Cabinet to decide on government’s Golden Share in Ashanti
Four per cent GDP target not likely - Abbey
Bank of Ghana advises public to convert
currencies to meet Euro deadline
Treasury Bills rate down from 42.2 per cent
to 29. 54 per cent
Accra (Greater Accra) 14 December 2001 - Cabinet will soon take a decision on whether the government should divest itself of the "Golden Share" it holds in the Ashanti Goldfields Company (AGC).
A GNA reports quotes Finance Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo as saying in an interview in Accra on Thursday that: "It is a serious matter that requires Cabinet discussion before any decision is taken."
He said it was too early to make any comments on the matter before it went to Cabinet. "I do not want to pre-empt what would be discussed at that meeting. I am however, going to table that motion before Cabinet at our next meeting now that it has come into the public domain for a decision to be taken."
Mr Sam Jonah, Chief Executive of AGC recently suggested the removal of the "Golden Share", which empowered the government to veto decisions about the company.
Mr Jonah, who was briefing Senior Journalists on the performance of the company, explained that the "Golden Share" provision was created when Obuasi was the major source of Ashanti's mainstay operations and said the situation had changed.
The Chief Executive said that it was only when the "Golden Share" was removed that investors would do business with Ashanti on the stock market or "play the game" with Ashanti.
He said prospective investors did not see the justification in the case where a shareholder with 20 per cent including all other Ghanaian shareholders exercised that power.
Analysts all over the world had said the "Golden Share" must go for the good of the company, Mr Jonah said.
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Four per cent GDP target not likely - Abbey
Accra (Greater Accra) 14 December 2001- Targeted real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of four per cent for this year is unlikely to be met in view of the September 11 events in the United States and their effects on emerging economies, Dr Joseph L.S. Abbey, Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA) said on Thursday.
He said this stemmed mainly from an expected steep decline in revenue from tourists from the US, Europe and other areas of the globe who would have arrived in the country, but might now stay at home or change their plans completely.
Speaking at a luncheon by the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) in Accra, Dr Abbey said Japan, a major development partner was already going through a recession and the September 11 events in the US were in the process of triggering a world wide recession, which would affect the ability of these countries to meet the development needs of emerging economies.
To reduce the impact of the changes that would be taking place from now, Dr Abbey called for a radical change to the country's agriculture and education policies
"We must take advantage of the technologies that modern education brings to bear on agriculture. Water systems must be managed to move agriculture from the gains or losses of the weather to the full potential that sophisticated equipment can offer".
Farmers, he said, must as a matter of necessity, have increased access to credit to make their operations less stressful and to encourage more people to go into agriculture.
He lauded the government’s decision to be firm on the monetary and fiscal fronts, stressing: "It is important the government is not rushed to ease up on things now."
Dr Abbey said he was, however, apprehensive about the usual trend of the last three elections - huge spending by government in election years- being repeated.
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Bank of Ghana advises public to convert
currencies to meet Euro deadline
Accra (Greater Accra) 14 December 2001- The Bank of Ghana on Thursday asked holders of currencies of any of the 12 participating countries in the Euro Zone to exchange them in the forex bureaux or put it in their foreign exchange accounts before the close of December this year.
The 12 Euro-Zone members are Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France and Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland.
Mr Frederick France, Director of Treasury, told journalists in Accra that the Bank's directive was necessitated by member countries changing to Euro from January 1, 2002, after which their various old national currencies will cease to be legal tender.
He said the Bank of Ghana had met with the forex bureaux operators and commercial banks and advised them not to accept the old currencies after the end of December.
Mr France asked forex bureaux operators and the banks to be on guard against unscrupulous people who would want to take advantage of the situation to exchange counterfeit notes.
Mr Wim Olthof, Economic Attache of the Delegation of the European Commission, said more than 14 billion euro banknotes and 50 billion euro coins would replace national currency banknotes and coins on January 1, 2002.
The new banknotes would be in seven denominations of five, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 euro. The notes illustrate the evolution of architectural styles in the history of Europe. The coins are in eight denominations of one, two, five, 10, 20 and 50 cents and one and two euro.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 December 2001- The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) says it does not envisage any liquidity problem in the trading of Government of Ghana Index Linked Bonds (GGILB) when they are introduced on the secondary market.
The Managing Director of GSE, Mr Francis Tweneboa, told journalists in Accra on Thursday that licensed Government Securities Dealers (GSD), made up of banks and stock brokerage firms, would pay for any bonds bought from individuals who wanted to sell them.
Out of 27 Primary Dealers in the bonds market, 15 have already registered to participate in activities on the secondary market. Bank of Ghana, which is a principal dealer, will serve as a last resort for liquidity for individuals who are unable to find any willing GSD to purchase their bonds.
Mr Tweneboa was speaking at a workshop for journalists on how to report the trading activities of GGILB on the secondary market.
He said although bonds issued since September this year had been approved for listing on the exchange, this was yet to be formally launched to pave the way for trading of the GGILB on the secondary market.
Mr Tweneboa said the bonds, after the listing would, however, continue to be traded over the counter and not on the floor of the exchange. The GSD are however expected to communicate results of their trading activities to the GSE that will issue it out to the public.
About 850 billion cedis worth of bonds had already been issued out of a target of one trillion cedis earmarked for the close of the year.
The government launched the index linked bonds in September this year to restructure 50 per cent of its domestic debt of more than six trillion cedis, held mostly in short term debt instruments to medium term ones to give it a breather to plan the economy and put its fiscal policies in shape.
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Treasury Bills rate down from 42.2 per cent
to 29. 54 per cent
Toase (Ashanti Region) 14 December 2001- The Bank of Ghana (BOG) Treasury Bill (TB) rate moved from 42.2 per cent in July to 29.54 per cent in November as a result of stable macroeconomic conditions, Mr Daniel Ohene Owusu, Deputy Chief Manager, Banking Supervision Department of BOG, said on Wednesday.
However, this would mean that banks that invested heavily in TBs would suffer shortfalls in their projected revenue and profits, Mr Owusu, told the 17th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Shareholders of Atwima Mponua Rural Bank at Toase in the Atwima District.
He therefore, called on rural banks to explore other avenues of investments that would yield higher returns. He advised the management of rural banks to strictly enforce the dictates of Poverty Alleviation Credit Schemes (PACS) and other government Credit Schemes, aimed at promoting the development of identified sectors of the economy.
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Ghana receives 25 million Euro Grant from
the Netherlands
Accra (Greater Accra) 14 December 2001 - The Netherlands on Thursday made available 25 million Euros (about 161 billion cedis) grant facility to Ghana as Balance of Payments support for the 2002 budget.
The facility is the Dutch government's special contribution towards Ghana's macro-economic stability, especially in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
The attacks in which hijackers smashed commercial planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington are expected to have negative consequences on the global economy with grave consequences for developing countries.
Finance Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo and the Netherlands Ambassador, Alexander Heldring signed an agreement to cover the facility in fulfilment of a pledge made by the Dutch Minister of Development Co-operation, Eveline Herfkens, when she visited Ghana recently.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 December 2001 - The Western Veneer and Lumber Company (WVLC) which is indebted to tune of 180 billion cedis, 10 times its total cost of assets, would soon be privatised, Prof Kasim Kasanga, Minister of Lands and Forestry, announced on Thursday.
The company is the only remaining state-owned timber processing company out of the five slated for privatisation that had debts far exceeding its assets of about 18 billion cedis, the Minister said at the inauguration of a five-member Board of
Directors of the company, tasked to speed up WVLC's divestiture.
He said previous attempts to privatise the WVCL, a merger of the Western Timbers Company and the Takoradi Veneer and Lumber Company were hampered by numerous problems.
Prof Kasanga said the company, which employs about 800 people, was facing numerous lawsuits that posed a threat to the security of its assets.
He recalled that Dr Kwaku Afriyie, the former Minister, set up a ministerial fact-finding committee early this year to investigate the company's operations with a view to establishing the root cause of its financial non-performance and its entanglement in protracted lawsuits.
Prof Kasanga said industrial harmony had been restored following the committee's recommendations and the ministry's follow up actions. ''But more needs to be done to resuscitate the fortunes of the ailing company''.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 December 2001
Currency Buying Selling
US Dollar 7,128.82 7,326.45
Pound Sterling 10,306.14 10,599.18
French Franc 976.26 1,003.13
Swiss Franc 4,336.14 4,455.68
Deutsche Mark 3,273.24 3,365.24
Canadian Dollar 4,550.37 4,676.66
Japanese Yen 56.52 58.08
Dutch Guilder 2,905.92 2,985.94
S/African Rand 632.70 647.88
Euro 6,404.51 6,579.25
CFA Franc 9.76 10.03
Naira 64.31 66.09
Ecowas/WAUA 9,013.07 --------
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