Discussions on fuel price hike commences
Government will not increase VAT
--Apraku
Accra bourse index slips again
Discussions on fuel price hike commences
Accra (Greater Accra) 18 January 2001
High level discussions are going on between senior officials of the Ministry of Mines and Energy and government advisers to come up with an appropriate price level for petroleum products.
Sources close to the meeting told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that a proposal on the issue would be presented to President John Kufuor by Friday.
The meeting is also looking at other petroleum tax options to make up for loses incurred in the last 12 months and beyond.
"All I can tell you is that there will be price increases but they will not come at a go," the source said.
The source declined to state the percentage increase, saying the option will be left for the President to decide. "I do not want to pre-empt the President."
"We are going to give the President options to choose from. There are a lot of factors involved. First, you have to look at what inputs to make so that you can recover your costs. You also understand that petroleum prices have inflationary pressures on the economy hence you have to give the President the options first on how to recover the costs."
A gallon of petrol is currently sold at 6,400 cedis.
A similar meeting is taking place at the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) over the same issue.
The petroleum price hike, according to industry analysts, is long overdue saying it has caused TOR the loss of about three trillion cedis.
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Government will not increase VAT
--Apraku
Accra (Greater Accra) 18 January 2001
Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, Minister- designate of Trade and Industries said on Wednesday that the government will not bow to pressures to increase the Value Added Tax (VAT) rate.
"We will not succumb to any World Bank conditionalities if they are not favourable to the economy of the country," he said.
Speaking to the GNA, Dr Apraku said the government is not prepared to negotiate an increase in the VAT even if the World Bank suggested it.
"Increasing VAT is not in our programme, it is not in the works at all. We cannot at this stage be thinking of increasing VAT. It is not the thinking of the government".
The Minister-designate said people have rather been calling for reduction in VAT and it would not be appropriate to increase it.
On the call by the business community for the reduction of taxes on imported goods, Dr Apraku said it is premature to promise a reduction even though the objective of the NPP government is to advance the interest of private enterprise.
He stressed the need to do an in-depth analysis of the present tax system before any pronouncement could be made on it.
The government, he said, would have to look at the state of the nation's finances and the impact of taxes on its activities in the over all interest of the people.
He said if a reduction of taxes would move the economy forward and make the business community do better than they had done in the past, then it would be considered.
"We have to get into office first because we cannot be discussing or taking action when we are behind the door," he said.
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Accra bourse index slips again
Accra (Greater Accra) 18 January 2001
The GSE-All share index, the key stock gauge of the Accra bourse, slipped for the second time in as many trading sessions, losing 2.19 points at mid-week trading on Wednesday despite a 150-cedi gain by Aluworks.
The index closed lower at 859.79 points from 861.98 points, pushed down by a 13-cedi loss by Produce Buying Company (PBC), the fourth most capitalised equity on the bourse.
Generally, the market was dull with offers exceeding demand by large margins. Traded volumes were up marginally at 8,100 compared to 4,200 shares on Monday, indicating lack of confidence of investors.
Offers slipped at 724,310 shares from 743,920 shares and bids ended up at 29,900 shares from 8,600 at the previous session.
Market capitalisation plunged to 3,658.47 billion as against 3,662.62 billion cedis on Monday.
In the broader market there were two price changes - one positive and the other negative.
Aluworks gained 150 cedis to close at 4,650 cedis. PBC on the other hand lost 13 cedis at 490 cedis.
The following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 620
AGC 18,600
ALW 4,650 +150
BAT 400
CFAO 53
EIC 2,870
FML 850
GBL 1,350
GCB 1,520
GGL 900
HFC 952
MGL 200
MLC 135
MOGL 18,600
PAF 260
PBC 490 -13
PZ 400
SCB 21,500
SPPC 270
SSB 2,080
UNIL 1,600
CMLT 425
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