GRi Business, Economics &
Finance 14 – 02 - 2003
"This will be good for the
economic health of the nation and for market stability and the strength of our
currency," he said. Delivering his third State of the Nation Address to
Parliament, the President said as the government made headway with stabilising
the macroeconomic framework, it had found that all was
not well with the financial and foreign exchange regime.
Export proceeds tended not to be
repatriated and were not channelled through the banking system, President
Kufuor said. Relevant legislation would, therefore, be introduced to ensure
that export proceeds were repatriated and channelled through the banking
system.
President Kufuor said
"This is a call to all
exporters and foreign exchange dealers to be good corporate citizens."
President Kufuor said as institutions of state developed and began to function
properly, and as government ensured a stable macroeconomic environment, the
private sector must be helped to take advantage of the opportunities available
to flourish.
In this way, more and more jobs
would be created in all sectors of the productive economy. "The
President's Special Initiatives as designed, are intended to do just this kind
of stimulation of enterprise, productivity and jobs creation, both in
agriculture and in processing."
President Kufuor said the
factory for the pilot Cassava Starch Project at Bawjiase
in the Central Region would be commissioned in April. "I hope that as the
initiatives spread around the country, more groups of people will embrace them.
Indeed, numerous groups and individuals have already emerged to emulate the
pioneers."
President Kufuor said these
Special Initiatives were calculated to spearhead the diversification and
deepening of the economy. "Government's role is to develop the specific
plans for each initiative and then to serve as a catalyst to enable the private
sector, individuals and cooperatives to carry them out.
"Without this process, and
similar ventures, the economy will remain largely a monoculture and we shall
not be able to add value to our produce." President Kufuor said given the
rate of population growth, unless the country made a success of the special
initiatives and the development of infrastructure, any talk of increasing the
GDP to enable the country to join the middle-income group of nations in the
foreseeable future might well be futile.
"It is estimated
conservatively that when these initiatives mature within the next three to five
years, they will contribute something in the region of six to 10 billion
dollars annually to the GDP.
"When that happens, per
capita income will then be lifted from the $400." President Kufuor said if
the country stayed on course, he envisaged a per capita income of $1,000 within
the next 10 years adding, "this is why we must
all rally to support these initiatives."
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He said the persistent under
pricing resulted in the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) accumulating a debt that
currently exceeded the primary capital of the entire banking system of the
country.
"This poses a systemic risk
to the whole banking sector", he said. Delivering his State of the Nation
Address to Parliament, President Kufuor said the need to break away from this
precarious situation informed the recent near 100 per cent hike in petroleum
prices.
He observed that the past year
had been full of challenges making the government to start the first quarter of
this year with many difficult decisions in its determination to establish a
firm foundation to accelerate the economic transformation of the country.
"This is why after the
nation talked about malfunctioning of the economy for a long time, agonised
about the difficult measures that can fix it for many years, and yet tried to
dodge taking the hard decisions for so long, it is now having to bite the
bullet in a last ditch stance to free the economy for real growth.
"Hence the petroleum and
utility price rationalisation and increased and efficient domestic revenue
mobilisation." President Kufuor said government decided that the debt
should not accumulate further and that the debt should be paid within a
reasonable period and manner that would not cause problems of affordability to
the public.
"Government also decided
that the management of TOR should be made to be more efficient and the industry
to be progressively opened to private sector participation," he added.
"Other changes associated
with the increases in petroleum prices and government reform programme in the
sector is the establishment of a new independent institution that will be
responsible for fixing maximum allowable prices for petroleum products.
"A market-driven formula
has been drawn to guide this institution," President Kufuor said. The
President's observation of the people's perception of the fuel price increase
is in the statement: "I am heartened that many Ghanaians have been
understanding of the need for these policies and have been willing to put up
with the difficulties. I am aware that peoples' willingness to endure the
current difficulties is a manifestation of their belief in this government that
it will lead the nation out of the difficulties that have beset her for so
long."
President Kufuor said what was
left was for the government to hold the people's trust to influence their
attitudinal change for the better. "They will then share in the vision of
the government and be more willing to endure the
sacrifices for the positive change the nation must have."
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This was announced by President
John Agyekum Kufuor in his third State of the Nation Address to Parliament on
Thursday. He said the company and the government were agreed that the
exploitation would be done with a lot of sensitivity to the environment.
The President said the number of
companies that were exploring investment opportunities was growing steadily. He
said the Export Development and Investment Fund was
now operational and an initial amount of 80 billion dollars had been disbursed
to exporters in the area of agro-processing, salt mining, wood and health
products and garments.
President Kufuor said a
Small-Scale Enterprise Development Programme to assist enterprises had also
been set up and training programmes were being held to introduce business
opportunities and enhanced entrepreneurial skills.
He said one of the most
heartening developments in the past year had been the surge of flow of foreign
exchange from Ghanaians resident abroad. The Bank of Ghana has reported that
last year such transfers amounted to $1.4bn.
"This development is a
massive vote of confidence in the economic policies being pursued by this
government and should lead to more investments by Ghanaians abroad,"
President Kufuor said.
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Dormaa-Ahenkro (Brong Ahafo)
Dormaa-Ahenkro in Brong Ahafo have been using used phone cards and metals like needles and
blades to manipulate the pay-phone system in the town.
Isaac Gyan,
District Manager of Ghana Telecom (GT), who disclosed this in an interview with
Ghana News Agency at Dormaa-Ahenkro, said the practice
was seriously affecting the quality of the company's services.
The District Manager warned such
saboteurs to desist from the practice adding that the Company would deal
drastically with any one caught. He appealed to the people to become watchdogs
and report anyone found indulging in such practice to the police.
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Currency Buying Selling
U.S. Dollar 8,412.55 cedis
8,601.36 cedis
Pound
Swiss Franc 6,178.57 6,315.75
Canadian Dollar 5,505.26
5,627.61
Danish Kroner 1,220.33 1,247.67
Japanese Yen 69.70 71.24
South African
Euro 9,072.65 9,271.13
CFA Franc 13.83 14.13
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Bolgatanga (Upper East)
They suggested high taxes on
tomatoes imported from
''Now, tomatoes
is left on the farms to rot. The absence of a policy to deter the market
queens is greatly responsible for our predicament.'' He said this year
particularly has not been favourable to tomato farmers in the region due to the
outbreak of an unknown disease that affected most farms in the area.
"Not even the Ministry of
Food and Agriculture can give the cause
of the disease.'' Akaribo, Assemblyman for the Nyariga-Done electoral area, further appealed to government
to come to the aid of the farmers especially those who are beneficiaries of
loans from the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD).
He suggested that interests on
the loans could be written off while concessions could be made on the main
principal to ''relieve the farmers of the headache of payment of loans.''
"At the moment most of us
are getting worried and we have nowhere to turn to for help. We really put all
our eggs in this basket and now you can see the outcome. Something must really
be done about it," he said.
The Ministry of Food and
Agriculture is still researching to find the cause of the disease that attacked
most tomato farms in the region especially those around Pwalugu,
Vea and Tono.
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