GRi Business, Economics
& Finance 11 - 08 - 2003
Bank of Ghana reiterates support for rural banks
$177.8m bagged from export of wood products
Bank of Ghana reiterates support for rural banks
Ekumfi-Essueshyia (Central Region) 11 August 2003 - The Bank of Ghana (BOG) has reiterated its full support for hardworking rural banks to enable them to play a more meaningful role in the banking industry.
It has therefore, warned rural banks, particularly those who are making good strides in their operations against complacency, since such acts might undermine their progress and eventually affect the credibility given them by the Central Bank.
Franklin Belnye, a Director at the Banking Supervision Department of the BOG gave the assurance at the 16th annual shareholders meeting of the Ekumfiman Rural Bank at Ekumfi-Essueshiyia at the weekend.
Belnye recalled the useful role rural banks were playing to transform the living standards of farmers, fishermen, petty traders, artisans, workers and transports operators in the rural communities, and said that BOG would not shirk its responsibility in providing the necessary support and encouragement to hardworking rural banks to achieve their objectives.
He praised the Directors, management and workers of Ekumfiman Rural Bank for adopting prudent measures as directed by the BOG to turn around the economic fortunes of the bank after the institution had suffered severe economic setbacks in the past 10 years.
Belnye said records available at the BOG clearly indicate that the Ekumfiman rural bank was making headway within the past three years.
He said even though the bank has not completely overcome its economic predicament, there is the hope that with extra hard work and effective maintenance of the current trends of development in the operation of the bank, it would be able to surmount the problems facing it.
James Eric Nkrumah, Central Regional President of the Association of Rural Banks also expressed satisfaction at the outcome of the frantic efforts being made at the management team of the bank and urged them to sustain the tempo to enable them to chalk good returns in the years ahead.
Nkrumah announced measures being taken by the association to improve the service conditions of both Directors and workers of the various rural banks and charged them to put in extra effort to improve the financial positions of their respective banks.
Nana Baah IV, Acting President of the Ekumfi Traditional Council appealed to shareholders of the bank, who withdrew their shares during the crisis period of the bank to reconsider their decision and patronised the bank once more to make it a more vibrant financial institution for the Ekumfi state.
Nana Oprenu V, Chairman of the Bank Board of Directors and Martin Kumi Frempong, Supervising Manager of the Bank expressed their appreciation to T.K Dadzie, an Accra-based Business Executive for supporting the bank with a total of 250 million cedis cash, being the highest singular shareholding to help revitalise the bank.
He assured customers of continued excellent service to enable them to realise
their objectives.
GRi…/
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$177.8m bagged from export of wood products
Akyawkrom (Ashanti Region) 11 August 2003 - Wood products exported last year fetched Ghana $177.8m representing about 11 percent of its total export earnings, Prof Dominic Fobih, Minister of Lands and Forestry, said recently.
He, however, noted that the industry could generate four to five times the current export revenue if it improved on efficiency by reducing wastage in logging and processing.
Addressing an extra-ordinary general meeting of the Ghana Timber Association (GTA) at the Wood Industries Training Centre (WITC) at Akyawkrom in the Ejisu-Juaben District of Ashanti, the Minister expressed concern about illegal timber activities by both chainsaw operators and some GTA members and said the trend if allowed unchecked, could undermine the long-term sustainability of the industry and lead to severe dislocations of the economy.
It is estimated that the industry is sourcing approximately, one million cubic metres of logs illegally. Prof Fobih warned of stiffer sanctions against those caught engaging in the practice.
He said his Ministry was also concerned about the "ridiculously low prices paid to loggers by Millers in the country", and asked members of the GTA to enter into formal contracts with buyers of their logs before harvesting is carried out.
This, he explained, would ensure that log price transactions are formally negotiated and regularised for fairness to prevail between loggers and millers.
Professor Fobih said the forest inventory results showed that a number of lesser-used and unknown timber species (IUS) were available in commercial quantities. He, therefore, urged the GTA to focus more on harvesting those species for processing by the tertiary industry whose operations are geared towards downstream processing of the primary and endangered timber species.
He called for greater co-operation among the timber associations in order to maximise the utilisation of the limited resources.
The Minister asked the loggers to take advantage of the various incentives provided by the government to promote sustainable forest plantation development in the country.
J.A. Armah, President of the Association, appealed to the Ministry to help source funding for the establishment of local log markets in all the regions and said this could come from the Export Development Investment Fund (EDIF).
The establishment of those markets, he said, could improve on log pricing.
Armah spoke of the need for a revisit of the ban on round logs since there are
many LUS that are being destroyed by farmers during land clearing.
GRi…/
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