GRi Business, Economics & Finance 18 –
02 - 2003
Accra (Greater Accra) 18 February
2003- President John Agyekum Kufuor on Monday pledged government's support for
the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development for it to help the country's
private sector.
He said "the Bank's
guarantee to the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) and the National Investment Bank
(NIB) to source for loans outside the country indicates that you mean business
and I will support you as President of Ghana and Chairman of ECOWAS".
President Kufuor made the pledge
when Christian Adovelande, President of the Bank, led
a four-man delegation to pay a courtesy call on him at the Castle, Osu. He said, "I like the
business approach you are bringing into the Bank's operations. I also do
appreciate the problems of non-payment of capital by member countries of ECOWAS
to enable the Bank to operate effectively due to the many priority areas
confronting the governments".
President Kufuor called on the
management of the Bank to continue to persevere to uplift the image of the Bank
from the Sub-Regional level to an international level for the benefit of the
people. He gave the assurance that
Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of
Finance, said
Kwamena Bartels, Minister of
Private Sector Development, said the linkages established between the bank and
the private sector in
He said in the past loans to
begin and expand businesses was lacking but with the assistance of the bank there
had been much improvement. Bartels said the bank began with the guaranteeing of
a 40 million-dollar loan from the HSBC for the salt industry and agro-processing
in the country, and "there had been assurances that more assistance from
the HSBC would be provided to support the President's Special Initiatives in
Palm Oil; Garments and Textiles industries.
Dr Paa
Kwesi Nduom, Minister of Economic Development and
Regional Integration, said
He said in the past
Adovelande, a Beninois
who assumed duty about six months ago, said the delegation was in
Adovelande said some member countries had
failed to pay their submission to the bank and that had prevented the bank from
mobilising the needed funds to support countries within the Sub-Region.
"There are a lot of delays
in the bank's desire to move rapidly since there are a lot to do to operate
effectively in the Sub-Region," he added. Adovelande
later presented a copy of the Bank's report to President Kufuor.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 18 February
2003- Mallam Adamu Ciroma, Nigerian Finance Minister, on Monday appealed to
ECOWAS Chairman, President John Agyekum Kufuor to assist in finding solution to
the re-location of the Headquarters of the African Development Bank (AfDB) due to the crisis in Cote D'Ivoire.
He also asked President Kufuor
to endeavour to bring peace to that country to create a congenial atmosphere
for the bank to operate. Mallam Ciroma,
who is in
President Kufuor said ECOWAS was
aware of the tremendous contributions the bank had made in the socio-economic
development on the continent and that the Sub-Regional Organisation would endeavour
to ensure that peace and stability was maintained in
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Saltpond (Central Region) 18 February
2003- The Ghana Export Promotion Council (GEPC) in conjunction with the Ghana
Irrigation Development Authrority (GIDA) has established
nurseries at Baifikrom near Mankessim in the Central
Region for production of seedlings of chilli pepper, known in Akan as (Mesewaa) and sweet
potato (exportable variety) for farmers.
Gerald Nyarko
Mensah, Deputy Director of GEPC, said the Council had also made available a
quantity of seeds of the pepper to be supplied to interested farmers free of
charge.
He was addressing the Mfantseman District Assembly at Saltpond. Mensah said the
Council had taken the measures to promote the production of the commodities
that were in high demand in
He said last year GEPC could not
meet the demands of the importers of the two commodities and appealed to farmers
to take advantage of the facilities being offered by the Council and assured them
of the ready market to meet the demands of the importers.
This, he explained would enable
the Council to maintain the trust between it and the importers. The Deputy
Director said in order not to expose the potato seedlings to infestation by
worms a special nursery known as tunnel has been established for their
production. He appealed to District Assemblies to support and encourage farmers
to grow the crops in large quantities.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Ho (Volta Region)
Asiedu-Nketia, a Deputy Minister of Food and
Agriculture in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, said this at
a forum of the Volta Region branch of the Tertiary Educational Institutions
Network (TEIN) of the National Democratic Congress at Ho.
He said rice imports for
instance had doubled from 100 million dollars to 200 million dollars while
yellow maize imports rose from 5,000 tonnes to 15,000 tonnes in 2001 and again
rose to 20,000 tonnes in 2002, bringing the government's total yellow maize
imports to 35,000 tonnes.
Asiedu-Nketia said the government's importation
of chicken parts also rose from 11 million dollars previously to 26 million
dollars in 2001 and to 30 million dollars in 2002.
He said large-scale chicken
breeders were starved of support that was shifted to small-scale producers with
adverse effects on the country's poultry industry. ''The fisheries sector has
virtually collapsed where for instance the price of a gallon of pre-mix fuel
has risen from 5,000 cedis to 16,000 cedis and the price of 30 bundles of
fishing nets increasing from 15 million cedis to 50 million cedis.''
Asiedu-Nketia alleged that "a few people
have been groomed to import fish into the country instead of large-scale
cold-store operators, who now depend on the few importers for their supplies
resulting in local fish shortage.''
On cocoa, he said the previous
government was paying 70 per cent of the world market price of the produce to
farmers but now farmers were being paid 46 per cent of the world market price.
''These and many other
shortfalls in the performance of the agriculture sector for two years now do
not match the high profile pronouncements of commitment to making it the
backbone of the economy.
"Any praise of the
government's performance, therefore, cannot include the agriculture
sector", Asiedu-Nketia said. However, when the
GNA interviewed the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Major Courage Quashigah on Monday in
He said there was nothing wrong
with the statistics saying; "it is totally ridiculous for a past Minister
and an MP to give false figures to the people". He said 10,589 tonnes of
maize worth 1.526 million dollars was imported into the country in 2001 and
9,142 tonnes worth 1.308 million dollars came in during the first six months of
2002.
Rice import was 311,513 tonnes
worth 72.456 million dollars in 2001 while 378,311 tonnes worth 85.23 million
dollars was imported in 2002. Major Quashigah said
10,962 tonnes of poultry worth 8.258 million dollars was imported in 2001 while
19,199 tonnes was imported in 2002.
The Minister said fishing net
had been selling at between 25 million cedis and 30 million cedis since last
year and the price was still the same and called on political opponents to
speak the truth and not play "pull him down politics".
Major Quarshigah
said due to hostilities in neighbouring
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
The company is investing about
6.5 million dollars into the factory that is expected to begin operations by
April with an initial workforce of 800. This was disclosed by Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Ashanti Regional
Minister to newsmen after he led a delegation from the company to pay a
courtesy call on President John Agyekum Kufuor at the Castle, Osu. Jan Gaszczyk,
Chief Executive of the Company, said they were motivated to assist in
reactivating the factory that was built with assistance from the Czeck government during the
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
The market index edged up
slightly by 2.33 points, to open Monday trading at 1,463.72 points, up from Friday's
close of 1,461.39 points. SSB Bank closed trading with the highest gain of 30
cedis to end at 4,200 cedis.
Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) and
Mobil Oil Ghana Limited followed with each making 19 cedis to finish at 4,020
cedis and 19,750 cedis, respectively. British American Tobacco (BAT) and
Mechanical Lloyd Company made only one cedi each to end trading at 1,102 cedis
and 274 cedis.
The day's other gainer was
Unilever, which made three cedis to close at 4,876 cedis. Market capitalisation
was 7,009.63 billion cedis from 2,553.75 issued shares. The change for the year
went up to 4.90 per cent from 4.74 per cent.
The following are the last
prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 410
AGC 28,110
ALW 3,500
BAT 1,102 +1
CFAO 67
CPC 626
EIC 4,850
FML 2,001
GBL 520
GCB 4,020 +19
GGL 1,115
HFC 1,205
MGL 254
MLC 274 +1
MOGL 19,750 +19
PAF 750
PBC 390
PZ 2,016
SCB 28,700
SPPC 390
SSB 4,200 +30
SWL 285
TBL 4,900
UNIL 4,876 +3
CMLT 460
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
A source close to the Ministry
of Manpower Development and Employment, who spoke to the GNA, declined to give
details of the proposals. Mrs Cecilia Bannerman, Minister of Manpower
Development and Employment, had promised demonstrating workers of the Tema
District Council of Labour last Wednesday when they presented a petition to her
that the Committee was likely to come out with a new minimum wage last
Thursday.
A previous meeting on the issue
last week ended in deadlock after the stakeholders failed to reach a consensus
on the thorny issues of productivity, the economy and inflation. The TUC is
proposing a 68 per cent increase in the daily minimum wage currently pegged at
7,150 cedis. The government is, however, reported to be offering a 12.5 per
cent increase.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com