The two insitutions will share the default risk on a portfolio of qualifying trade transactions originated by issuing banks in Africa and confirmed by Commerzbank AG, the AfDB said in a press release.

The release states that, the facility will help address critical market demand for trade finance in Africa by providing support for trade in vital economic sectors such as agribusiness and manufacturing. It will foster financial sector development, regional integration, and increase government revenue generation, ultimately improving Africa’s sustainable economic growth.

According to the AfDB, the majority of African banks have small capital bases which constrain their ability to obtain adequate trade limits from international confirming banks and to undertake sizeable transactions that have significant development impact.

“Moreover, despite the growth in trade risk distribution globally, local banks in Africa have not significantly benefitted from this growth. AfDB’s additionality lies in the use of its “AAA” rating to share trade risk and expand the trade finance capacity of banks in Africa, thereby expanding trade and strengthening regional integration,” it said.

The release also noted that, the facility which is expected to run over a 3-year period is a 50/50 risk sharing arrangement that will enable Commerzbank AG to match AfDB’s undertaking in every transaction, thereby creating a maximum portfolio of up to $200 million.

The facility will also result in the provision of significant support to African banks and SMEs. Counting roll-overs, it is expected to facilitate about $1.2 billion of trade in equipment, raw materials, intermediate and finished goods over the 3-year period.
The proposed facility aligns with AfDB’s Regional Member Countries’ priorities to promote trade as was reaffirmed by the African Union at its 18th Ordinary Session in January 2012. It is also in line with the Bank’s Ten-year Strategy and Regional Integration Strategies which seek to consolidate its engagement in trade finance in Africa, the release stated.

By Pascal Kelvin Kudiabor

…Citi Group, Barclays confirmed as lead managers

The $1 billion Eurobond Ghana plans to issue in July 2014 is set for possible approval by the country’s lawmakers after further scrutinies are done.

This was after Cabinet approved of the move, the Finance Ministry announced May 23, 2013 in a statement.

According to the statement, Cabinet approved the constitution of a Transaction Team towards the issuance of the sovereign bond comprising the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana to manage the preparatory activities for the issue.

“Based on anticipated market conditions and financing needs, a transaction size of up to $1billion was recommended to and approved by Cabinet. It should be noted that the transaction is subject to prior approval by Parliament,” it said.

The Finance Ministry added that the exact amount is also subject to variations that might be dictated by market conditions and parliamentary approval.

The Ministry also confirmed that CitiGroup and Barclays have been selected as lead managers for the transaction while EDC Stock Brokers and Strategic African Securities act as co-managers.

According to what Cabinet approved, proceeds from the bond will be used for Payment of counterpart funds for capital projects; Capital expenditures approved in the 2013 Budget (with priority given to self-financing projects); and Refinancing of public debt to reduce the cost of borrowing.

By Ekow Quandzie

The situation has gradually sky-rocketed the cost of accommodation because landlords have cashed in and are charging exorbitant rents.

Consequently, cases of misunderstanding and disagreements between landlords and tenants in the Municipality keep on rising day-in-day-out.

Mr Murphy Obeng Twumasi, Higher Executive Officer at the Rent Control Department in Sunyani, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) affirmed that applications for settlement of accommodation-related complaints received by the Department had increased in recent years.

Available statistics on complaints lodged at the Department by landlords /landladies and tenants from January 2009 to December 2012 indicated a steady increment annually.

Interestingly, tenants’ complaints out-numbered those of landlords during the period.

In 2009, 136 tenants lodged complaints as against 107 by landlords and landladies. Complaints from 188 tenants and 128 landlords/landladies were recorded in 2010, 193 tenants and 191 landlords/landladies in 2011, whiles 239 tenants and 165 landlords/landladies lodged complaints with the Department in 2012.

The aggregate of tenants’ complaints within the period under consideration is 756, whilst that of landlords/ladies is 591, representing a total of 1,347 rent cases handled by the Department within the four-year period.

The total complaints in 2009 was 243 but increased to 316 in 2010, signifying a 30.04 per cent rise while a total of 384 in 2011 implied 21.5 per cent increase over the 2010 figure. Between 2011 and 2012 the percentage increase was 5.2 because 2012 had 404 cases.

That more complaints came from landlords/landladies within the period should not be a matter of surprise because standard decent accommodation has become a hot but scarce commodity in the Municipality.

Mr Twumasi explained that reasons mostly assigned by the landlords/landladies were recovery of possession and nuisance while some tenants also abscond, whereas the tenants’ complaints usually centred on recovery of rent advance, inducing tenants to quit and unlawful increase in rent by landlords and landladies.

He explained that inducing a tenant to quit means a landlord or landlady’s attempt to eject an occupant to take a more exorbitant rent from a prospective tenant.

The situation inures to the advantage of landlords/landladies but to the disadvantage of tenants and prospective tenants, he added.

This is because most of the landlords/landladies have taken advantage of the higher demand and limited supply of housing units to inhumanely increase their rents arbitrarily.

It might be interesting to note but sad to hear some of the unfair practices and dealings by some inconsiderate landlords/landladies in the Municipality. They take advantage of anxious prospective tenants by inducing them to commit their monies in the form of rent advance to either refurbish old buildings or complete their new houses for rent, but later give the facility to a higher bidder and refund the first bidder’s amount.

The arbitrary increase in rent resulting in yearly increases in complaints by landlords/landladies and tenants is obviously the result of many people migrating to the Sunyani Municipality either for educational purposes or economic reasons.

It is conjectured that about 80 per cent of migrants to the Municipality annually are tertiary students, whilst the rest could be economic migrants working for Newmont Gold Ghana Limited (NGGL) Ahafo Mine at Kenyase in the Asutifi North District, as well as other categories of migrant workers.

Currently the Municipality and its adjoining Sunyani-West District are hosting four tertiary institutions.

They are the Catholic University College of Ghana (CUCG) and the Ideas University College (IUC), both located at Fiapre in Sunyani West District, Sunyani Polytechnic and University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), all located in Sunyani.

It is worthy to note that the location of UENR became a matter of contention between the Sunyani Traditional Council and the Traditional Authorities of Fiapre sometime before the institution was inaugurated in 2012.

Both parties claimed the University was located on their stool lands, which is an issue for government, Office of Stool Lands and Survey Department to resolve amicably for peaceful co-existence to prevail in the area.

Effectively the issue of accommodation scarcity began when the Sunyani Polytechnic, presently with a student population of 4,433 comprising 3,114 men and 1,319 women was upgraded from a Technical Institute to Polytechnic in 1997.

A source at the Planning Unit of Sunyani Polytechnic confirmed to the GNA that it has accommodation for only 895 students and the rest are all lodging in private hostels.

In view of this, a lot of sub-standard hostels have sprung up at the Sunyani Light Industrial Area (popularly known as Magazine) which is located directly opposite the Polytechnic for students to rent.

The UENR now has about 160 pioneer students pursuing courses in Natural Resources and Engineering but because it has the capacity to accommodate up to 600 students, the accommodation challenge is not a problem to the students currently.

The CUCG which became operational in January 2003 with 50 students now has about 4,500 students and a greater percentage of them are being housed in private hostels within the Municipality, while all the students of IUC about 300, now reside in private hostels.

Mr Charles Adomah of CHADOMMO Ventures, a Real Estate Agency in Sunyani, told the GNA that he commenced business about 10 years ago and the pressure on the company at the beginning of each academic year in September/October has kept increasing.

He disclosed that a single-room in shared compound house is GH¢40.00 monthly, saying that one could get a single room at GH¢30.00 but only in an unattractive location.

Mr Adomah said a self-contained single room, depending on the finishing, ranged between GH¢60.00 and GH¢100.00, while a two-bed room and a hall, also depending on the finishing could be either GH¢150.00 or GH¢200.00 to GH¢300.00 a month.

In addition to the NGGL workers resident in Sunyani since 2004 when the company commenced business, the coming into operation of the Brong-Ahafo Regional Hospital in Sunyani has also compounded the situation.

Dr Fulgentius Dery, Medical Superintendent of the Sunyani Municipal Hospital told the GNA that the institution has staff strength of 235, including about 105 Nurses.

The hospital could provide official accommodation for only three senior staff, a Doctor, the Pharmacist and the Administrator.

The challenge is no different at the Brong-Ahafo Regional Hospital said Dr. Jacob Abebrese, the Medical Director.

He confirmed to the GNA that with a workforce of about 1,000 the institution has the capacity to provide official accommodation for only 10 per cent of the number.

Dr Abebrese lamented that the situation was having a toll on the finances of the hospital because management had no alternative than to rent private accommodation for critical staff at a high cost.

Mr Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, the immediate past Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, on numerous occasions said during public gatherings that Brong-Ahafo Region is blessed with abundant natural resources including land.

In his view, the availability of land provided the basic enabling environment for the establishment of agro-processing industries and, therefore, investors should come and do business in the Region.

Now the challenge of accessing decent accommodation in the Sunyani Municipality is a signal and opportunity for real estate developers to extend their investments beyond Accra, Tema and Kumasi to Sunyani for the construction of affordable houses since there is a great demand for it.

The economy in the Municipality has improved, with the students coming to town to patronize street-side food vendors, fast food joints, drinking spots and night clubs – and the taxi drivers are also having a field day.

By Nana Osei Kyeretwie
Source: GNA

They include Regional Directors of the Information Services Department, (ISD), Regional Secretaries of the TUC, Regional representatives of the Social Welfare Department and the National Commission for Civic Education.

This was contained in a statement by the National Pensions Regulatory Authority  (NPRA) signed by Kwame O. Kissiedu, Director of Corporate Affairs and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra on Thursday.

The statement said the training focused on building the capacity of participants in five core areas namely the Relevance of Pensions, the Pension Reform in Ghana, the new Three-tier Pension Scheme, the Role of Pension Service Providers, such the NPRA, Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Corporate Trustees, Pension Fund Managers and Pension Fund Custodians, as well as the Role of Stakeholders including Employers, Employees and the Media.

The training programme sponsored by the World Bank is part of an education and capacity building programme to equip the state institutions about the new pension system in Ghana.

Addressing the participants, Mr Sam Pee Yalley, Acting Chief Executive of NPRA said many Ghanaians appeared not to understand or fully appreciate the relevance of pensions and what they stood to gain by participating in the new three-tier Scheme.

He said it was for that reason that the NPRA decided to collaborate with the institutions that could get the message to the ordinary Ghanaian worker.

He said the TUC and the ISD could not be left out in the quest to reach the organised labour, both at the national and regional levels, whilst the ISD had structures across the country for information dissemination.

He said Social Welfare also became relevant because pensions were essentially about social protection and asked the participants to take the training serious to be able to impart the knowledge acquired to their colleagues in their respective Regions.

Participants received a copy each of the National Pensions Act 2008, Act 76 and other relevant materials.

Source: GNA

He said although the tradition of acceding power democratically is increasingly taking roots, a matter of great concern in recent times is the extreme political polarization of the country.

Brig Gen Agyemfra made the remark at a roundtable discussion organized by the IEA in Accra on the theme: “Post-electoral disputes resolution: Fostering peace, national cohesion and reconciliation after the Supreme Court ruling”.

He said the presidential election petition has generated animosity and acrimony between the leaders and supporters of the two main political parties, the New Patriotic Party- the petitioners and the National Democratic Congress the respondent.

He said discussions on the issues had banner headlines, but fortunately, both parties had indicated their willingness to accept the ruling of the Supreme Court.

He said the IEA was of the view that timely discussion and action on this sensitive issue would go a long way to promote peace and national cohesion in the country.

Brig Gen Agyemfra said Ghana has so far demonstrated a high level of political maturity, as compared to other African countries, and has successfully passed the test of holding six elections that had been adjudged free, fair, credible and peaceful, but warned that these gains needed to guarded very careful.

The roundtable discussion was attended by leading political leaders, academia, journalists, legal practitioners, and a cross section of the public.

Source: GNA

Mr Seth Terpker – Finance Minister

Finance Minister Seth Terkper on Thursday announced that Cabinet had approved the use of additional revenue options, expenditure and debt measures to achieve the end-year targets.

Government is expected to meet growth target of eight per cent, given improvements in the power situation and output in the oil and gas sector.

On inflation, Government is expected to achieve the 2013 Budget rates of 8.9 (average) and 9.0 (end-year) per cent.

Speaking at the Meet-the-Press series organised by the Ministry of Information and Media Relations in Accra, Mr Terkper said the measures proposed under revenue options that are subject to the approval of parliament include re-imposition of fiscal stabilization levy, imposition of levy on imports, increase in some excise duties, review of fees and charges (especially, the “user” elements) and special audits and administrative measures.

He said the measures had been proposed on the face of the fiscal outcome for the first four months of the year with particular reference to the cost of debt service and burden of wage and other personal emoluments on the budget.

The press briefing was to provide journalists information on the performance of the economy from January to April 2012 and outlook for the rest of the year, fiscal performance and outlook and the status and information on some policy issues and measures including the proposed 2013 Eurobond Issue.

Mr Terkper said Government would take concrete steps to refinance portions of the public debt to reduce the debt services costs to contain possible expenditures to meet the 2013 fiscal targets.

This, according to him, would be done mainly by substituting short term debt with high interest rates and substituting medium to long term low rate debt.

Mr Terkper said more regular adjustment of utility prices to complement the proposed adjustment in petroleum prices to cost recovery levels would be pursued.

Others include the implementation of Market Premium Policy approved by Cabinet under the Single Spine wage policy, control of allowances within provisions in the Budget and Medium Term Expenditure Framework provisions for all Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

Mr Terkper observed that one effect of the fiscal pressures identified was that funds were being crowded out for social intervention programmes that fell under Goods and Services category of the budget.

Consequently he said Government would ensure that part of the additional revenue to be generated from the budget would be used to restore the balance.

Source: GNA

The Bank achieved a year-on-year income growth of 30 per cent and a profit growth of 75 per cent.

“This means that over the last five years, the Bank’s income has grown by a compound annual growth rate of 25 per cent while its pre-tax profits have grown by 40 per cent,” Kweku Bedu-Addo, Chief Executive, Standard Chartered told shareholders at its annual general meeting in Accra.

Mr. Bedu-Addo said on the back of the strong performance and for future growth prospects, the Board had approved retention of GHC 67 million as statutory reserve from last year’s profit to strengthen the bank’s capital base.

“The recent profit retention sends a clear signal to the market on our growth ambitions in Ghana. The business results so far during the first half of 2013 shows that the momentum from 2012 has been carried through,” he said.

Mr Bedu-Addo said he had commenced major investment into retail business through branch expansion and digitization of certain services and that the bank had already invested GHC 20 million in new branches and refurbishment of some existing branches.

He said the strong organic growth of the retail business was creating the necessary confidence for new investment.

On the outlook for the bank he said, although, Ghana’s economy had experienced some stress during the first half of this year, the Bank would continue to take a long term view of the country and its prospects.

Mr Ishmael Yamson, Board Chairman, said the bank’s consistent strong performance was underpinned by disciplined execution of its growth strategy through respect for the basic tenets of good banking, adherence to our risk policies and procedures, deeper relationships with our existing client and customer, he added.

Source: GNA

He said the outcome has the potential of threatening national peace and cohesion, overstretched security system, constitutional paralysis, and paralysis of central and local government machinery.

It also has the latent of political revenge, poisoned political atmosphere that could spill over into Election 2016, tarnished integrity and weakened legitimacy of the Electoral Commission (EC) and major political reversals.

Dr Jonah made the observation in Accra at a roundtable discussion organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs on the theme: “Post-electoral disputes resolution: Fostering peace, national cohesion and reconciliation after the Supreme Court ruling”.

He said the outcome had the tendency of creating deep seated distrust for the EC, stressing that, the remedy would be a thorough reform of the architecture of electoral governance in Ghana.

He said in the mist of all this upheavals the energy and resources of the security forces might be stretched to its limits and urged civil societies and faith based organizations to educate their members to accept the SC’s ruling in order to promote national unity and stability.

He called on the media to avoid provocative discussions that could inflame passions and cautioned the parties to avoid victory celebrations and wild jubilations.

He said civil societies must maintain their neutrality and should congratulate the two major parties for keeping the peace throughout the hearing and urging them to continue after the verdict.

He also appealed to Ghanaians not to undermine the judiciary by attacking its integrity.

The roundtable discussion was attended by leading political leaders, academia, journalists, legal practitioners, and a cross section of the public.

Source: GNA

It has facilities for the study of Information, Communication Technology (ICT), lecture halls, conference and guest rooms.

The project was jointly funded by the PCG and the Association of Protestant Churches in Germany.

Mr. Nicholas Opoku, the Board Chairman of the Centre, underlined the critical role vocational and technical education play in national development and asked that it should be given every necessary push.

He said vocational and technical training requires massive injection of resources to equip the youth with relevant skills that would make them employable and enhance their livelihood.

Mr. Opoku said the centre is the church’s contribution towards helping the instructors to build their capacity for effective performance.

Its courses would be supervised by the Council for Technical and vocational Education and Training (COTVET).

Source: GNA

The suspects, Inusah Musah, 26, and Kwame Sarfo, 22, were arrested at Koforidua that same morning with the stolen taxi cab with registration number GR4178-13 at Tinkong Police Barrier, near Koforidua, during routine checks.

According to Assistant Superintendent of Police, (ASP) Yaw Nketia-Yeboah, Regional Public Affairs Officer, officers on duty at the barrier on Tuesday about 0145 hours stopped the said vehicle with the two suspects on board.

He said the inconsistencies in their answers during interrogation aroused suspicion and they were arrested and brought to the regional headquarters where further investigations indicated that the two had snatched the car from the owner earlier on in Accra.

ASP Nketia-Yeboah said the victim, Yaw Kitiwa, after the incident managed to report to the nearest police station where he was rushed to the hospital.

He said in his report the victim indicated that his sales for the day amounting to GHC 75 and a Nokia phone were also taken from him.

Source: GNA