Ghana moves up in human development
All-Share Index inches up, but investors stay away
Accra (Greater Accra) 25 July 2002
Currency Buying Selling
US Dollar 7,936.09 8,157.18
Pound Sterling 12,396.17 12,748.04
Swiss Franc 5,407.98 5,558.82
Canadian Dollar 5,014.84 5,154.68
S/African Rand 780.77 799.96
Euro 7,851.64 8,072.98
CFA Franc 11.97 12.31
Naira 67.51 69.39
Ecowas/WAUA 10,724.89
GRi…/
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Accra (Greater Accra) 25 July 2002-Government has established a credit
facility, called the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF) for
exporters to access credit for their businesses. This would include machinery,
raw materials, training and expansion of their businesses to upgrade the
quality of their products and meet international market requirements.
The establishment of the Fund was to address the development of the
export base for non-traditional exports including textiles and apparel, Miss
Julia Rita Anokye, Senior Industrial Promotion Officer of the Ministry of Trade
and Industry announced on Wednesday. Miss Anokye was addressing the opening
ceremony of the Fourth Annual Batik Fair at the Shangri-la Arts Village in
Accra.
The eight-day fair, under the theme: "Excellence And Creativity In
Batik Products" is being organised by the management of Hotel Shangri-la
to expose the tremendous stride in the batik industry as well as contribute to
the development of tourism.
Twenty manufacturers and designers of batik and tie and dye are
participating in the fair with their products ranging from dresses,
handicrafts, sandals and bed sheets, among other things.
Miss Anokye said one of the major problems facing the private sector
was how to access credit or finance, that was why the government had instituted
the EDIF, which was being implemented by 10 local banks so that exporters could
take advantage and come out with quality products that would meet the
requirements of the "ever-growing American market".
She said the benefit under the African Growth and Opportunity Act
(AGOA), which would end in September 2008, had created an opportunity for the
clothing sector, especially batik manufacturers.
"And to enable Ghana take advantage of AGOA, you as designers and
manufacturers need to assess your performance by identifying your shortfalls,
problems to be encountered and ways and means of addressing them.
"You need to address the problems related to dyeing, colour and
standardisation by seeking the approval of the Standards Board before putting
your products on the market."
Ms Frances Sey, Special Events Manager at the Hotel, said the fair was
being organised to create the awareness on the role and importance of the use
of batik in the development of the country's economy and to expose Ghanaian
manufacturers and designers to the highly competitive international markets.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 25 July 2002- Ghana moved up from the position of
133 to 129 in the global human development rankings to become a medium human
development country, this year's Human Development Report issued in Accra said.
Speaking at the launching of the report on Wednesday, Mr Alfred Sallia
Fawundu, United Nations Resident Representative in Ghana, said between 1998 and
2000 Ghana's Human Development Index, (HDI) as calculated in the global report,
rose from a value of 0.473, as a low human development country to 0.556.
He, however, cautioned "this positive development must be put in
perspective by noting that with an HDI value of 0.556, Ghana ranks low in her
new category, where the average HDI is 0.673. It might also be noted that the
average HDI for middle income countries, the category to which Ghana should
aspire, is 0.750."
The report, published by the United Nations Development Programme,
(UNDP) since 1990, looks at per capita income, human resources development and
provision of basic needs such as human freedom and dignity as a measure of
human progress ranking countries accordingly.
This year's report, which is under the theme: "Deepening Democracy
In A Fragmented World" ranked Norway as number one in terms of human
development with Sierra Leone at the bottom of 173 countries.
The 2002 report affirms democracy as an essential tool for meeting the
millennium development goals to which the world under the auspices of the
United
Nations had committed itself.
It presents democratic governance as an essential tool for the
prevention of famine, genocide and for the creation of the conditions necessary
for sustainable human development. Mr Fawundu said Ghana's medium human
development status was a direct result of efforts made over the past decade.
"Significant indicators of those efforts are the country's average
economic growth rate of 4.5 per cent, conduct of public affairs based on the
rule of law as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution, the practice of the
principles of separation of powers as it reflects in the mandates of the
Executive, Parliament and the Judiciary."
Others, he said, included the creation of such autonomous governance
institutions such as Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice,
National Media Commission and Electoral Commission.
Mr Fawundu said there could be no denying that Ghana's impressive stock
of democratic institutions could be more optimally utilized with adequate and
timely flows of resources to those institutions.
He called on the government, Parliament and Electoral Commission to
institute measures to make appropriate budgetary allocation for the next
presidential and parliamentary elections to consolidate democratic governance.
He said it was in this direction that a national governance programme
covering 2002 and 2005 had been formulated with the technical and financial
support of the UNDP. As part of efforts to promote democratic governance and
help the country pursue its human development programme, he said, adding that
the UNDP was assisting Ghana financially in that direction.
Professor Emmanuel Gyimah Boadi, Director of the Centre for Democracy
and Development, giving some highlights of the 2002 development report, said
140 of the world's nearly 200 countries now held multi-party elections.
He said 81 countries have since 1980 taken significant steps towards
democracy, with 33 military regimes being replaced by civilian governments. "Single
party rule and military dictations have been dramatically ended in many
countries"
Prof. Gyimah Boadi said, whereas not more than four out of the
Sub-Saharan Africa countries held multi-party elections in the 1980's, 48
countries have organised such elections since 1990.
He said the report presented ratings for 173 countries in governance,
using fairly comprehensive list of objective indicators such as seats held by
women in Parliament, trade union membership and the ratification of
international conventions on civil and political rights.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 25 July 2002-The market index of the Accra bourse
inched up Wednesday but investors continued to stay away from the market. The
GSE All-Share Index ended at 1,252.79 points, up from 1,251 points on Monday.
Shares that changed hands during trading were 139,900 compared the 40,000
shares on Monday.
Twelve out of the 23 listed equities sold shares with Mechanical Lloyd
selling the highest of 67,800. Patterson Zochonis (PZ) and Produce Buying
Company sold 100 shares each. On the broader market, four equities made gains
and there was no loss.
Unilever gained 21 cedis to close trading at 3,971 cedis, SSB Bank was
up by five cedis at 3,715 cedis while Standard Chartered bank and PZ rose by
one cedi each at 21,802 cedis and 1,801 cedis, respectively.
Market capitalisation closed higher at 4,748.04 billion cedis from
4,746.33 billion cedis on Monday. The following are the last prices of listed
equities in cedis:
ABL 370
AGC 18,800
ALW 4,000
BAT 935
CFAO 65
EIC 4,200
FML 1,625
GBL 900
GCB 3,260
GGL 910
HFC 955
MGL 253
MLC 255
MOGL 19,610
PAF 750
PBC 440
PZ 1,801+1
SCB 21,802+1
SPPC 385
SSB 3,715+5
SWL 285
UNIL 3,971+21
CMLT 455
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