Kofi Ahovi

By Kofi Ahovi Eximguaranty Company Limited in partnership with the Guarantee Fund for West Africa (GARI) has organized a workshop for Financial Institutions (FI) in the country. The workshop, which was on the theme “Facilitating credit to SMEs: the role of credit guarantees”, was a means to strengthen the collaboration between Eximguaranty and the FIs. Participants at the interactive workshop explored innovative ways to expand collaboration between the FIs and Exim to boost access to long term credit by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in Ghana. Key focus areas of the workshop were priority support sectors, terms and conditions, security sharing agreements, and the complementary operation of GARI among others. Managing Director, Felicity Acquah, observed that Exim in partnerships with the FIs have granted credit guarantees to the value of GHc193.03 million to SMEs over the last 17 years. The Board Chairman of Exim, Felix Ntrakwah, highlighted the fact that globally, ...

By Kofi Ahovi The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has maintained its policy rate at 12.5% for the second time. The policy rate is the rate at which the central bank does overnight lending to universal banks in the country. The committee maintained the rate based on a number of factors including, strong revenue mobilization, the pick-up of economic activity, and positive macro-economic conditions. The Governor of the BoG, Kwesi Amissah-Arthur who announced this at press conference in Accra, today said, “Given the assessments and the balance of risks to inflation and growth, the MPC has decided to maintain the Monetary Policy Rate at 12.5%.” The release of the September inflation data by the Ghana Statistical Service indicated that the rate of inflation has stabilised at 8.4% from 8.41% in August 2011. Between June and September, food inflation rose by 0.9% while non-food inflation declined by 1.1%. Core inflation, which measures underlying inflation pre...

By Kofi Ahovi The governor of the Bank of Ghana, Kwesi Amissah–Arthur has called on member countries of West Africa Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) to publish the results of their Debt Management Performance Assessment Tool (DeMPA). According to him, publishing of the results would attract external support and resources for technical assistance. “Several governments that have undertaken DeMPAs have chosen to make the results public, which has served as a catalyst for reform and for attracting external support and resources for technical assistance in areas identified as priorities,” he explained. The governor made the call during a five-day regional training on DeMPA for Anglophone West African countries, in Accra last week. The Senior Debt Specialist from the Economic Policy and Debt Department of the World Bank, Abha Prasad, who spoke to BusinessWeek agrees with the governor, saying “the DeMPA tool is for monitoring progress, highlighting strength and we...

By Kofi Ahovi Bank of Africa (BOA)-Ghana plans to increase the market share of Amal bank from 2.5% to 5% within the next three years of operation. Speaking to the press last week in Accra ahead of the official launch of BOA’s presence in Ghana, the managing director, Kobby Andah, said “In the short term of BOA-Ghana’s business cycle, the bank would increase its current market share of about two percent to five per cent through aggressive branch expansion and introduction of innovative customer-tailored products”. BOA-Ghana is part of the Bank of Africa Group that had acquired majority of Amalgamated Bank’s shareholdings in the country. The acquisition brings to the Ghanaian community better access to BOA’s broad portfolios of products and services which had made it one of the foremost brands in Africa. He added that the bank had entered Ghana with a better edge to offer innovative financial and convenient financial solutions to the economy. “Our aim is to focus on areas wh...

...interest rates dip By Kofi Ahovi Provisional data from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has shown that the banking sector continues to grow steadily in the first eight months of the year. On a year-on-year basis, total bank assets grew by 28.2% while total deposits increased by 39.2% at the end of August 2011. Industry liquidity and profitability indicators also remained favourable. The asset quality of the banking industry improved during the period. The Non-Performing Loan (NPL) ratio also improved marginally to 16% at the end of August 2011, compared with 16.4% at the end of August 2010. The Banks were also solvent, as the industry achieved a Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) of 16.9%, well above the 10% statutory threshold. However, the survey of credit conditions in the banking industry conducted by the Bank of Ghana in September showed a marginal tightening of credit stance for enterprises and households, a reversal of the easing credit stance were recorded in previous surveys. ...

The Bank of England has decided to pump out another £75 billion of stimulus under its quantitative easing policy and held interest rates at a record low 0.5 percent to revitalize Britain's economy. "The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee today voted to maintain the official bank rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5 percent," it said in an official statement. "The Committee also voted to increase the size of its asset purchase programme financed by the issuance of central bank reserves, by £75 billion (86 billion euros, $115 billion) to a total of £275 billion." The decision to hold interest rates had been widely expected, while many economists had forecast more stimulus measures as the country's economic recovery falters. The announcement came one day after official data showed the British economy had flat lined over the past nine months and that the 2008/2009 recession was worse than previously thought. The Bank of England said ...

British Airways is re-launching its award winning Executive Club for frequent fliers with a brand new ‘Bronze’ card tier. The new Bronze tier will bridge the gap between Blue and Silver tiers. Blue card holders will need just half the Silver threshold level to be promoted to Bronze. New Bronze card members will benefit from, Business class check-in, Seat selection at seven days before departure, Earning a 25 per cent tier bonus - that's 1.25 Avios, the airline’s new currency for frequent fliers, for every mile flown, Dedicated telephone number (UK & US), Bronze tier luggage tags. Frank van der Post, British Airways’ managing director for brands and customer experience, in a press release said “Customers are at the heart of everything we do. We attach huge importance to their loyalty. “The re-launch of the British Airways Executive Club, which now has over seven million members worldwide, is part of a massive £5bn investment we are making across the whole airline on ne...