Utilities plead for higher tariffs
Economic growth impossible without energy sector: Minister
There are disparities in vision 2020 - NDPC
Barclays says its Prestige Services is for customers' comfort
Accra bourse index closed flat
Akosombo (Eastern Region) 20 August 2001
Sector institutions under the Ministry of Energy on Friday repeated calls for realistic tariffs for utility companies if they are to remain competitive and cover their operational costs.
This, they indicated, would make them operate efficiently and be in a position not to only pay back loans but ensure that the loans are paid on time.
The institutions are the Volta River Authority (VRA), Electricity Corporation of Ghana (ECG) and Public Utilities Regulation Commission (PURC).
They made this known at a day's Sector Performance Review Monitoring Meeting at Akosombo. Also in attendance were oil marketing companies, Energy Foundation, Tema Oil Refinery, GOIL, GCMC and the GNPC.
Other issues that attracted attention included prospects and benefits of the West African Gas Pipeline Project and development of extra power generating and distribution stations.
Also discussed was the problem of non-payment of competitive rates by domestic users who constitute 50 per cent of power users but do not pay much.
A team from the VRA said exports of power to neighbouring countries have gone down significantly putting returns on investments at zero.
"Profits made over the years have all been eroded, especially on domestic users. For instance, we produce power at 5.1 cents and sell the same product at 2.6 cents. Besides we owe 50 million dollars of power imported from Cote d'Ivoire"
The VRA said a number of expansion projects and equipment upgrading must be made if they are to survive.
Fred Asante of the ECG also proposed charging realistic tariffs to put the company's operations back on track from more than a decade of loss making.
"We are in the process of replacing our obsolete equipment throughout the country and need consumers to pay realistic tariffs to be able to carry this programme out successfully'', he said.
Asante said ECG last year made a loss of 388 billion cedis, adding that, "factors such as the loss of foreign exchange, inadequate tariff and system losses contributed immensely to our precarious situation."
On ECG's indebtedness, Asante said, "We owed VRA 390 billion cedis as at the end of March 2001 including a VAT of 88 billion cedis. We also owe our suppliers 138 billion cedis, 870 billion cedis as loans arrears and 195 billion cedis as debt service charges, among others."
He suggested the establishment of special courts to prosecute recalcitrant customers and also make laws to make non-payment of bills a criminal act.
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Akosombo (Eastern Region) August 2001
The Minister of Energy, Albert Kan-Dapaah on Friday said the success of the economy depended on the provision of a viable energy sector and promised not to interfere in the daily operations of utility companies.
"Without energy, there cannot be economic success; there is a direct link between the two," said Kan-Dapaah, speaking at this year's Energy Sector Performance Review/Monitoring meeting to discuss the theme, Energy for National Development.
The Minister painted a bleak picture of the energy sector, saying it was far from what was desired citing major problems such as inefficient pricing, rising costs of operation, power cuts due to supply bottlenecks and the financial crises that the energy companies were experiencing.
The Electricity Company of Ghana's loses are about 23 per cent, government imported five million dollars of electricity from La Cote d'Ivoire in 1999, electricity prices are at "give away prices," only 17 per cent of households in rural areas have electricity and forests are depleting at alarming rates.
"The above challenges, coupled with the current weak macro-economic environment, threaten to disrupt the efficient and reliable position of energy services in the country."
Kan-Dapaah said to ensure success, the Ministry's vision was to develop an "Energy Economy" that would ensure a reliable supply of quality energy services for homes, businesses, industries and transportation services.
He said by the end of this year, there would be a comprehensive Energy Plan that encompassed government's values of having environmentally friendly energy sources, strengthening institutional and human resources and creating a healthy regulatory environment that appealed to foreign investors.
The Minister said as many government offices were doing, the Ministry of Energy was also undergoing restructuring and had appointed new Boards of Directors in various organizations to carry out its policies.
"I shall not seek to interfere in your day-to-day activities," he told the private companies. "We shall agree on targets and once you perform to my satisfaction, I shall stay at arm's length."
Kan-Dapaah said a healthy relationship between the private and public sectors was essential in the creation of the Golden Age of Business that President John Agyekum Kufuor promised Ghanaians when he came into office.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 20 August 2001
Mrs. Angela Brown Farhat, Principal Planning Analyst, National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) on Friday said that review of the Ghana Vision 2020 indicated wide disparities between plan targets and budgetary forecasts.
She said the overall GDP growth averaged 4.3 percent annually, far below the plan target of 7.8 percent and less than the budgetary forecast of 5.7 percent.
Mrs. Farhat brought these to light at a day's workshop on Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy for the Trade Union Congress in Accra.
She explained that the highest growth rate recorded over the period was 4.7 percent in 1998 while it recorded the lowest of 3.7 percent in 2000.
The Ghana Vision 2020 adopted by the previous government aims at making the country a middle-income country by the year 2020 through accelerated, sustainable, and equitable growth.
To attain these goals, the Vision was sequenced into five-year medium-term development policy documents, which was named "Ghana- Vision 2020: The first step policy framework (1996 to 2000)." and contained a co-ordinated programme of economic and social development policies and strategies for the period.
Mrs Farhat explained that the disparities arose because there was lack of co-ordination between the NDPC, which was responsible for plan formulation and monitoring, and the Ministry of Finance in charge of formulating policies to implement plan objectives.
She said, as result the highest growth rate recorded over the period was 4.7 percent in 1998 while the lowest was 3.7 percent in 2000. Annual inflation rate averaged 24.7 percent in comparison to Plan and budgetary targets 17.6 percent and 13.3 percent respectively.
The Planning Analyst noted that the review also indicated that the year 2000 witnessed the highest inflation rate of 40.5 percent while the lowest of 13.8 percent was recorded in 1999.
The monetary stock expanded by an annual average of 29.2 percent as against a budgetary forecast of 14.6 percent and a Plan target of 19.5 percent.
She said that the highest money growth rate recorded over the period in 1997 was 39.5 percent with 38.0 percent recorded in 2000 as the lowest.
Mrs Farhat noted that the December-to-December cedi depreciation rate averaged 25.2 percent against the U.S. dollar; more than double the plan target of 11.4 percent. The lowest depreciation rate of 4.1 per cent occurred in December 1998 and the highest of 49.2 percent was registered at the end of 2000.
In fiscal affairs, the national budget showed an overall average annual deficit of 41,201 billion cedis, in contrast to a budgetary forecast of 46,68.7 billion cedis over the period.
She said the 2000 deficit of 42,301 billion cedis was the largest while the smallest was 41.42 billion cedis registered in 1996.
On the international front, the balance of payment position reflected an average annual deficit of 36.7 million dollars as opposed to the planned and budgetary surplus forecast of 104.3 million and 64.6 million dollars respectively.
Mrs Farhat noted that the largest surplus of 99.4 million dollars was posted in 1998, while the largest deficit of 194 million dollars was recorded in 2000.
Akwasi Adu-Amankwah General Secretary of TUC chaired the workshop.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 20 August 2001
Barclays Bank Ghana said on Friday that its Prestige Banking Service was designed to offer customers the comfort, safety and reliability to transact business with convenience.
This assurance comes in the wake of complaints of "shabby treatment" by some Prestige customers of the bank.
A statement issued in Accra by Mr Rex Danquah of MMI RICS Consult, Public Relations consultants of the Bank, said for security reasons, prestige customers should not send anybody with their card to transact business on their behalf without prior arrangement with the bank manager.
"What any prestige member should do in any such circumstance is first call the prestige banking manager of the centre to identify the bearer before hand," it quoted the Managing Director of Barclays bank, Mr Kobina Quansah, as saying.
He said normally, all transactions should be made on personal basis and at the appropriate Prestige Banking Centre, where facilities and services were available for all prestige customers.
Mr Quansah said prestige banking customers should transact their business only at Prestige Banking Centres and not just any Barclays branch banking hall to avoid the queues and other inconveniences.
The statement was in reference to complaints by a number of prestige patrons who said they had been ill-treated and reported the matter to the Ghana News Agency.
The patrons told the GNA on Monday that the service that was intended to reduce stress and make bank transactions convenient was rather becoming burdensome and frustrating.
Barclays introduced Prestige Banking to provide expedited transactions to privileged customers for a minimum monthly fee of 50,000 cedis for local account holders and 10 dollars for foreign account operators.
The service is available at Osu, High Street and Kumasi branches and boasts of a 100 per cent increase in membership since its inauguration.
The benefits include longer banking hours - 0800 hours to 1800 hours -, seated waiting area, complementary beverages, privacy and additional security.
A foreign businesswoman said: "The attitude of staff does not match with the concept of first class service that patrons have come to expect.
"It is supposed to be like flying in first class travel. But what is happening here is third class."
A patron who threatened to stop patronising the service said, "we have agreed to pay the monthly premium because we wanted to bank at our convenience as we were made to believe, so anything less than this should not be tolerated."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 20 August 2001
Currency Buying Selling
US Dollar 6,991.09 7,219.64
Pound Sterling 10,078.36 10,411.44
French Franc 971.30 1,002.86
Swiss Franc 4,195.64 4,329.98
Deutsche Mark 3,257.28 3,363.85
Canadian Dollar 4,550.87 4,697.67
Japanese Yen 58.00 59.88
Dutch Guilder 2,891.18 2,985.10
S.African Rand 846.86 873.43
Euro 6,373.46 6,577.45
CFA Franc 9.71 10.03
Naira 64.53 66.64
Ecowas/WAUA 8,823.82 -----------
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Accra (Greater Accra) 20 August 2001
The Ghana Stock Exchange - All share index, the main market measure of the Accra bourse, marked-time for the second time in the week on Friday as the bourse continued its slide under heavy bearish sentiments.
The index, which closed flat on Monday, recovered slightly on Wednesday registering a 0.61 points increase. It was, however, unable to sustain the gain and closed trading at 943.12 points, the same as on Wednesday.
Traded volumes were again at their lowest, as they sank to close at 9,700 from 17,900 due to the absence of institutional investors.
There were no price changes.
Market capitalization stood still at 3,839.38 billion cedis.
Below are the closing prices of listed equities:
ABL 630
AGC 18,500
ALW 4,300
BAT 550
CFAO 60
EIC 2,890
FML 1,000
GBL 1,300
GCB 1,550
GGL 900
HFC 952
MGL 240
MLC 130
MOGL 20,000
PAF 600
PBC 450
PZ 640
SCB 21,000
SPPC 356
SSB 2,300
UNIL 1,825
CMLT 425
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