Ghana's industrial growth is disappointing - Apraku
Accra (Greater Accra)
19 December 2002 - The Accra bourse continued to register slow business as the
year winds down and institutional investors continued to adopt a wait and see
attitude.
GSE-All Share Index,
the main gauge of the Accra bourse, barely inched up by 0.09 points to 1,376.75
points from 1,376.66 points on Monday with only one equity - Unilever -
registering a price change.
It ended trading
three cedis richer at 4,805 after selling only 3,100 shares. Traded volumes
slumped by about half to 127,700 from 322,100 shares on Monday with Ghana
Commercial Bank selling 118,400 shares. Only five of the 24 listed equities
sold shares.
Market capitalisation
now stands at 5,137.44 billion cedis from 5,137.26 billion on Monday.
The following are the
last prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 390
AGC 18,807
ALW 3,700
BAT 1,001
CFAO 67
EIC
4,600
FML
1,785
GBL 500
GCB 3,516
GGL 1,046
HFC 955
MGL 254
MLC 270
MOGL 19,730
PAF 750
PBC 390
PZ 2,001
SCB 28,002
SPPC 387
SSB 3,966
SWL 285
TBL 4,850
UNIL 4,805 +3
CMLT 460
GRi…/
Send your comments to
viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra)
19 December 2002
Currency Buying Selling
U.S. Dollar 8,243.91 cedis
8,429.82 cedis
Pound Sterling 13,156.46
13,459.89
Swiss Franc 5,764.31
5,890.80
Canadian Dollar
5,330.60
5,449.57
Danish Kroner
1,139.03
1,164.54
Japanese Yen 68.01
69.54
South African Rand
907.49 926.80
CFA Franc 12.89 13.18
GRi…/
Send your comments to
viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra)
19 December 2002- Dr Kofi Apraku, Minister of Trade and Industry, on Wednesday
described Ghana's industrial growth rate as "disappointing" saying
"all is not well with the industrial sector".
He noted the
performance of the sector over the period has been chequered, reaching a peak
of 6.4 per cent in 1996, but declined to a mere four per cent in 2000.
Preliminary estimates for 2001 place growth rate at 2.9 per cent. The
manufacturing sector's contribution to GDP in the mid-1970's was nearly 15
percent, which also declined to nine per cent between 1996 and 2000.
Dr Apraku said these
when he opened a workshop on Ghana's Integrated Industrial Policy in Accra. The
workshop is to finalize discussions on a new industrial policy that would
reflect events as they affect Ghana within the local and international context.
He said the poor
performance clearly points to the urgent and pressing need to revamp the
industrial sector in general and the manufacturing sector in particular to play
a central role in ensuring the nation's accelerated socio-economic development
and growth attainment of per capita income of 1,000 dollars by 2010.
Dr Apraku said the
workshop is a manifestation of government's desire to reach a consensus on
major issues that would benefit all parties. He said the task facing the
industrial sector is not an easy one.
"We also do not
have time on our side. We need to redouble our efforts to make things happen
faster and better." Dr Apraku asked the participants to be non-partisan
and objective to derive the maximum benefit from the workshop.
He said government is
committed to globalisation and trade liberalization although they subject local
industry to extreme competitive pressures on the domestic and international
markets.
"It is
unproductive therefore to resist these trends which open new opportunities ...
What we need to do is to position ourselves to take advantage of the tremendous
potentials they offer and to continue work together as developing countries ...
to bring about change in the rules in our favour.
"Our strength is
to speak with one voice. We have tried it and it is working. All we need to do
is intensify the process," Dr Apraku added. The Association of Ghana
Industries urged government to give practical meaning to the promise of making
Ghana the leading agro-business country in Africa by ensuring the policy is
clear on this.
GRi…/
Send your comments to
viewpoint@ghanareview.com