Ghana Stock Exchange index in marginal rise
The main index of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) inched up by 0.95 points in trading on Tuesday to close 5,423.98 points from 5,423.03 points.
Change for the year to date is -48.00 per cent.
Shares that changed hands dropped at 108,600 shares down from 376,400 shares.
Market capitalisation rose marginally at GH¢15,279.49 million from GH¢15,278.79 million.
There were two price changes – one up one down.
Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) gained GH¢0.01 at GH¢0.54 while State Insurance Company (SIC) lost GH¢0.01 at GH¢0.26.
Source: GNA
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Ghana petroleum company engages Morgan Stanley as financial adviser
The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has engaged Morgan Stanley & Co. Limited (Morgan Stanley) as its financial adviser with regards to certain oil and gas assets offshore Ghana, an official statement from GNPC said in Accra on Tuesday.
GNPC is a state-owned corporation responsible for petroleum exploration, development, production and marketing in Ghana.
The Corporation has a 10 per cent initial participating interest in the West Cape Three Points and Deepwater Tano concession areas.
The Corporation has also taken up an additional participating interest to the extent of 3.75 per cent in the Jubilee field, which straddles the two concession areas.
Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking and other services.
“Morgan Stanley is acting as financial adviser to GNPC and no one else in connection with the aforementioned matters and will not be responsible to anyone other than GNPC for providing the protections afforded to the clients of Morgan Stanley nor for providing advice in relation to the aforementioned matters, the contents of this announcement or any other matter referred to herein,” the statement said.
Source: GNA
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Ghana Statistical Service calls for provision of timely, reliable data
Dr. Grace Bediako - Government Statistician
Dr Grace Bediako, Government Statistician, on Tuesday advised public institutions to provide timely and reliable data, to enable easy generation of information upon request.
“Unless we get our documentation right, we cannot meet the data needs of government or development partners that need to be shown value for their programme support,” she said.
Dr Bediako made the call on Tuesday at the first dissemination workshop on Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys (PETS) in the education and health sectors, held in Accra to review the findings of a research conducted between 2005 and 2006.
She said the country had a long way to go with regards to administrative sources of data and urged public institutions, which generated the data to make them available to enable the Ghana Statistical Service to have a full complement of data needed to support policies.
The PETS was launched in 2007, to find out whether there was insufficient flow of information in the health and education sectors and to increase understanding of the link between public spending and service delivery at the facility level.
It is also to improve the accountability and effectiveness in the use of public funds and contribute to refining policies and procedures to achieve more effective use of public resources and better social outcomes.
She said the development of administrative data, required an effective and sustained partnership between GSS and district offices so that information generated from documentation could be collated to ensure comparability, standardization and harmonization.
Issues researched under the education sector were the delays, discrepancies or leakages and spending patterns of cash resources with regard to the capitation grant from 2005 to 2006 and textbook distribution.
There was understanding that the use of the capitation grant encountered leakages and discrepancies, which mostly occurred at the District Education Offices (DEO) level to schools as a result of bad record keeping and non-complying behaviour of some headmasters and DEOs.
On the distribution of textbooks to students, bad recordkeeping also came up at the same level in addition to untimely delivery of books. The survey recommended a timely delivery of books and a consistent format of recording which the DEOs should keep electronically.
The health sector was no different from the education sector as records were difficult to match at every level, due to incomplete records, complexity and differences in recording formats among other things.
Delays were recorded in the transfer of funds from the Ministry of Health to tertiary hospitals as all resources were transferred during the fourth quarter with no discrepancies in the amount but at the district level downwards, the delays were minimal.
The overall recommendations from the survey was the development of a record and reporting system, that can easily aggregate the public spending from service providers up to the central administrative unit and also develop regulations and incentives for accurate record keeping.
Source: GNA
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Foundation proposes fund to support farmers
The Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF), has proposed the establishment of a National Agricultural Fund to support farmers step up production.
The suggestion stems from the current low investment levels in agriculture by both the public and private sectors and PEF believes that the establishment of a fund committed to agriculture was necessary to address the financial challenges of farmers.
Government’s budgetary allocation to agriculture as a percentage of total discretionary spending has declined over the past three decades to about two percent according to a statement issued by PEF in Accra on Wednesday.
Banks’ lending to the agricultural sector has also fallen consistently, reaching a low level of four percent in 2007.
The Foundation said since the country’s medium and long term development strategies hinged on the modernization of agriculture as a basis for industrialization and accelerated economic growth, the proposal for the fund was more than justified.
The objective is to raise substantial financial support, to facilitate loans and grants as well as provide the appropriate training which would enable farmers to utilize their maximum potential.
This is because government’s budgetary allocation to the agriculture sector is inadequate while credit facilities from the financial services industry for the sector are also minimal.
This trend, the statement said could be reversed if government intervened in the financial industry with such a fund which the banks could access for onward lending to the agricultural sector.
It will support non-farm diversification projects and value added agricultural operations in addition to supporting the whole agricultural value chain to help it become more meaningful in the socio-economic development of Ghana.
PEF said the model fund structure should have a subsidy component to reduce the cost of the various inputs that were used by farmers for production and there should be a marketing centre attached to the management body of the Fund that should be responsible for ensuring guaranteed minimum prices for farm produce.
The Foundation said to ensure the growth and sustainability of the proposed fund, government should provide the seed money while certain percentage of money from the consolidated should be put into the Fund.
Besides, government must channel 10 percent of national expenditure to the agriculture sector by implementing the Comprehensive African Development Programme under the Maputo Declaration.
Other sources of funding being proposed according to the statement, were certain percentage of existing taxes such as VAT, import duties, and communication service tax as well as a national agricultural levy among others things.
On the management of the Fund, PEF proposed an independent Board, free from political interference, with decentralized offices at regional and district levels.
The management body should have representatives from stakeholders, the Ministries of Food and Agriculture, Finance and Economic Planning, farmer based associations, research institutions and civil society groups and the private sector.
The Foundation suggested that the Board should also have a Business Development Services Unit to offer strong business development support services to accompany disbursement of loans.
While considering the setting up of the Fund, PEF indicated that it should be necessary to look at the factors which hinder the effective utilization of credit in the agricultural sector, adding that the removal of those factors would ensure that resources from the proposed fund to the sector were not wasted.
Source: GNA
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World Bank gives approval for Ghana $535m loan
The Board of Directors of the World Bank has approved a total of $535 million to support Ghana’s economy.
In a press release issued June 30, 2009 in Washington, the Bank said the facilityt is to support three credit facilities targeted at improving economic governance and stabilizing the country’s economy.
According to the release which was copied to ghanabusinessnews.com, $300 million would go to support Economic Governance and Poverty Reduction Credit (EGPRC), the Transport Sector Project would receive $225 million and $10 million would go to support Natural Resources and Environmental Governance (NREG).
The $535 million facility is part of the $1.2 billion the Bank has agreed to provide to the country to support the 2009 budget over the next three years.
In March 2009, the World Bank in response to Ghana’s request for assistance following a dip in the country’s economic growth, promised to make a $1.2 billion interest-free loans to the country.
When Mills took over as President at the beginning of the year, his government inherited a difficult macro-economic situation, the result of a series of shocks in 2008 which exacerbated a structural trend of widening fiscal imbalances.
Ghana is the world’s second largest producer of cocoa, but the country’s economy has suffered a plunge following over-spending during the latter part of 2008 resulting in a fiscal budget deficit of about 15% and a soaring inflation rate of 19.86% in January.
The current government has promised fiscal discipline, and to cut deficit to 9.4%.
The Bank said the government’s plan to reduce the deficit to 9.4 percent this year and 6.0 percent next year would not be enough to stabilise the economy.
Ghana has also agreed on the terms of the International Monetary Fund to secure at least $1 billion of loan to prop up its foreign exchange reserves.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
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Gold Star Resources inching towards Ghana’s oil industry
Canada-based Gold Star Resources Corporation is moving towards Ghana to establish its operations in the country’s emerging oil industry.
The junior oil and gas company’s CEO, Patrick Morris has said, he sees the company as a “stepping stone into Africa” for investors.
He told The Wall Street Transcript, a New York City financial news weekly that the company is seeking “onshore” acreage in Ghana, Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire. Earlier in June 2009, the firm announced the acquisition of International Resource Strategies Liberia Energy Inc. (IRSLE).
According to Morris Gold Star Resources plans “to put together a portfolio of blocks of land that are ‘onshore,’ bordering major discoveries, by large oil and gas companies.”
Gold Star Resources will be the first company to establish in the ‘onshore’ industry in West Africa in the last 30 years.
Since Ghana discovered oil in commercial quantities in June 2007, large and small companies in the oil industry around the world have been streaming into the country to establish themselves.
The leading exploring companies already exploring for oil in the country are Kosmos Energy, Tullow Oil, Anadarko and recently Vanco and Luk Oil of Russia.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
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Kwahu South Assembly to investigate debt of GH¢200,000
The Kwahu South District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Kwame Omari said he would set up a committee to investigate the assembly’s GH¢200,000 debt incurred by the previous administration.
He said the debt included the award of contracts for the execution of projects, hotel, drink and food bills and servicing of the assembly’s vehicle by a private mechanic instead of the transport companies where the vehicles were purchased.
Mr Omari disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Mpraeso.
He said the previous administration spent huge sums of money on hotel bills for their guests at the time the assembly’s guest house was unoccupied.
The DCE said at that time the assembly was not able to collect 30 percent of its internally generated revenue.
Mr Omari outlined education and tourism as his vision for the district and said the assembly would construct a GH¢40,000 Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Centre and library at Mpraeso.
He said the assembly would also rehabilitate basic school blocks to enhance the standard of education in the district.
On tourism, Mr Omari said he would seek assistance from non governmental organisations to organize paragliding on the Kwahu ridge.
Source: GNA
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195 Metro Mass Transport buses grounded
Mr Mike Hammah, Minister of Transport, on Tuesday said 195 Metro Mass Transit Limited (MMT) buses were not in operation due to mechanical and electrical faults, unavailability of spare parts and engine problems.
He said 13 of these buses were already “cannibalised to service other fleet and disposed of as scraps, while 101 have been earmarked to be cannibalised to service other operational fleet.”
The Minister was responding to a question in Parliament on the number of Metro Mass buses imported from china and the number now operational.
He said to date, a total of 400 “Yaxing buses comprising 312 single deckers and 88 double deckers had been procured for the MMT at a cost of 18.6 million dollars.”
Mr Hammah said currently there were 91 buses in operation while mechanical and electrical failures, especially poor engine, clutch problems with poor after sales service, had resulted in several Yaxing buses being grounded for long periods with the attendant loss of revenue.
“Madam Speaker, a direct consequence of…urbanisation and the use of many private and mini buses (tro tro) is causing congestion in our cities with high fuel consumption and consequent high cost of travel per passenger and kilometre.”
The Minister said the successful expansion and operation of MMT with a planned bus replacement programme, would help reduce congestion in “our cities, lower cost of travel for the mass of people and therefore have positive social and economic impact”.
Source: GNA
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Labourer commits suicide over GH¢20 debt
Noah Offei, a 28-year-old labourer of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, who could not pay GH¢20 he owed his former girlfriend, hanged himself at Anum-Apapam near Suhum at the weekend.
Godwin Asiedu, the deceased’s brother, told the GNA that Offei and the former girlfriend, Mary Adjobe, lived at Anum-Apapam but separated last year.
Asiedu said his brother took another girlfriend and Adjobe became offended and quarreled with the deceased, which resulted in a fight.
Aseidu said Offei was rushed to the Suhum Government Hospital but he was discharged after two months, when the girlfriend hit him on the stomach with a stick and he collapsed.
Asiedu said Adjobe summoned Offei before a chief and his elders at Anum-Apapam, demanding the amount Offei owed her.
Offei asked his father, Opanin Asiedu Boakye to assist him pay the debt but he was turned down.
Asiedu said Offei hanged himself in his room to avoid disgraced.
The Police at Suhum confirmed the story and said the body of the deceased had been buried after autopsy at the hospital.
Source: GNA
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Ghana to remove taxes on imported timber products
Taxes on imported logs and sawn timber are to be removed as part of efforts by government to bolster the flagging timber industry, which has been hard hit by the global financial downturn, Vice President John Mahama announced on Tuesday.
He said the decision to remove the taxes was to encourage the flow of raw materials to feed the timber industry, which is reeling from poor patronage resulting in the loss of jobs as many companies cannot cope with the situation.
Addressing delegates at the on-going International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) conference in Accra on Tuesday, Vice President Mahama stated the need for a high level of collaboration between African countries as part of efforts to create alternate markets to offset the downturn.
Many African countries have been experiencing poor patronage for the timber products, and Vice President Mahama encouraged them to ensure that barriers to trade were eliminated to allow the free flow of goods and services.
Vice President Mahama’s concerns are supported by a study by the ITTO which makes it clear that although the US continued its dominance as the most lucrative destination for Ghana’s kiln-dried lumber and rotary veneer, the recent economic crisis has caused the slump of demand for the country’s timber products, particularly Mahogany and Odum.
This, according to the report, has forced some of Ghana’s lumber and veneer prices down, thus affecting the viability of these companies.
The Vice President told delegates at the joint ITTO and UN Food and Agriculture Organization conference that they must help to ensure vibrant wood processing industries in Africa, with collaboration among governments in ensuring that barriers to trade are eliminated.
“This is critical in the light of the current global crisis when we should collectively promote increased trade in wood products in our region,” he emphasized.
In addition, such interventions, he explained, should focus on creating a balance, in resource utilization to ensure that the environment is not unduly disturbed, arguing that “sustainability of timber resources should be the prime objective of African nations”.
Ghana, he explained, had engaged the European Union on a project called the “Voluntary Partnership Agreement” to ensure that timber products from Ghana originate from legal sources, to ensure sustainability of the industry and the development of an appropriate legal regime to regulate the depletion of forestry resources.
“It is my strong conviction that if we were to move forward in the right direction, there was the need to network and communicate effectively with other sub-regional blocs, to holistically look at developing a regional scheme which would accommodate the free flow of timber products within the region.”
Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, said forestry contributed substantially to rural livelihoods because of the large segment of society that depended on it for their livelihood, and as a result government was initiating steps to make it a sustainable part of the poverty alleviation agenda.
One such effort, he said, was the implementation of a large scale commercial plantation development programmes throughout the country to serve as a mechanism for rural job creation and ultimately to help reduce poverty.
Other programmes being pursued by the government, Alhaji Dauda outlined, were the expected restoration of depleted forests to fill what he estimated to be a 3.5 million cubic meters per annum timber supply and timber deficit.
Other speakers at the function included Mr Michael Maue, Chairperson of the International Tropical Timber Council, Mr Martin Mabala, Gabonese Minister of Forestry and Dr Daniel Aka Ahizim his
Ivorian counterpart. They were unanimous on the need for African nations to remove barriers that inhibited growth in the sector to enhance untapped opportunities for tropical timber protection.
The three-day conference which would end on July 3, is expected among other things to identify and analyze constraints that inhibit the expansion of the intra-African market for tropical timber and timber products, as well as options to overcome the constraints and key players who could help remove those constraints.
Source: GNA
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