GSE index makes another slight gain
Accra (Greater Accra) 05 June 2001
The 16 members of the Economic Community of West African States owe 70 billion dollars with Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire accounting for over 70 per cent.
A report issued by the African Development Bank (ADB) at the just-ended annual meetings of the bank group in Valencia, Spain, said countries with the highest external debts in relation to their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are Guinea-Bissau (370 per cent); Cote d'Ivoire (150 per cent) and Sierra Leone (140 per cent.)
The report said 12 out of the 16 countries are ranked among the highly indebted poor countries in the world, making their plight more deplorable and recovery prolonged and doubtful.
The report noted that debt servicing, which takes an average of 30 per cent of the export earnings of the 16 countries is three times more than their education budgets.
The only bright spot in the report is the revelation that tourism "seems to be fast becoming a major source of income in several countries."
The report said informal discussions with government and private sector officials from the region painted the picture of a spirited fight to change the tide, though they admit it would take hard and sometimes-unacceptable reform programmes to re-adjust their economies and bring them into positive ratings.
Private sector officials said even though they are ready to go along with the public sector and move the economy forward, "experience on the continent from pre-colonial times sometimes gives us cold feet".
"We are mindful though of the severe poverty and deprivation that our people are in and would want to change this trend," one was quoted as saying.
Ghana, according to the report, topped the fastest tourism destination. The others are Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, The Gambia and Mali.
Projections by Ghana's Ministry of Tourism indicate that the sector may become the biggest foreign exchange earner by 2010.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05 June 2001
The GSE-All Share Index, still under heavy bearish sentiments, finished slightly higher by 0.22 points on Monday.
The main market indicator closed at 895.69 points.Total volumes traded shot up more than three times from 84,400 to close at 270,500, led by Aluworks, which sold 261,400. Four other equities, which made sales, altogether sold a mere 9,100 shares.
The change for the year to date now stands at 4.40 per cent.
Mobil Oil Ghana Limited (MOGL) recorded the only price change. It gained 100 cedis, for the second time running, to close 19,200.
Market capitalisation ended slightly up at 3,715.57 billion cedis compared to 3,715.17 billion cedis at the previous close.
The following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 630
AGC 18,500
ALW 7,100
BAT 550
CFAO 60
EIC 2,890
FML 800
GBL 1,300
GCB 1,600
GGL 900
HFC 952
MGL 240
MLC 130
MOGL 19,200 +100
PAF 325
PBC 450
PZ 640
SCB 21,000
SPPC 301
SSB 2,300
UNIL 1,800
CMLT 425
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