or 40 hours a week, just about one in te

By Kofi Ahovi The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called upon the government to distant itself from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to ensure socio-economic growth. According to TUC no country has achieved economic and social development with the IMF/World Bank prescriptions. “We all witnessed the negative effects of IMF/World Bank structural adjustment programs that finally turned Ghana into a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC),” TUC stated. In a policy document to government dubbed “Regaining sovereign control over development policy-making,” it stated that the domestic challenges have witnessed the resurgence of the influence of the Work Bank and the IMF over the country’s domestic economic policy, “We think this is not in the interest of the people of Ghana.” TUC therefore urged all workers, civil society organizations, research institutions and Ghanaians in general to stand up against IMF/World Bank domination in economic and social policy-making in the c

By Kofi Ahovi Ghana Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called on the government to cut down review the tax margins as well as extend the tax-free threshold for the 2010 national budget which will be ready in November this year. This according to TUC is to ease tax burden on workers in the country. In a 23 page proposal document to the government as the union’s input into the 2010 national budget and policy statement titled “regaining sovereign control over development policy-making”, it also called on the government to re-consider reviewing taxes on overtime and some cash allowances since it can lead to over-taxation. Saying, “Taxing cash allowances for fuel at source subject workers to double taxation since workers already pay tax on fuel at the pump stations.” “We do not think Ghana’s tax system is fair, as workers in the formal sector are being overtaxed while even many wealthier people operating in the so-called informal economy do not pay tax. A tax system which allows these wealthy b

By Kofi Ahovi The Ministry of Roads and Highway is to present a proposed amendment to parliament for the amendment of the Road Fund Act. Parliament is expected to resume this week. The ministry is seeking to increase levies impose on motorist to increase the size of the fund to enable the ministry undertake other project as well as rehabilitate other roads. Tolls collected on the various roads in the country would be increase when the approval is given. The proposed amendment when approved would also address the rampant manner in which some motorist convert their vehicles from the use of petrol to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) on which no levy is charged. According to the ministry the convention of the large number of vehicles from the use petrol to LPG is also hindering the growth of the fund. The government has paid GH¢87.91 million from the fund to contractors between January and September this year. However, there is an outstanding balance of GH¢118 million to be paid to contractor

By Kofi Ahovi The National Insurance Commission (NIC) will soon start enforcing the penalty for commercial building owners who fail to insure their property against fire including third party liabilities, Business week has gathered. Currently the commission is engaged in advertisements and drama shows on TV to sensitize the public on the need for a fire insurance cover for their buildings. According to the Public Relations Officer of NIC, Kojo Ghunney, the commission is currently “only advising the public to extend fire insurance cover to third party,” but added they will soon ensure strict adherence to the law. Unlike motor insurance where vehicle owners are arrested and arraigned before court for non compliance, fire insurance for buildings is not strictly enforced mainly because the commission is under staffed and challenged with inadequate logistics. The Insurance Act, Act 724 makes it mandatory for commercial building owners to insure their property to cover a third party. The Act

By Kofi Ahovi The new Companies’ Code (Act 179) of 1963 is to be presented by the Ministry of Justice to parliament next week for consideration. The draft of the comprehensive review of the Companies’ Code was completed by a committee headed by a High Court judge and was reviewed by the Ministry of Justice. The code regulates the registration of various types of business in the country. It came into being in 1963 but since then has never been reviewed, despite changing trends in business registrations and operating structures worldwide. The Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Mould-Iddrisu, earlier agreed that the review of one of Ghana’s most important, yet outdated business laws was long overdue and cannot wait further. Her ministry inherited the review process from the previous administration under the Presidency of John Agyekum Kufuor. When passed into law, the reviewed code will among other things encourage the enforcement of the law that requires the regular renewal of bus

By Kofi Ahovi The Intercontinental Bank Ghana Limited (IBG) has began a private placement offer to raise an amount of GH 28.90 million. The bank is issuing a total of 15,621,622 to 17,000,000 ordinary shares of no par value at GH1.70 to GH1.85 per share. The purpose of the offer is to enable the bank meet its statutory capital requirement of GH60 million and to support the strategic business development of the bank. The offer which started on October 29, 2009 is expected to end on November 27, this year. Each applicant is required to subscribe to a minimum number of 410,000 shares and thereafter in multiples of 100,000 shares. The minimum amount to be raised for the offer to be successful has been set at GH28.90 thus a 100% of the offer. In the event of oversubscription the bank will not issue additional shares to take up the excess subscription. According to the bank in the event that the entire amount is not realized, and the Bank fails to meet the minimum stated capital of GH60 mill

By Kofi Ahovi A 2009 mid year review of Ghana’s economy by the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER) indicates that government has met 84% of its targets for the first half of 2009. ISSER also described the remaining half year as brighter than it initially appeared. “Prospects for the current second half year appear to be brighter than initial,” the reported stated. The government’s total expenditure by the end of June 2009 stood at GH¢3,075,900 representing 14.2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as against GH¢ 2,707,800 representing 15.4% of GDP in 2008. Revenue and grants for the same period stood at GH¢2,652,000 representing 12.3% of GDP while that of 2008 was GH¢2,147,200 representing 12.2% of GDP. Government’s expenditure on the other hand though higher than the previous year, it was lower with respect to GDP. The government spent GH¢3,075,500 representing 14.2% of GDP for 2009 as against GH¢2,707,800 representing 15.4% of GDP. Gross domestic debt stood at G

….to raise more capital By Kofi Ahovi CAL Bank Limited is to raise additional capital through a renounceable rights issue to meet the Bank of Ghana’s new capital requirement of GH¢60 million and to expand its operations and increase efficiency. A total of 150 million ordinary shares is on sale at a GH¢0.20 per share. One new share will be allotted to every 1.1275 existing shares. The offer starts today Monday September 28 and is expected to end on October 23, 2009. The current share price of CAL is GH¢0.24. The bank hopes to generate a total of GH¢ 30 million from the offer. The issue, being renounceable, gives an opportunity to interested new investors to buy into CAL’s equity by taking up any shares allocated to existing shareholders that are not taken up by them. International shareholders and new investors could subscribe to the offer by contacting their custodians (Barclays Bank and Stanbic Bank) in the country, however qualified new shareholders need to open a depository account

BoG to extend deadline By Kofi Ahovi The Bank of Ghana (BoG) is considering extending the deadline set for banks with foreign majority owned equity from December 2009 to the first quarter of next year. This follows request by some of the universal banks for BoG to extend the deadline to allow the banks adequate time to fully meet the new minimum capital requirement of GH¢60 million, a source disclosed to Business Week. The deadline was set by the previous BoG administration, whoever the new governor is set for the recapitalization of the banks. Officials of BoG were however unavailable to confirm or otherwise of the matter. Banks with majority foreign owned equity are required to have minimum capital of GH¢60 million by the end of this year. However, banks with majority Ghanaian owned equity are required to have minimum capital of first GH¢25 million by the end of this year, but must have increased this to at least GH¢60 million by the end of 2012. The new minimum capital requirements

By Kofi Ahovi The Venture Capital Trust Fund (NSL) is seeking to secure funding from the newly established National Stability Levy (NSL) in order to meet the growing demand from qualified companies. The search for a new source of funding became necessary when the National Reconstruction Levy, which provided 25% of its proceeds to VCTF amounting to GH¢22.4 million, was abolished 2006. The NSL is a special levy imposed on the profits of specified companies and institutions in order to raise revenue for fiscal stabilisation of the economy and to provide for related purposes. The new tax which comprise of an additional 5% profit tax is applicable to corporate organisations in the communications, mining, brewery and financial services sectors. Already, government is highly optimistic that the newly established levy which is to take off this quarter will yield an amount of GH¢11 million for the remainder of the year and GH¢22 million or more in 2010. The proposal for the introduction of the

By Kofi Ahovi The NTHC Horizon Fund, a mutual fund, has recorded impressive gains for the 2008 fiscal year over the previous one. The price per share of the fund increased by 23.88% from the price at the start of the year of GH¢0.1025 to a year end price of GH¢0.1270. The year 2007 realized a price increase of 0.69%. New subscriptions to the fund amounted to a total value of GH¢31,290.34 in 2008 compared to a total value of GH¢9,192.07. A total amount of GH¢28,674.85 was redeemed by shareholders in 2008 compared to GH¢50,919.36 in 2007. The fund’s equity investment as a percentage of total assets increased from 47.89% in 2007 to 60.03% at the end of 2008. Investment in money market instruments and cash balance respectively represented 37.28% and 2.69% of total assets. The Fund Manager, Francis Nyoabe, at the fund’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Accra last week, assured that the fund was well positioned to absorb the difficulties of the equity market and take full advantage of develop

By Kofi AHOVI The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS), a subsidiary of the Bank of Ghana, is set to launch the new cheque clearing system to be known as Cheque Codeline Clearing (CCC) system, into the banking industry this month. However, the implementation of the system will take effect in August, this year. The electronic-based system, which will replace the manual system of clearing cheques, is to facilitate and reduce delays in the cheque clearing process. When it becomes operational, the CCC will almost eliminate the manual interbank cheque exchange that only allows banks about three working days to give customers access to the funds for withdrawal. It will take a maximum of eight hours to clear cheques under the new system. The cheque code-line clearing and the e-zwich money transfer are part of reforms being made by the Central Bank to make Ghana a cashless economy. In a process of removing the paper cheque from the clearing process called truncation, both s

By Kofi AHOVI The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) has begun remote trading on the Ghanaian bourse. This means that stockbrokers can now trade directly from their offices without coming to the trading floor. The introduction of the remote trading will boost activities on the Ghanaian bourse, as well as investor confidence on the capital market. As part of the GSE’s effort to, among other things, improve liquidity and efficiency on the market, in 2007, it embarked on a project to automate its trading processes. Three systems were put in place, namely Electronic Trading system, Electronic Clearing & Settlement system and a Central Securities Depository. The Exchange’s Depository commenced operations in November 2008, enabling investors to open securities accounts to deposit their shares. The System allows investors to transfer, pledge and access security information in a more efficient manner. The new electronic trading system makes it possible for stockbrokers to trade from three differen

By Kofi Ahovi The International Financial Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, have signed a loan agreement for US$100 million with Kosmos Energy, one of the key partners developing Ghana’s Jubilee Field, to help meet the nation’s gas project for its domestic power demand. IFC’s senior and junior loan tranches are part of a US$750 million debt package for US-based Kosmos Energy that IFC helped mobilize, primarily from commercial banks. Earlier this year, IFC signed a $115 million loan agreement with British Tullow Oil, another key Jubilee partner, bringing IFC’s support for the project to US$215 million. Kosmos Energy and Tullow Oil are independent oil and gas exploration and production companies. The project, located in deep water some 60 kilometers off the coast of Ghana, will produce domestic crude oil, generating foreign exchange income for the country and substituting expenditures for oil imports. It is also expected to boost government revenues, providing much ne

By Kofi Ahovi UT Financial Services Limited (UTFSL), arguably one of Ghana’s most successful non-bank financial companies has finally entered into the Nigeria business arena, West Africa’s most populous nation. After growing and expanding since its inception in 1997 to cover almost all of southern, the middle part of Ghana, the company is ready to meet the needs of the people of Nigeria with its services and products which help to improve the lives of people. UT Nigeria started operations in May this year and is currently running ahead of schedule. It has a portfolio of US%1.4million and a client base of 40 to 50 in this short period of operation. However it staff strength stands at 13 made up of half Ghanaians and half Nigerians. Speaking to the Director of Operation of (UTFSL), Budu Koomson he asserted that “Our outlook is Nigeria is very bright”. Koomson assured that the company will break even by the end of the third quarter of this year. He attributor the greatest challenge of ven

By Kofi AHOVI UT Insurance, a subsidiary of UT Financial Services (UTFS), is expected to receive its license from the National Insurance Commission, the statutory regulator of the insurance industry before the end of this year. According to Budu Koomson, Director of Operations of UTFS, the commission is certified with the proposal submitted by the company, but it is only waiting for the reconstitution of its board which was dissolved as a result of a directive from the government. Koomson hinted that venturing into various aspects of business is in fulfilment of making UTFSL a one stop shop in the country. UTFSL has posed a competitive challenge in whichever business discipline it ventures into. Recently it acquired majority shares in BPI bank and has transformed its financial outlook. Currently, there are about 39 insurance companies in Ghana. In a related development, UT Bank, formerly BPI, has posted marginal gains in June, this year as against its previous bad performance which war

By Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Paul Kagame, Seretse Khama Ian Khama and Abdoulaye Wade* Just three weeks after President Barack Obama's triumphant return from Africa, the real challenge to achieving strategic change lies in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's own upcoming visit. Left unsaid as the president boarded Air Force One is the fact that Africa seeks not patrons but collaborators who will work "with" rather than "for" the continent. If the Obama administration wishes to truly make a difference, it must do so as an equal partner, addressing several low-cost, high-impact priorities. To start, developed partner countries must curb corruption abroad. Efforts by African governments to strengthen democracy and governance are weakened if money stolen from the continent can find safe havens in secret accounts in the West. Chillingly, major OECD countries have yet to prosecute a single defendant for fraudulent and corrupt practices overseas. Poorly enforced inter

The managing director of Stanbic Bank, Alhassan Andani, has said that the global financial meltdown presents an opportunity for Ghana and other African countries to diversify the pillars of their economy. He said the services industry is rife with opportunities which must be explored. Andani, speaking in an interview in Accra after the launch of Stanbic Bank’s new global advertising campaign, said the crisis presents countries such as Ghana the opportunity to enter the services sector on a greater scale, since, irrespective of how the global economy tilts, such industries are not seriously hit. He said a re-focus on the “little things” are what will ensure the positive growth of the economy. “Shipping, customs inspections, ship repairs or dry docking, telephony, health services, airline ticketing and other services are far better than just common merchandizing. These are areas where the global crunch can’t hit; they are where we should be concentrating on as a country and blend it with

By Kofi AHOVI The National Agricultural Fund (NAF) Bill is expected to be presented to the Minister of Food and Agriculture this week, who will then present it to cabinet for scrutiny and approval. After it is approved, it will be forwarded to parliament for passage or otherwise. The establishment of the fund is to support all aspects of agriculture, which is the largest contributor to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The fund will be managed by the Ghana National Agricultural Fund Corporation, which will be set up after the law is passed. The corporation will have decentralized offices at both the regional and district levels. The initiative to establish the fund became necessary due to the unwillingness of banks to lend money to farmers because of the high risk associated with farming, which has resulted in a huge gap between credit demand by farmers and supply. Also, agricultural production is peculiar and seasonal, hence requires specialized financial services, which the

The youth in the country have been urged to position themselves very well to benefit from the oil find. They were further advised to build their capacity in fields of their interest to equip themselves for the oil booty since there are opportunities for all disciplines. At a two-day workshop on oil and gas under the theme: ‘Opportunities and threat for the youth,’ organized by the Youth Network for Human Rights and Democracy (You-net), in collaboration with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), the executive director of You-net, Prosper Hoetu, observed that as young people who will be victims or beneficiaries of policy decisions being made with respect to the exploration and management of the oil, it was prudent to build the capacity of the youth to enable them to engage with stakeholders in the management of oil to secure a better future for them. The participants were introduced to topics like “political economy of oil; the global perspective, oil and gas explorations in Ghana: opportu

By Kofi Ahovi According to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, prepaid in collaboration with the Ghana Association of Bankers, three majority Ghanaian owned banks and a majority foreign owned bank have already met the new minimum capital requirement, six months ahead of the deadline for completion of the first stage for the recapitalization demanded by the Bank of Ghana. The new minimum capital requirements are to be met in stages, involving differing minimum capital levels for indigenous and foreign banks, during the first stage which has December this year as its deadline, but a common minimum capital level by the end of the second and final stage, which has the end of 2012 as its deadline. Banks with majority foreign owned equity are required to have minimum capital of GH¢60 million by the end of this year. However, banks with majority Ghanaian owned equity are required to have minimum capital of first GH¢25 million by the end of this year, but must have increased this to at least G

Elorm Desewu Provisional data on the implementation of the 2009 budget shows that the government’s fiscal deficit has continued to narrow for the first five months of this year. The overall balance shows a deficit of GH¢608.9 million, excluding payment of some 2008 arrears of GH¢225 million, which is equivalent to 2.8% of GDP. Total revenue and grants amounted to GH¢2.4 billion in the first five months of this year, representing an increase of 13% over the outturn for the same period in 2008. Domestic revenue totaled some GH¢2.0 billion from the January-May period of this year. Compared to the GH¢1.7 billion collected in the same period of 2008, representing an increase of 17.4%. Tax revenue was also 17.8% higher than the corresponding figure in the same period of 2008. Total expenditure during the first five months of this year, amounting to GH¢2.9 billion, was 4% more than total expenditure during the same period of 2008. Non-interest expenditure during the first five months of 2009

By Kofi Ahovi Enterprise Insurance Company (EIC) is planning to establish a holding company to oversee all its subsidiaries. The establishment of a holding company became necessary due to the Insurance Law which does not permit insurance companies to fully engage in profitable ventures outside the insurance sector. The essence of the establishment of the holding company is to redeploy all landed properties of EIC to the holding company. It is also to increase their earning capacity for the benefit of share holders as well as the company. The holding company would own 100% of EIC, 51% of Consortium House Ltd, 51% ELAC (all subsidiaries of EIC) as well as own majority shares in all new subsidiaries that may be established. The new subsidiaries may include real estate development, pension scheme and insurance in West Africa, among others Currently EIC has supervision over all its subsidiaries; hence the advent of the holding company indicates that EIC would now be a subsidiary of the hold

By Kofi Ahovi Ghana Stock Exchange has begun Remote Trading on the bourse. This means stockbrokers can now trade directly from their offices without coming to the trading floor. The introduction of the remote trading would boost activities on the Ghanaian bourse while bolstering investor confidence in the capital market. As part of the Exchange’s effort to among other things, improve liquidity and efficiency on the market, GSE in 2007, embarked on a project to automate its trading processes. Three systems were put in place namely Electronic Trading system, Electronic Clearing & Settlement system and a Depository. The Exchange’s Depository commenced operations in November 2008, enabling investors to open securities accounts to deposit their shares. The System allows investors to transfer, pledge and access security information in a more efficient manner. The new electronic trading system makes it possible for stockbrokers to trade from three different levels namely, the floor of the

By Kofi Ahovi The ministry of energy in collaboration with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation is set to finish the final draft of the bill by next month and subsequently submit it to parliament for ratification. The policy will provide government with a clear direction and guidelines to develop Ghana’s emerging oil industry ahead of the expected production in 2010. Obviously, this underscores government’s touted commitment and efforts to putting adequate measures in place to explore, develop and produce oil in a sustainable manner and at a rate appropriate for the development of Ghana and its economy. The new policy which is currently being scrutinized by GNPC was drafted under four thematic areas namely Resource Management; Revenue Management; Environmental Management and Security. Sources close to the ministry have disclosed to BusinessWeek that the policy among other things captures certain key actions that will soon be undertaken by government in collaboration with other stak

By Kofi Ahovi More oil refinery companies have joined the quest to establish an oil refinery in the country owing to the oil find in commercial quantities. About six more oil refinery companies including AGIG, AGOG have submitted proposals to acquire license to operate in the country. Most of these companies are requesting to establish in Takoradi in Western Region closer to the extraction site. Interestingly, most of these companies intend to refine crude oil on a capacity that out produces what Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) produces on a daily basis. TOR currently produces about 50,000 barrels of crude oil per day but AGIG is seeking to refine about 200,000 bpd almost equal to the total extraction capacity of the country. Not less than 900 jobs would be created if any of these companies is granted a license. Ghana recently emerged as an oil nation when the West Cape Three Points became a host to some deep water blocks with large crude and gas content. This was followed by subsequent discov

By Kofi Ahovi Sixteen listed equities on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) were merely affected by the market correction during the first half of this year spanning from January to the end of June. These include Accra Brewery Limited(ABL), Ayrton Drugs, Clydestone, Camelot, Cocoa Processing Company (CPC), Golden Star Resources (GSR), Golden Web (GWEB), Home Finance Company (HFC), Mechanical Lloyd (MCL), Produce Buying Company (PBC), Pioneer Kitchenware Limited (PKL), Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) preference share, Starwin Product Limited (SPL), Sam Wood Limited (SWL), Trust Bank Limited (TBL) and TOTAL. During the same period no stock actually recorded any substantial gain but 15 listed equities recorded losses. CAL Bank was the hardest hit when its share price fell from GH¢0.60 to GH¢0.20 representing -66.6%. It was followed by SG-SSB which fell from GH¢1.35 to GH¢0.46 representing -65.9%. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) also loss GH¢0.29 when its share price fell from GH¢0.45

Kwabena Koranteng Ghana may miss the 30th June deadline signing of the Interim Economic Partnership Agreement (IEPA), as the government has called for more time to carefully study the proposal. According to sources at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI), the government has informed the European Commission that it is new on the governance seat and therefore needed more time to study the proposal. The delay by the government is said to be in line with the position of civil society organizations (CSOs), especially the Third World Network (TWN), which has, for many years, been advocating against the signing of the EPAs. TWN has argued that liberalizing 80% of Ghana’s trade with the EU will have a significant negative impact on Ghana’s trade, especially employment opportunities in the manufacturing sector and reducing competition in both the service and the industrial sectors, as subsidized goods from the European market are likely to flood Ghana’s market at cheaper rates. Ghana earli

By Kofi Ahovi The common currency for West African economies, ECO, which was supposed to take effect from December this year, is expected to be postponed again. The expected postponement is due to the inability of member countries to meet the convergent criteria to enable the smooth take of the common currency. The new currency would facilitate cross-border payment of transferring funds, which would also put in place the single payment system. Four out of the five member countries, Ghana, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria were unable to meet the convergent criteria under the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ). Gambia is the only country to meet all the criteria for three years running (2006 to 2008). WAMZ was expected to take off effectively with the ushering in of the ECO by December 1, 2009. As it appears, the launch date may be shifted by the Heads of State in June at their meeting, although the new date is yet to be confirmed. Business week checks revealed that ECO is not likely to b