GRi BEF News Ghana
20 - 06 - 2001
Kufuor
stresses need to modernise the banking system
TOR
asked to increase supply of pre-mix fuel
Accra
(Greater Accra) 20 June 2001
President
John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday stressed the need to modernise the country's
banking system with the provision of innovative products and adoption of high professional
standards that give prompt attention to customers.
He said new
technology has transformed banking around the world and Ghana must take
advantage of the new changes and make sure it becomes part of the global
banking village.
"Visitors
to our country should not be put off by archaic banking practices be they
tourists or business people".
President
Kufuor was inaugurating a new 12 member Board of Directors of the Bank of Ghana
(BOG) at the Castle, Osu. They will be in office for three years.
He said the
bedrock of the government's economic policy is a strong and stable currency
operating in an efficient and market-oriented economy that could be sustained
by an efficient banking system in which both business and the people have total
confidence. The BOG has a central role to play to achieve this objective.
President
Kufuor said the general opinion is that the BOG in the past eight years has
failed to discharge this responsibility satisfactorily and this might partly
account for the country's present economic difficulties.
He gave the
assurance that the government is on course to lay the foundation for
re-launching of macro-economic stability and creating a viable and sustainable
environment that would signal to the business community and all Ghanaians that,
"I am serious in my expressed intention to create a Golden Age of
Business.
He said the
banking system holds the key to the realisation of these objectives.
President
Kufuor said to have credibility, the Central Bank needs to assert its
independence and discharge its duties in a professional manner by ensuring that
there is discipline in the financial sector and proper books are kept.
"We
need to know on a daily basis the state of the nation's finances in order that
we can see the warning signals early if things are going wrong. There is no
point in announcing six months or a year or indeed after an administration has
left office that we are overspent."
President
Kufuor said the Central Bank has to work in harmony with the Ministry of
Finance for the government to achieve its aim of creating wealth, but that does
not mean the bank would be absolved from its central responsibility of ensuring
prudent management of the currency and monetary discipline.
Dr Kwabena
Duffuor, Governor of the BOG said the central bank's primary responsibility for
the promotion and maintenance of the stability of the currency is now on course
and it would take measures to sustain the stability, which is necessary for the
redemption of the economy.
He said
with the relative stability experienced so far in the monetary management,
there is the need to improve budgetary performance on a more permanent basis in
order to ease its perennial pressure on money supply as well as release
resources for use by the private sector.
Dr Duffuor
said last year turned out to be a difficult one for monetary management due to
the sharp depreciation of the cedi occasioned by the adverse effect of the
external sector shocks coupled with fiscal slippages impacted adversely on
monetary developments.
He said the
monetary policy this year is therefore aimed primarily at dampening
inflationary pressures in the economy and also to achieve stability in the rate
of depreciation of the cedi.
"To
this end the Central Bank has maintained a tight monetary policy stance relying
on the use of open market operations and repurchase agreements to mop up excess
liquidity in the economy."
Dr Duffuor
said efforts of the bank and government are already yielding results, while
monetary and financial developments have been generally favourable. The
exchange rate markets have shown greater stability with the cedi depreciating
by 2.35 per cent by June 15 compared with a depreciation of 33.04 per cent for
the corresponding period last year.
"Inflation
has also followed a downward trend since April when it fell from 39.5 per cent
to 37.9 per cent in May."
He said the
tight monetary policy being implemented has contributed to reduced pressure on
foreign exchange and it has become clear that Ghanaians have revealed their
preference for the cedi against other currencies, as shown by the gradual
deceleration in the growth of foreign currency deposits at the banks.
The
Governor said foreign currency deposits, which constituted 30.6 per cent of
broad money supply at the end of last year, declined to 28.5 per cent in April
this year and foreign currency deposits have dropped in dollar terms since
February.
'At the
same time there has been a sharp growth in savings and time deposits which
reflects deepening financial intermediation and preference for domestic
assets."
Other
members of the Board are Mrs Grace Coleman, Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr
Emmanuel Asiedu-Mante, First Deputy Governor, Mr Lionel Van Lare Dosoo, Mr Sam
Okudzeto, Mr Kwabena Darko, Mrs Gloria Nikoi, and Professor Fred T. Sai.
The rest
are, Professor Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere, Mr Nick Amarteifio, Professor S.N. Woode
and Mr T.E. Anin.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 20 June 2001
Mr Reginald
Niibi Ayi-Bonte, Chairman of the Pre-Mix Committee, on Tuesday said the Tema
Oil Refinery (TOR) has been asked to increase the annual quantity of pre-mix
fuel by 500,000 gallons to five million gallons as buffer for fishermen for
their increased activities during the bumper season.
He warned
that anyone caught illegally distributing premix fuel would be ruthlessly
dealt. "We will descend on him like a falling building, apply the full
rigours of the law and the person will even go into prison," Mr Ayi-Bonte
said.
He was
speaking at a meeting with the members of the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen
Council in Accra.
He said the
government spends 784 million cedis to subsidise the production of pre-mix fuel
and would not sit down for a group of people to defeat the purpose of such
assistance.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 20 June 2001
Currency Buying Selling
US
Dollar 7,037.45 7,255.45
Pound
Sterling 9,846.80 10,155.45
French
Franc 919.65 947.69
Swiss
Franc 3,948.67 4,068.20
Deutsche
Mark 3,083.58 3,179.24
Canadian
Dollar 4,592.08 4,731.17
Japanese
Yen 57.12 58.87
Dutch
Guilder 2,737.28 2,821.74
S/African
Rand 874.88 900.87
Euro 6,032.47 6,217.37
CFA
Franc 9.20 9.48
Naira 63.12 65.08
ECOWAS/WAUA 8,794.51 ======
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