Stock Exchange continues slow progress
Accra (Greater Accra) 29 Jan. 2000
Home Finance Company (HFC) Limited on Friday said though it has no say on the prices of houses it finances, it still believes the company can provide affordable homes for the low-to-middle income group as well as the high income earners.
This, the Company said, could be done through the adoption of the company's Graduated Payment Method (GPM) that allows the low income group to buy a house after paying the initial 20 per cent of the total cost of the house as deposit.
Mrs Mary Asare-Yeboah, Controller, Cedi Mortgage Loans Manager, said this at a one-day seminar for members of the Institute of Financial and Economic Journalists (IFEJ) in Accra.
She said the GPM requires the borrower to pay off the loan beginning with the first loan repayment.
It allows the borrower to pay lower monthly loan instalment at the initial stages but this is increased until the loan is repaid.
HFC has developed certain factors to determine the loan amount an applicant will qualify for, based on a disposal monthly net income and age of the applicant.
Disposal income refers to gross salary less social security fund contribution, income tax and any medium to-long-term loans contracted elsewhere.
HFC requires that 30 per cent of this disposal income will be used to service the loan.
Mrs Asare-Yeboah said generally, borrowers on the GPM have growing balances.
"The reason for this lies in the low instalment amounts that HFC allows at the initial stages of loan repayment."
She denied that prospective and current homeowners under this scheme never ever finish paying.
Mrs Asare-Yeboah said HFC is aware that disposal incomes of individuals appreciate over time and upward adjustments are made annually to various levels of repayments.
"Available data indicate about 645 out of a total mortgage portfolio of 3,200 have been fully paid back," Mrs Asare-Yeboah said.
She said if a borrower keeps servicing the loan on a regular basis, and in accordance with HFC advice, the loan balance is usually much lower than the re-valued property.
GRi./
Stock Exchange continues slow progress
Accra (Greater Accra) 29 Jan. 2000
The All-Share Index of the Ghana Stock Exchange on Friday gained 1.24 points on the strength of heavy gains in the share price of Mobil Ghana Limited (MOGL).
It gained 500 cedis.
The gain in the All-Share Index, the highest so far this year, pushed the change in the year to date to 0.74 per cent from 0.57 per cent as the market index increased from 740.36 points to 741.60 points.
This is the second time in a week that MOGL has recorded heavy gains.
MOGL, the third highest priced equity, made 100 cedis during mid-week trading.
The company, however, sold only 1,200 shares out of the 93,200 shares traded for the day. Supper Paper Products Company (SPPC) sold 72,200 shares while Unilever Ghana Limited (UNIL) sold 13,500 shares.
Total shares traded on Wednesday were 153,600.
Offers stood at 497,350, down from 558,090 shares offered at the previous trading session while bids also went down from 164,050 to 121,300 shares.
Market capitalisation closed trading higher at 3,213.99 billion cedis compared to 3,212.04 billion cedis recorded on Wednesday.
In the broader market there were two price changes - one up and one down.
MOGL gained 500 cedis at 14,500 cedis while British-American Tobacco Company (BAT) lost a cedi to close the week at 466 cedis.
The following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 470
AGC 18,700
ALW 2,489
BAT 466 -1CFAO 38
EIC 1,880
FML 930
GBL 1,450
GCB 770
GGL 951
HFC 750
MGL 200
MLC 150
MOGL 14,500 +500
PAF 295
PZ 800
SCB 19,200
SPPC 150
SSB 1,988
UNIL 1,850
UTC-E 125
CMLT 420
GRi../