GRi Business, Economics & Finance 13 –
02 - 2003
Sunyani (Brong Ahafo)
Nana Adoma
Baffour, Dwantoahene of Fiapre, near Sunyani Brong-Ahafo was speaking to Ghana News
Agency (GNA) in an interview. He recalled the days when
Nana Baffour
said the release of parts of forest reserves to private farmers would encourage
interested youth who would want to go into the industry. ''The measure will not
only enable interested youth to take to cocoa farming thereby giving the
industry the needed boost but will also help to reduce unemployment,'' Nana Baffour said.
"It will also go a long way
to help the nation to recapture its former status as the world's leading
producer of quality cocoa." He said any call on the youth to help sustain
the industry by taking over from their aged parents would continue to be a mere
rhetoric if the acquisition of land for farming remained a problem.
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Agona Swedru (Central Region) 13
February 2003- The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) would prosecute GPRTU
officials if they embezzled income tax they collected from drivers, John Amoah, Senior Inspector of Taxes of the Agona District
branch of IRS has said.
Speaking at a meeting with
regional and branch executives of the GPRTU (
Amoah said the IRS would deploy some
of its officials and security personnel on the roads to check drivers who do
not pay daily and weekly income taxes to the Service. He expressed concern
about the non-payment of income tax by some tipper truck drivers, who operate
in the Swedru area, and said those drivers did not belong to any drivers'
union.
He called on drivers, who were
still not registered with any of the transport organisation to do so to avoid
problems. Abraham Kofi Acheampong, Central Region Industrial Relation Officer
of the GPRTU, appealed to officials, who collect taxes from drivers to be
honest.
''The union will not hesitate to
hand over to the law enforcement agencies officials, who embezzle income tax
they collect from drivers.'' He urged the drivers to accept the 40 per cent
increment of lorry fares in good faith to avoid confusion in the transport
sector.
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The index closed up 7.96 points
at 1,453.67 points from 1,445.71 points, with only five of the 24 listed
equities changing hands. Traded shares went up by nearly three times to 35,700
shares from 12,200 hares.
Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) led
four gainers with a 95-cedi appreciation to 3,900 cedis. SSB Bank was nine
cedis richer at 4,170 cedis, Super Paper Products Company (SPPC) went up by two
cedis at 390 cedis and Mobil Oil Ghana Limited inched up by one cedi at 19,731
cedis. Market capitalisation went up to 6,446.83 billion cedis from 6,430.47
billion cedis. The change for the year went up to 4.18 per cent from 3.58 per
cent.
The following are the last
prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 390
AGC 28,110
ALW 3,500
BAT 1,101
CFAO 67
EIC 4,600
FML 2,001
GBL 551
GCB 3,900 +95
GGL 1,115
HFC 1,205
MGL 254
MLC 272
MOGL 19,731
+1
PAF 750
PBC 390
PZ 2,016
SCB 28,700
SPPC 390 +2
SSB 4,170 +9
SWL 285
TBL 4,900
UNIL 4,871
CMLT 460
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Currency Buying Selling
U.S. Dollar 8,407.55 cedis
8,605.45 cedis
Pound
Swiss Franc 6,148.52
6,289.50
Canadian Dollar 5,505.88 5,631.75
Danish Kroner 1,213.08 1,241.19
Japanese Yen 69.63 71.25
South African
Euro 9,019.29 9,229.55
CFA Franc 13.75 14.07
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Bolgatanga (Upper East)
It collected four billion cedis
as against two billion cedis on customs duties from the frontiers with
neighbouring
He said apart from the
traditional customs duties, all other collections it did on behalf of sister
agencies far exceeded the targets, adding that those revenues were to the tune
of about 3.9 billion cedis during the same period.
He said during the period, CEPS
collected 882 million cedis on behalf of the Value Added Tax, as against its
target of two million cedis. He said the projected figure given by the VAT
Secretariat was not realistic and advised that such targets should be reviewed
upwards in the future.
Sasuh said CEPS collected about 1.7
billion cedis for the Road Fund Secretariat, about 820 million cedis for the
Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF) and about 52 million cedis as
Destination Inspection fee on behalf of its Management Board.
He said greater portion of the
revenue was realised during the later part of the year, when most vehicles
bound for other West African countries such as
It is also partly due to the
improved trade relations between
He expressed regret that in
spite of the revenue CEPS in the region gave to government, there was no decent
residential accommodation to house officers, and that Customs officers had to
make do with old and dilapidated structures used by the erstwhile Border
Guards.
Sasuh further mentioned lack of
refresher courses for officers in the region and welfare facilities such as
staff buses as some of the problems impeding their efficiency in the region. He
appealed to the Ministry of Roads and Highways to exempt CEPS from paying
tolls, adding that it hampered efficient service delivery.
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