GRi
Business, Economics & Finance 25 – 06 – 2003
Bosomtwe
Rural bank declares profit
Rural banks warned against
using deposits of customers
Parliament adopts
report on $87.96m loan
Govt can reject
World Bank conditions - Official
Bosomtwe Rural bank declares profit
The Rev Simon Atta, chairman of the Bank's Board of Directors, said this
at the 13th Annual General Meeting of the bank's shareholders at Kuntanase in
He said there was also an
appreciable increase in its investment as it went up from 6.3 billion cedis in 2001 to 8.7 billion cedis
in 2002. The board chairman told the shareholders that an area where the bank
made significant progress was the granting of loans and overdrafts to its
customers.
He said loans and overdrafts to
customers during the period stood at 5.76 billion cedis,
showing an increase of 203.1 percent over that of 2001. Those who benefited
were in the agriculture and cottage industries, trading and transport as well
as micro credit and other sectors.
The Rev Atta
said the bank also supported development projects and provided 17.6 million cedis as scholarship to four students of second cycle
institutions.
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Rural banks
warned against using deposits of customers
Kuntanase (Ashanti Region)
They should also seek the
Central Bank's approval before embarking on any capital project. S.T. Essel, a Deputy Manager at the BOG said this when he
addressed the 13th Annual General Meeting of the Shareholders of the Bosomtwe Rural Bank at Kuntanase
in
He expressed concern about some
rural banks undertaking capital expenditures, opening agencies without approval
and granting loans to non-existing customers. Essel
attributed the weak internal control of some of the banks that lead to fraud by
the staff as well as late or non-submission of prudential returns.
He said the BOG was determined
to enforce rules and regulations aimed at instilling sanity into the operations
of the rural banks and would not hesitate to apply sanctions.
Essel said the BOG had developed a
database of fraudulent bank staff and directors and that this is regularly
updated to prevent those fraudsters from being employed again into the system.
The Deputy Manager called on
rural and community banks to support the Rural Financial Services Project
(RFSP) that is focussed on the development of strong rural and micro financial
institutions.
''The project is aimed at
broadening and deepening financial intermediation in rural areas through
effective linkages between the formal rural and micro financial institutions
and informal entities operating in rural areas", he said.
Bright Addai
Munumkum, Bosomtwe-Atwima-Kwanwoma
District Chief Executive (DCE), in an address read for him, commended the
management of the rural bank for its efficiency and advised that it should
extend more credit facilities to people in the District.
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According to the Timber Industry
Development Division Newsletter released in
The publication said
corresponding figures for January to May this year were 182,432 cubic metres,
at a value of 68,745,967 Euros representing a slump of 6.87 per cent in volume
and 14.19 per cent in value of wood products exported.
J. P. Peprah,
Executive Director of the division attributed the drop in volume of forest
exports to "the scarcity of wood raw materials." He said if the
situation should be remedied, "then we have to accelerate the rate at
which we replant our forests," adding that partners including NGOs should
be encouraged to assist in reforestation programmes.
The Newsletter mentioned leading
wood products in the export business as Kiln-dried lumber and Air-dried lumber
and leading wood species involved as Wawa, Ceiba and Asanfina.
Major consumers of the country's
wood products included
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Parliament
adopts report on $87.96m loan
The loan, which was being
contracted by government from the International Development Association (IDA),
is a development financing agreement to finance specifically the Poverty
Reduction Support Financing (PRSF).
Eugene Atta
Agyepong, Chairman, Finance Committee, said the loan
would finance the second phase of the budget through ensuring macro-economic
stability and increasing production and gainful employment.
"It would facilitate direct
support for human resource development and basic services and expand special
programmes to support vulnerable groups.
He said the foreign exchange to
be received would be used by the Bank of Ghana to finance legitimate foreign
expenditure and also to shore up the country's foreign exchange reserves.
The Bank of Ghana shall credit
the consolidated Fund with the cedi equivalent of the facility that shall then
be used to finance the local expenditure arising out of the budget. He said it
was a one time loan that would be debited to the consolidated Fund by
The principal would be repaid in
semi annual instalments, commencing October 2013 and ending 2023. In another
development, the House adopted a report on a loan agreement for $14.7m for the
financing of the supply of educational equipment to the University of
Development Studies (UDS) and Ten Regional Polytechnics.
The Polytechnics are situated at
Sunyani,
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Govt can
reject World Bank conditions - Official
Ho (Volta Region) 25 June 2003 - The government has the right to reject conditions of the World Bank, which have negative impact on the people, Madam Patience Mensah, an Agricultural Economist at the World Bank, Ghana Office said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a forum organised by
the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) at a civil society consultation forum
in Ho, Madam Mensah said, "You don't have to
accept if you realise that it would not work".
She said the forum had been a
change from the past where discussions were held between the Bank and
government officials only. "Today we want to change by coming to listen to
the people to keep the Bank pushing," she added. She said the World Bank
provided money and advice for its use based on the government's priority.
Emmanuel Fordjour,
Policy Analyst Division of the Ministry of Finance (MOF), said the government had
five priority areas of the economy to avoid projects being abandoned.
He said the areas were ensuring
micro-economic stability, production, employment and infrastructure
development, human resource development and special policies to protect the
vulnerable and good governance.
Kofi Tenasu
Gbedemah, Executive Director for Communications and
Radio Network, a Ho based NGO, said there was the need for change of attitude
towards work saying, "hard work does not kill but enriches you".
Stephen Awunyo-Akaba,
a participant expressed concern about the use of project funds approved by the
World Bank for the purchase vehicles "to run in the cities".
He noted that funds such as the
Village Infrastructure Project (VIP) did not benefit rural people who were engaged
on projects. During discussions the participants who were drawn from the
Eastern and
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A release issued and signed by Kassim Yahya, Head of Public
Affairs Unit, said there would, therefore, be a "consequential
right-sizing of the Bank and the disengagement of staff".
"The approach to the
right-sizing exercise is initially to make an attractive offer of a voluntary
disengagement to all employees who wish to take advantage of the
facility."
The release said the
transformation programme under the theme, "Re-shape the future",
would enhance efficiency and effectiveness in the operations of the Bank.
It said the disengagement of
staff would be done in "a humane manner" adding, "The Bank is
offering a generous and attractive early retirement package for staff that may
wish to retire voluntarily."
The release said various
transitional support and advisory services such as advice on funds management
and investments and training would be provided for those whose applications
would be accepted.
The Bank would ensure that the transformation
was achieved with minimum interruption to its business and impact on staff, the
release said.
"The recently-enacted The
Bank of Ghana Act: 2002, Act 612 seeks to make the Central Bank more attuned to
the current and changing business environment and more capable and adept in
dealing with the requirements of the national economy in a global economic
system.
"The Act requires the Bank
to focus on the performance of its core functions of pursuing monetary and
financial policies to ensure price and financial stability supportive of
economic growth and the efficiency of the payments system." The release
said the bank is in consultation with all appropriate agencies and bodies to
ensure the success of the process.
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Currency Buying Selling
U.S. Dollar 8,591.00 8,756.45
Pound
Swiss Franc 6,480.02 6,603.22
Canadian Dollar 6,330.73 6,451.17
Danish Kroner 1,337.03 1,362.81
Japanese Yen 72.95 74.33
South African
Euro 9,924.26 10,112.12
CFA Franc 15.13 15.42
Naira 68.14 69.45
ECOWAS WAUA 12,214.40
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