Pay recipients of foreign transfers card cash – Peperah
ABL gives Stock Exchange a breather
Accra (Greater Accra) 24 June 2000
The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Peter Peperah on Friday appealed to the Bank of Ghana to workout modalities for beneficiaries of remittances from foreign countries through local banks to be paid in hard cash instead of cedis.
Mr Peperah said this during a working visit to some shops around Abossey Okai, Kantamanto and the railway station to find out about business activities after the industrial action by Ghana Union Traders' Association (GUTA).
He said the present situation whereby the banks pay recipients of such transfers in cedis instead of foreign currency creates the development of a parallel market that leads to exchange rates soaring. The deputy minister said the rising exchange rate accounts for the high cost of goods.
Members of GUTA in Accra late last month went on a one-week strike in protest against the rapid depreciation of the cedi against major foreign currencies and the introduction of a 20.5 per cent special tax by government on certain imported items.
The association explained that the imposition of the tax was uncalled for because prices of local products that the tax is meant to protect are higher than the imported items.
Mr Peperah, explaining to the traders the rational behind the introduction of the Special Tax, said the government intends to protect local products and to promote the sale of Made-in-Ghana Goods.
"Any time that one patronises foreign goods we are expanding the job market of that country to the detriment of our local industries."
The Traders said their main problem is the fluctuation of the rate of the cedi and appealed to the government to create the enabling environment for small-scale industries to grow.
The traders said between last year and now prices of goods have shoot up by over 60 percent and this has affected their capital with some of them being thrown out of job.
GRi../
Accra (Greater Accra) 24 June 2000
Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) gave the Ghana Stock Exchange something to smile about when a 10-cedi gain by the equity pushed up the All-Share Index by 0.26 points on Friday to reverse several poor trading sessions.
It ended the week at 816.71 points, up from 816.45 points on Wednesday when it lost 0.03 points as a result of a one cedi loss by Unilever Ghana Limited (UNIL). The market index had stood still during a number of trading sessions.
Generally, the market remained dormant due to the absence of institutional investors with offers outstripping bids.
There was only on price change, a gain by ABL that ended trading at 540 cedis, while 18 equities returned negative pressures. There was no pressure on the remaining four.
Only five equities out of 23 actually traded shares, selling a mere 18,300 down from 40,900. There were bids in only six equities with the majority of 100,600 coming from ABL. It, however, traded only 13,500. Market capitalisation went up marginally at 3,564.37 billion cedis from 3,563.87 billion cedis.
The change for the year to date now stands at 10.94 per cent, up from 10.91 per cent. Offers were down marginally at 2.1 million from 2.2 while bids fell from 135,800 to 107,900.
Below are the closing prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 540 +10
AGC 18,600
ALW 2,600
BAT 440
CFAO 38
EIC 1,880
FML 1,200
GBL 1,400
GCB 978
GGL 990
HFC 910
MGL 200
MLC 150
MOGL 17,500
PAF 300
PBC 520
PZ 800
SCB 22,000
SPPC 150
SSB 1,990
UNIL 1,849
UTCE 125
CMLT 422
GRi../