GRi BEF News Ghana 30 - 01 - 2001
Unilever reaffirms confidence in Ghana
Market continues to be sluggish
Ghana Water Company expects shortfall in
2000 revenue
Unilever reaffirms confidence in Ghana
Accra (Greater Accra) 30 January 2001
Unilever is boosting its investment in Ghana by 50 billion cedis this year in a gesture to reaffirm its confidence in the economy, top officials of the company said on Monday.
The company has, in the recent past, sunk 100 billion cedis in its business concerns in the country.
"We are very confident of the future prospects of Ghana and will help in a modest way to build the country," Mr Anton Lenstra, President of Unilever responsible for Africa, Middle East and Turkey said in Accra.
Mr. Lenstra, who was speaking with President John Agyekum Kufuor at the State House when a Unilever delegation met the president, added that there is also political stability.
The six-member delegation included the company's senior vice president, Mr Adriano Regondi and the Chairman of Unilever Ghana, Mr Ishmael Yamson.
With President Kufuor were Vice President Aliu Mahamah, Dr Kofi Apraku, Trade and Industry minister-designate, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Presidential Affairs-designate, Ms Elizabeth Ohene, Minister of Media Relations-designate and Major Courage Quashigah (rtd), Minister of Agriculture-designate.
Mr. Lenstra noted with concern the poor standard of education in the country and urged government to pay special attention to it as it has a rippling effect on the country's manpower base for development.
He cited his company, saying it spends six per cent of its total turnover on manpower training.
Mr. Lenstra also spoke about the high inflation rate, saying it is impeding steady growth of the industrial sector.
He congratulated President Kufuor, his team and Ghanaians for the peaceful conduct of the recent elections and the subsequent smooth transition, which has projected Ghana as a beacon of democracy.
President Kufuor recalled operations of Unilever in Ghana and said it has contributed much to the Ghanaian economy.
"We look on Unilever as a development partner. We can't write our development history without Unilever-related names like UAC."
President Kufuor noted that in the past, Ghana had been bogged down with export of raw commodities. "We should be expanding into manufacturing and adding value to the traditional export commodities."
He repeated his government’s ambition to usher in a golden age in business for the private sector. "My government is a liberal democracy to give concrete meaning to free market economy, rule of law and development of our people."
The President asked Unilever to be the flagship of the government's efforts to develop private business in Ghana by letting others know that Ghana is a right place for investment.
Government itself will be disciplined in adopting policies, he said.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Market continues to be sluggish
Accra (Greater Accra) 30 January 2001
The All-Share Index on Monday gained 0.04 points and market capitalisation moved up as the market continues to be sluggish.
The GSE All-Share Index went up to 857.21 points from 857.17 points but the change for the year was negative 0.09 per cent.
Market capitalisation finished Monday's trading up from 3,653.51 billion cedis to 3,653.59 billion cedis from Friday's trading.
Traded volumes rose significantly from 9,100 to 413,200 shares as a result of a block sale in SSB stocks.
The market remained offer driven as offers bounced back to 1.5 million from 559,600 shares posted at the previous trading.
Demand also increased by more than half from 222,400 to 548,000.
On the broader market, Super Paper Products Company Limited was the only stock that saw a price change. It earned five cedis, 285 cedis in the market that was dominated by negative pressure.
The following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 550
AGC 18,600
ALW 4,672
BAT 400
CFAO 53
EIC 2,885
FML 850
GBL 1,350
GCB 1,520
GGL 900
HFC 952
MGL 200
MLC 135
MOGL 18,700
PAF 255
PBC 490
PZ 400
SCB 21,500
SPPC 285 +5
SSB 2,080
UNIL 1,600
CMLT 425
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Ghana Water Company expects shortfall in
2000 revenue
Accra (Greater Accra) 30 January 2001
The Ghana Water Company’s revenue for last year is expected to drop by an estimated 40 per cent due to the high cost of chemicals for the treatment of water, the Managing Director, Charles Adjei, said on Monday.
Speaking to the GNA in an interview, he blamed the projected shortfall on the steep rise in the value of the dollar, which pushed the 18 billion cedis voted for chemicals to 40 billion cedis.
Total expected revenue is about 80 billion cedis.
He said apart from chemicals, the company spent about 23 billion cedis on energy alone.
"The company's financial situation is, therefore, not in good shape," the Managing Director said.
Mr Adjei added, however, that: "if the cedi stabilises, we hope to make good all that is lost."
According to him, GWC arranged for a 180-day credit facility with the suppliers of chemicals but the credit depreciated as the dollar-to- cedi ratio widened sharply from a little above 3,000 cedis at the beginning of the year to 7,000 cedis by the end of the year.
"We could not increase tariffs to make for the deficit since this is beyond our jurisdiction," Mr Adjei said.
Fixing of tariffs is the sole responsibility of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission.
The Managing Director said the GWC is doing its best to maximise revenue collection.
"However, we are unable to achieve 100 per cent compliance when we have to deal with certain government agencies."
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com