Accra
bourse makes marginal gains
Bank
of Ghana warns banks against pre-fixing rates
Ghana
to meet cocoa projections
Small
Scale miners to get rich areas
Accra
bourse makes marginal gains
Accra (Greater Accra)
14 December 2002- After an impressive showing in mid-week trading, the GSE-All
Share Index, the main gauge of the Accra bourse, gained a marginal 0.32 points
to close slightly higher at 1,376.38 points.
Traded volumes also
managed a slim gain, rising to close at 136,500 shares compared to the previous
close of 134,100 shares.
On the broader market,
there were four positive price changes. CFAO regained the seven cedis it lost
on Monday to close at 67 cedis, Fan Milk Ghana Limited was up at one cedi at
1,784 cedis, Guinness Ghana Limited went up one cedi at 1,043 cedis and
Unilever gained two cedis at 4,802 cedis.
Market capitalisation
now stands at 5,136.66 billion cedis from 5,136.01 billion cedis on the
previous session on Wednesday.
The following are the
last prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL
390
AGC 18,807
ALW 3,700
BAT 1,001
CFAO 67
+7
EIC
4,600
FML
1,783
+1
GBL 500
GCB 3,516
GGL 1,043
+1
HFC 955
MGL 254
MLC 270
MOGL
19,730
PAF 750
PBC 390
PZ 2,001
SCB
28,002
SPPC 387
SSB
3,963
SWL 285
TBL
4,850
UNIL
4,802 +2
CMLT
460
GRi…/
Bank
of Ghana warns banks against pre-fixing rates
Kumasi (Ashanti
Region) 14 December 2002- The Bank of Ghana (BOG) has warned banks against
pre-fixing of rates at which remitted foreign currencies were exchanged and
asked them to desist from the practice since it partly accounted for the
depreciation of the cedi.
''BOG will de-license
any bank that flouts its regulations.'' Mr Emmanuel Asiedu-Mantey, Deputy
Governor of BOG, said this when he inaugurated the new premises for ECOBANK
Ghana in Kumasi.
The new bank building
was built at a cost of 1.8 million dollars and will serve the northern sector
of the country. The Deputy Governor said banks were expected not only to link
their deposit rates to the falling Treasury bill rate but also to have this
impacted on their lending rates.
''This will bring
about expansion in the private sector which will in turn cause an increase in
the domestic savings,'' he said.
Mr Asiedu-Mante
expressed concern about the high minimum accounts opening balances as well as
the minimum operating balances required by some banks and said this had
deprived most people, especially salaried workers, access to banking services.
He spoke about the
incompatibility of the various electronic cards such as the Sika Card, Visa
Horizon and Barclays Card among others, introduced by some banks and said
"life will be more comfortable for customers if a product or service
introduced by one bank could be used at other banks network".
The Deputy Governor
appealed to banks to explore the possibility of developing a common platform
with a view to interfacing their automated teller machines that would not only
be most effective but would make life more comfortable for their clientele.
Mr Edward Larbi
Gyampo, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ECOBANK, said the bank held 9.91
percent of the market share of deposits and managing an asset portfolio of
approximately 1.3 billion cedis.
Mr Gyampo said as at
this year the bank's net worth stood at about 124.5 billion cedis. In a message
read on his behalf, the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, commended ECOBANK for
setting itself the formidable task of contributing to the financial, economic
and social development of Ghana by providing a full range of banking services
and products to individuals, companies, institutions and the government.
Mr Sampson Kwaku
Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister, hoped the new edifice would symbolise the
good work being done in facilitating the rapid growth and development of the
banking industry.
GRi…/
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Ghana
to meet cocoa projections
Accra (Greater Accra)
14 December 2002- Ghana is sure to meet its projected harvest target of more
than 400,000 metric tons of cocoa for the 2002-03 crop year, according to field
reports being monitored by the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod).
The trend of the
returns so far indicated that cocoa purchasing is on course and that the
projection of 430,000 tons by the close of the crop year can be attained. The
company's weekly returns indicated that more than 205,000 tons have been
purchased as at 28 November barely seven weeks into the main crop season, up
from 178,000 tons in the sixth week ending 21 November.
The Board has
projected a harvest of 380,000 tons of cocoa in the main season, which is
expected to end in April 2003. This represents an improvement on the 2001-02
main crops, which produced 321,321 tons.
The Board has taken
over direct control of the disease and pest control programme (mass spraying
campaign), which the government started last year to rid cocoa trees of black
pod and capsid.
The take over has led
to a tremendous improvement in the disease control programme, buyers have
indicated. There is also a general decrease in the rate of smuggling of beans
across the borders, especially to the Ivory Coast.
The government said at
least 60,000 tons of cocoa was smuggled out in the last season, up from 50,000
tons that was smuggled out in the previous season and launched a vigorous drive
to arrest the situation.
It has also stepped up
the development of cocoa growing areas by providing them with social
infrastructure such as houses for farmers and good community roads. Cocobod is
currently seeking about $300 million to expand a hi-tech farming project, which
involves application of fertiliser on cocoa farms in all centres.
If successful, the
expansion is expected to be more than double the national production in three
years towards the half a million ton target by the close of the 2004-05 crop
year as set under the cocoa sector development programme.
Ghana, the world
second largest cocoa producer is said to be losing out to Indonesia, following
her abysmal performance in the last three years. Production for the 2001-02
crop-year was 340,000 metric tons, the lowest in six years, as a result of a
bad mid-crop, which fetched below 20,000 metric tons as against an average of
50,000 tons.
Both the government
and the Cocobod attributed last season's poor production to unfavourable
weather conditions, rampant smuggling and disease infestation and have since
launched a frantic drive to improve the three areas.
Stakeholders are
optimistic that the current recovery measures would yield positive results and
make Ghana to regain its substantive position as the second world largest
producer which it recently lost to Indonesia. Ghana was the largest exporter of
cocoa beans in the world until 1978 when Ivory Coast overtook it.
GRi…/
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Small
Scale miners to get rich areas
Accra (Greater Accra)
14 December 2002- The Geological Survey Department is identifying rich areas
for small-scale miners to optimise their operations.
Mr. Kwadwo Adjei
Darko, Minister of Mines said, "Government is prepared to assist small
scale miners, and not 'galamsey' operators. It is the vision of the Ministry to
optimise the contribution of the small-scale mining sector".
He was speaking at
this year's Winner's Awards Night of the Precious Mineral Marketing Company
(PMMC) to recognise the contribution of small-scale gold miners and diamond
winners held in Accra on Friday.
It was also to create
a forum for the PMMC to express its appreciation to the award winners and
honouring them for their contribution to the progress of the Company.
The sector is the key
to the success of Ghana's drive towards the promotion of a local jewellery
industry since it is the main source of raw material, the Minister said.
Mr Darko said Ministry
envisaged maintaining its lead in foreign exchange generation by optimising the
contribution of the sector and ensuring its sustainability. He said some of the
strategies to achieve these objectives include the diversification of the
mineral base by adding value to maximise returns, legislative review to attract
investment and the application of the best environmental management practices.
The Minister said, the
Minerals and Mining Law 1986, PNDCL 153, is to be reviewed to create a
competitive environment to attract and retain investors. He said emphasis was
to be shifted to the exploitation of industrial minerals like salt, clay,
kaolin, lime, granite, and their chemicals derivatives including caustic soda,
chlorine and pharmaceuticals.
Mr. Peter Boachie,
Managing Director, PMMC said customer satisfaction was important in the
industry, adding that, the Company was evolving strategies to get closer to its
clients by identifying and providing their needs.
The award categories
were for gold and diamond categories with the winners in the first group
receiving a trophy and a certificate each while those in the second had a
certificate and a wristwatch each.
GRi…/
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