GRi
Business, Economics & Finance 19 – 06 - 2003
IRS urged to engage
services of private revenue collectors
Inter-bank exchange
rates of the cedi
Ho (Volta Region) 19 June 2003 -
About 256 tonnes of fresh vegetables mainly garden eggs and pepper have been
exported to the United Kingdom (UK) by the Equatorial Capital Ventures Limited
(ECVL), an American investment company at the Peki-Agbateh
farms in the Kpando District since April last year.
Peter Peterson, Acting General
Manager of ECVL told newsmen when he paid a courtesy call on the Volta Regional
Co-ordinating Director (VRCC) Mr Steve Selormey, at
Ho on Wednesday.
He said the Company exported
about four tonnes of fresh vegetables per week to the UK Ethnic markets from
its 20.2 hectares of cropped farmlands out of a total 489 hectares of land.
Peterson said value had been added to the produce from its state-of-the art
packaging (pre-pack) facility including a temperature control, which extended
the shelf life of the vegetables.
He said an old dam at Agbateh had also been rehabilitated to irrigate the crops.
The Acting General Manager intimated that about 150 people were fully employed
and their Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contributions
paid.
He noted that the idea was to arrest the
rural-urban drift of the youth from the area.
Dr Jeffrey Katz, Director of
ECVL pledged that the Company would respect and abide by the laws of the
country hoping that maximum assurance would be displayed towards safeguarding
their investments. He said the success of the venture would "open the
floodgates of good things to come since a group of investors were watching from
a distance".
Selormey reassured the investors that
since capital was scarce in the global market, the government and the VRCC as
well as the people of Peki would protect investors
and "could not let the opportunity slip by." He commended them for
agreeing to invest in the region to help create employment, wealth and boost
the socio-economic situation of the people.
Selormey praised the Peki
Union for their dynamism and support to the project and urged other traditional
unions to emulate their example.
Bernard Duose,
President of the Peki Union, who accompanied the
delegation appealed to the investors to channel their resources through the Peki branch of the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) to boost the
commercial activity, trade and commerce in the town.
He said the Peki
Traditional Council had unanimously approved the project, which superseded any
individual interest and called for the early resolution of the Agbate land case to pave the way for a full-scale
production of vegetables for local consumption and international markets.
Also present at the meeting were
Mamaga Amega Kofi Bra I, Paramount Queen mother of Peki
and Henry Yaw Mallet, General Secretary of Peki
Union.
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The index ended the day at
1,954.67 points in trading that saw 14 out of the 24 listed equities making
sales. Total traded shares jumped up nearly five times to 426,900 shares from
of 91,300 shares. On the broader market, there were seven price changes, all
positive, with five equities making healthy gains.
Enterprise Insurance once again
led the way with a ¢300-gain at ¢5,500 followed by a ¢148 gain by Unilever at
¢7,000. Fan Milk Limited was ¢147 better at ¢2,451, Guinness Ghana Limited rose
by 110 cedis at ¢2,625. Ghana Commercial bank was
better by ¢106 at ¢5,759.
Patterson Zochonis
appreciated by five cedis at 2,050 while Home Finance
Company inched up by ¢1 at ¢2,501. Market capitalisation was better at
¢8,273.62bn from ¢8,229.33bn on Monday.
The following are the last
prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 456
AGC 28,600
ALW 4,000
BAT 1,912
CFAO 72
CPC 630
EIC 5,500 +300
FML 2,451 +147
GBL 552
GCB 5,759 +106
GGL 2,625 +110
HFC 2,501 +1
MGL 268
MLC 465
MOGL 20,002
PAF 750
PBC 380
PZ 2,050 +5
SCB 37,501
SPPC 390
SSB 7,231
SWL 285
TBL 5,300
UNIL 7,000 +148
CMLT 460
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 June
2003 - The Graphic Communications Group (GCG) Limited in collaboration with Nulec Industries, dealers in assorted electrical gadgets on
Wednesday organised a promotional draw for patrons of the two companies under a
¢200m package.
The draw dubbed, "The
Graphic/Nulec Promotion Draw" had over 80,000
entries from patrons all over Ghana with the first winner, Alex Asare of P. O. Box OS 2295 Osu,
winning the first prize of a Nulec Refrigerator.
The second to the 10th winners
won various household appliances ranging from Nulec
gas cooker with oven, blender, juicer and fans with the 11th to the 20th
winners winning packets of Nulec audiocassettes.
Berfi Apenteng,
Managing Director of GCG said the promotion was part of efforts the company was
making over the last few years to maintain its position as the leading
newspaper organisation in the country.
He said the main objective of
the GCG was to be a leader in
Ibrahim Awal,
Manager, Adverts and Promotions, GCG explained that the draw was opened for
entry from 1 to 30 May for patrons to name the largest circulated daily and
weekly newspapers in the country.
Patrons were also asked to name
five products of Nulec. He said the two companies
intended to crave the loyalty of patrons through the draw and was hopeful that,
the aim had been achieved through the response of patrons in the promotion. He
said such a draw would be held twice each year but would team up with Nulec to organise one of the draws yearly.
Neelesh Bhatia, Managing Director of Nulec expressed his appreciation for the patrons'
commitment to the two organisations. He said Nulec
would continue to provide the best services to their Ghanaian customers to
emphasise their operation here for over seven years and over 20 years in
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More of such interventions are
to be extended to many more women in the District since the Women Development
Fund is an on-going programme.
Mrs Gladys Asmah,
the Sector Minister, said this on Wednesday when Mr Seth Dankwa
Wiafe, NPP- Akwapim South,
asked what plans the Ministry had for poverty reduction in the District.
The Minister said in March 2002,
¢20m was disbursed to 40 women farmers through the Akwapim
South Rural Bank and in October 2002, another ¢50m was also disbursed to two
groups of 50 women as working capital to process cassava into gari.
Four women groups were given
¢199m in January 2003 to enhance their trading business and another ¢100m was
disbursed to women farmers in the District in April.
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Speaking to the Ghana News
Agency Business Desk, Nana Kofi Asamoah,
Media Coordinator of Koala Shopping Centre, main initiators of the concept,
said some of the 20 organisations hooked on the card were Koala Shopping
Centre, KLM, Standard Chartered Bank and La Palm Royal Beach Hotel.
The others were Busua Beach Hotel, Elmina Hotel,
Pill Box Pharmacy, IKEA/Mobilia, Riya
Bookstore and Office Max. The rest were Imperial Peking Restaurant at Granada
Hotel, located at Airport, Tandoor Indian Restaurant,
Blockbuster, Baby Depot, Cuware, Afro, Medipoint, Swatch/Accessorize and Aigner.
Nana Asamoah
said the card, exclusively designed with bar-coded serial numbers, is offered
free of charge when one shops at Koala. It enjoins each partner organisation to
make available certain facilities either at a discount, or by the flash of the
card one could access privileged facilities such as VIP treatment.
Nana Asamoah
said the card was a novelty in the Ghanaian business arena. It is a facilitator
of business as one could access goods and services without having to carry
large sums of money.
He said the cards were on
distribution in all the partner organisations. Upon presentation of the card at
Koala, Osu, a card bearer
automatically enjoys a three per cent discount on whatever purchase is made.
Another aspect of the card, he said, was that it was shuffled for a draw at
Koala every two weeks using the serial numbers of respective card bearers upon
which winners of the draw are refunded in cash on all shopping expenditures
done within that period of the draw.
Nana Asamoah
described the card as a "fantastic offer", and said it would continue
till the expiry date on the card. "This in effect means that by being a
member of this exclusive club one stands the chance of recouping money spent on
shopping at the Centre on every fortnight," he said.
He cited for instance that, with
the KSCC one automatically had a free access to StanChart's
Excel banking facility, while one can access a 15 per cent discount on economy
class KLM air ticket and 19 per cent discount on Business class ticket from the
same airline.
The card guarantees a 25 per
cent discount on pools and rooms at the
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 June
2003 - Six experts in economic management from different universities and
organizations in the United States on Wednesday held talks with various sector
ministers separately to discuss ways of finding solutions to Ghana's economic
problems.
The bottom line of the meetings is
to help the country fine-tune policies and strategies with the aim of achieving
the $1,000 per capita income within a decade.
Dr Paa
Kwesi Ndoum, Energy
Minister, at his turn of the meeting with the experts led by Prof Jeffrey
Sachs, a special advisor to the United Nations Secretary General, said Ghana's
current per capita income of around $300 was unusual.
He told the team that the nation knew all of
its problems "but we do not seem to have found answers to them".
Touching specifically on the
Energy Sector, Dr Ndoum said no country had been able
to break out of the poverty cycle without developing its energy sector.
The Minister expressed the hope
that both parties at the meeting would come out with an initiative that would
help achieve the nation's objectives.
Prof. Sachs observed that there
was a dramatic move in
Prof Sachs said the team was yet
to consider the many areas of thermal, hydro and renewable energy resources
available to advise on the best options. He criticized the use of firewood,
which, he said, was not sustainable and was unhealthy for the environment.
Another area Prof Sachs touched
on was funding. He said this was usually not forthcoming but promised to help
source funds after both parties had determined the best option of energy supply
in
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IRS urged to
engage services of private revenue collectors
Appiah was addressing a business forum
organised by the 'Nso Nyame
Ye Kuo' at Atonsu in
''It is a fact that with its limited
personnel the IRS is unable to reach out to all taxable institutions and
individuals to collect taxes and this puts stress on few salaried workers and
enterprises while the majority are left off the hook", he said.
Appiah also suggested to the IRS not
to limit themselves to the use of only the television, radio and posters as a
means of educating people on the need to pay their taxes. IRS should adopt
house-to-house campaign and inter-personal contacts as some of the means of
educating people on the need to pay tax.
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Inter-bank
exchange rates of the cedi
Currency Buying Selling
U.S. Dollar 8,591.00 8,755.82
Pound
Swiss Franc 6,557.61 6,678.44
Canadian Dollar 6,397.59 6,517.36
Danish Kroner 1,361.59 1,387.26
Japanese Yen 72.63 74.00
South African
Euro 10,106.88 10,300.96
CFA Franc 15.41 15.70
Naira 68.14 69.45
ECOWAS WAUA 12,213.96
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