Ghana Telecom records 320 billion-cedi revenue
Ghana Association of Bankers announces Exchange Rates
Lawra unable to meet revenue estimates?
Ghana Telecom records 320 billion-cedi revenue
Dodowa (Eastern Region) 20 Dec. '99
Ghana Telecommunications Company (Ghana Telecom) recorded 320 billion cedis revenue in 1998.
This was an improvement over the 274.1 billion cedis and 164.2 billion cedis recorded in 1997 and 1996 respectively.
Mr Divine Kpetigo, Western Regional Director of Ghana Telecom said this when he delivered a paper at a forum organised by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Communications at Dodowa on Saturday.
Mr Kpetigo said this is the result of the increase in the number of telephone lines and usage.
He said Ghana Telecom paid 58 billion cedis as corporate tax between 1997 and 1998.
It paid 2.4 billion cedis as annual license fee and contributed another 2.4 billion cedis to the Ghana Investment Fund for Telecommunications to finance communications in non-commercial and remote areas and for educational training and research in the telecommunications sector in 1998.
Mr Kpetigo said direct exchange lines increased from 75,000 in 1997 to 151,334 in October 1999 with the total switch capacity of 106,000 increasing to 186,573 within the same period.
The number of payphones also increased from 480 in 1997 to 2,939 by October 1999
Commander Pius M. G. Grifiths, Deputy Minister of Communications, stressed the need to make telecommunication facilities accessible and affordable.
He said a new Telecommunications Policy is before Cabinet and would be placed before Parliament soon.
An Information Technology Plan has been developed for the sector, he said adding that privatisation would continue.
He called for a strong independent regulator to enhance the development of the sector.
Nii Adjei Boye Sekan, Chairman of the Committee said members owe it a duty to ensure the interest of consumers, investors, service providers and regulators.
Mr Bill Taylor, Managing Director of Western Telesystems Limited (Westel) said about 2000 people have subscribed to the network of the company.
It also has plans to extend its services to Kumasi and Takoradi by the year 2001.
He called for the immediate appointment of the National Communications Authority Board and the enforcement of regulations and license requirements in adherence to international deregulation norms.
Mr Jojo Duncan, General Manager of Capital Telecom, called for improvement in rural telephony to spearhead development.
Mr Kodwo Egyir-Danso, Greater Accra Region, General Manager of Mobitel said there should be a level playing field to encourage growth and development of the three-year telecommunications plan.
He said approval for five cellular operators is too many for the market.
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Market activities slow down
Accra (Greater Accra) 20 Dec. '99
Activities on the stock market slowed down this week with the total shares traded during the three sessions being 120,700 while the All-Share Index also declined by a total of 3.47 points.
With just about a week for the Exchange to break for the Christmas holidays, investors have described the trend of activities on the market as not very encouraging.
Total shares traded on Monday declined from last Friday's 18,500 shares to 3,000. The figure rose to 105,400 on Wednesday but dropped to 12,300 on Friday.
The All-Share Index, which closed last weekend at 746.21 points, marked time on Monday and declined by 1.28 points on Wednesday and 2.19 points on Friday.
The bearish sentiments were reflected in total bids and offers posted on the bourse during the week.
Total shares demanded were 55,700 on Monday, climbed to 147,300 at mid-week trading and declined to 60,000 shares on Friday.
Offers for Monday were 579,230 while those of Wednesday and Friday closed at 663,290 and 444,000 shares respectively.
Market capitalisation at the end of the week was 3,215.79 billion cedis, indicating a significant decline as against last Friday's close of 3,221.24 billion cedis.
The change in the year to date stood at negative 14.47 per cent.
In the broader market, there were four price changes for the week - one up and three down.
Mobil Ghana Limited (MOGL) lost 500 cedis for two consecutive trading sessions to close the week at 14,000 cedis. MOGL, which began the year as high as 17,000 cedis, was the only loser on Wednesday.
The other loser for the week was Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) which went down by 10 cedis on Friday to finish the week at 750 cedis.
Fan Milk Ghana Limited (FML) was the only gainer. It gained 10 cedis at 910 cedis.
The following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis for Friday:
ABL 456
AGC 18,700
ALW 2,489
BAT 470
CFAO 38
EIC 1,880
FML 910 +10
GBL 1,450
GCB 750 -10
GGL 950
HFC 750
MGL 200
MLC 150
MOGL 14,000 -500
PAF 300
PZ 800
SCB 19,700
SPPC 150
SSB 1,980
UNIL 1,860
UTC-E 125
CMLT 420
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Ghana Association of Bankers announces Exchange Rates
Accra (Greater Accra) 18 Dec. '99
Following are the average inter bank exchange rates of the cedi to the dollar and derived rates for other major foreign currencies on Friday December 17, as announced by the Ghana Association of Bankers:
Currency Buying Selling
US Dollar 3,424.18 3,531.45
Pound Sterling 5,534.16 5,711.06
French franc 533.90 550.48
Swiss Franc 2,185.17 2,252.53
Deutsche mark 1,790.12 1,846.75
Canadian Dollar 2,320.40 2,391.77
Japanese Yen 33.26 34.30
Dutch Guilder 1,589.86 1,638.71
S/African Rand 557.77 574.31
Euro 3,503.30 3,611.85
CFA Franc 5.34 5.50
Naira 33.55 34.60
WAUA/Ecowas 4,367.27 --------
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Lawra unable to meet revenue estimates
Lawra (Upper West) 18 Dec '99
The Lawra District Assembly has described its revenue mobilisation efforts this year, as "very disappointing" as it could only realise 75.8 million cedis as at the end of November, out of a projected 100 million cedis.
Last year, the assembly raked in 118.6 million cedis in revenue and had earlier exceeded its targets in the preceeding two years.
This was contained in a report by Mr. Isaac Dasoberi, the District Chief Executive, to the fourth ordinary session of the assembly at Lawra on Thursday.
Mr Dasoberi attributed the shortfall partly to natural disasters that hit the area this year and poor performance by the area councils. A task force was therefore set up and provided with logistics to facilitate revenue collection.
This task force managed to collect about 35 million cedis within October and November immediately after its inauguration in September of this year.
Mr David Osei-Wusu, Upper West Regional Minister, called on District Assemblies to institute reward schemes for area councils, which distinguish themselves in revenue generation to motivate them.
He said provision of development projects by all development agencies was now demand-driven and communities must show evidence that they need facilities before they can be supported.
The Regional Minister urged assembly members to educate their people to use the few facilities that were available to them before they can ask for more.
"If you do not utilise the few dams and dugouts that have been provided, you cannot justify any request for the construction of large-scale irrigation schemes".
During an open forum, the assembly expressed concern about widespread bush burning in the Laura area of the district.
The Nandom Traditional Council was commended for making it impossible for people to indulge in bush burning within the Nandom area.
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