World Bank approves $125m for Poverty Reduction Strategy
Government urged to increase role in Private Sector
GWCL to implement automated meter reading tech
Cape Coast (Central Region) 26 June 26, 2003 - The re-introduction of
the quarterly payment of tax through the purchase of stickers by vehicle owners
would increase revenue from the transport sector, Eben Osabutey, Assistant
Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in charge of Central Region,
said on Wednesday.
He said the system, which comes into effect from 1 July 2003 would
replace the weekly tax collection by the various transport unions that had been
found to be ineffective.
Osabutey said at the lunch of the system in the Central Region in Cape
Coast, attended by executives of the Ghana Road Transport Co-ordinating Council
(GRTCC), Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Progressive Transport
Owners Association (PROTOA) and other transport unions.
He said there were fraudulent deals, embezzlements and other
malpractice in the collection by the unions resulting in poor revenue for the
government, adding that, out of the ¢28bn expected from the sector in 2002,
only ¢9bn was collected.
Osabutey said under the new system, the stickers, which would be for
three months would be displayed on the windscreens of commercial vehicles. "Defaulting
taxpayer would be fined between ¢500,000 and ¢1m or go to prison for two to
three months", saying, the sticker system would be enforced by the police.
He said the rates had been reduced in view of the high cost of
maintenance and repairs. Taxis and "trotro" with up to 19 seats would
now pay ¢48,000 instead of ¢60,000 a quarter.
Trotro of between 20-34 seats would now pay ¢72,000 instead of ¢90,000,
Mini Buses other than trotro (commuter), ¢57,000 instead of ¢71, 000 and long
distance passenger vehicles, ¢104,000 instead of ¢129,735.
Osabutey said that the rates were arrived at in close collaboration
with executives of the governing council of the transport unions in
consultation with their members.
The IRS would locate monitoring kiosks in lorry parks to facilitate
collection and to reduce revenue loss through tax evasion and corruption. The
Deputy Regional Co-ordinating Director, Ben Asamani, appealed to vehicles
owners to cooperate with IRS officials to ensure the success of the system to
generate enough revenue for the government to finance development projects.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 26 June 26, 2003 - The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE)
maintained its rise on Wednesday with the GSE All-Share Index gaining 10.01
points to end active trading at 2,024.17 points.
Total shares traded rose to 267,600 with 19 of the 24 listed equities
making sales. Change for the year was higher at 45.07 per cent from 44.35 per
cent.
On the broader market, there were seven price changes, all positive.
The Trust Bank of the Gambia jumped by ¢300 at ¢5,600, Guinness Ghana Limited
(GGL) gained ¢100 at 2,826 cedis, Ghana Commercial Bank was 20 cedis better at
6,080 cedis and Fan Milk Ghana Limited gained seven cedis at ¢2,507.
Patterson Zochonis appreciated by ¢1 at ¢2,058, SSB Bank gained ¢1 at
¢7,251 and Unilever also inched up by ¢1 at ¢7,202.
Market capitalisation was bettered at ¢8,442.65bn from ¢8,417.41bn on
Monday.
The following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 456
AGC 28,600
ALW 4,000
BAT 1,913
CFAO 72
CPC 630
EIC 6,000
FML 2,607 +7
GBL 552
GCB 6,080 +20
GGL 2,826 +100
HFC 2,600
MGL 268
MLC 466
MOGL 21,000
PAF 750
PBC 400
PZ 2,056 +1
SCB 40,000
SPPC 390
SSB 7,251 +1
SWL 285
TBL 5,600 +300
UNIL 7,202 +1
CMLT 460
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Accra (Greater Accra) 26 June 26, 2003 - The British Government is to
make available ¢1.6trillion (110 million pounds) in grant to Ghana over the
next three years within the framework of the Multi Donor Budget Support (MDBS).
An agreement sealing the deal was signed in Accra on Wednesday between
Finance Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo and the British High Commissioner, Dr Rod
Pullen on behalf of their respective governments.
The signing also saw the release of the first tranche of ¢216bn (15
million pounds) to Ghana. A further disbursement of an additional 10 million
pounds is expected later in the year after the conclusion of the joint progress
review currently taking place.
It is the first of such agreements to be signed since Ghana reached an
understanding with her development partners for support under the MDBS.
The MDBS is a framework of budget support agreed with a number of
development partners that harmonises, reporting, review disbursement mechanisms
and policy actions necessary to trigger the release of the funds. Money
provided under the MDBS provides the government the flexibility and the
responsibility to allocate funding for its own priorities.
Osafo-Maafo said the system was to chart a new course to ensure the
predictability of external inflows and reduce the transaction costs to
government in dealing with donors. He said the signing of the agreement was a
positive signal since it constituted the first disbursement to be made under
the programme reached with the country's development partners.
Osafo-Maafo said the amount provided would be used to pursue the growth
agenda of the government within the framework of the Ghana Poverty Reduction
Strategy. Dr Pullen said the agreement was a mark of confidence in Ghana's
determinations to implement the Poverty Reduction Strategy.
He expressed the hope that the assistance would be spent in the best
way that would benefit the country and makes a real difference to poor people's
lives. Meanwhile, Britain is providing a further 200,000 pounds to monitor the
disbursement the funds through the Ghana government's treasury.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 26 June 2003 - The World Bank has approved $125m
loan towards the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS), President John Kufuor
announced on Wednesday.
President Kufuor announced this when the out-going German Ambassador,
Dr Gharald Loeschner paid a farewell call on him at the Castle, Osu. Dr
Loeschner is leaving Ghana after a two-year duty tour. President Kufuor
commended the German government for its tremendous role in Ghana's debt
servicing efforts and poverty reduction strategies.
He said: "Germany in appreciation of government's policies on
poverty reduction was one of the five countries that voted for the approval of
the ¢125m loan by the World Bank to Ghana that was communicated to government
this week".
President Kufuor said Ghana and German had many things in the pipeline
to strengthen their relationships and appealed to Dr Loeschner to continue to
be an advocate for Ghana. Dr Loeschner commended President Kufuor for his role
in maintaining peace and stability within the West African Sub-Region.
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Government urged to reduce duty on vehicles
Techiman (Brong Ahafo) 26 June 2003 - Yaw Adamu-Acheampong, Chairman of
the Techiman District branch of the Young Elephants Movement, has appealed to
the government to review duty on vehicles.
He said the high duty had made it an unattractive to import vehicles
through the counties harbours, adding that, many people now had preferred to
use other ports in the sub-region.
Adamu-Acheampong speaking to the GNA said the government was losing
substantial revenue for development.
"Some importers have adopted a system whereby they only use Tema harbour
as a transit point for imported vehicles to sell them in other countries".
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Accra (Greater Accra) 26 June 26, 2003 - A workshop to launch a
Medium-Term National Private Sector Development Strategy opened in Accra on
Wednesday with a call on government to increase its role in making the Sector
competitive.
"Government has a huge role to play in the private sector not only
as a facilitator but also to ensure that regulations are in place that would
make the Private Sector take centre stage and move the national economy
forward."
Joseph Henry Mensah, Senior Minister, who made the point, noted that
government needed to, and would back the private sector all the way.
"Hence the decision to develop a medium to long term strategy that would
address the current situation."
He said some people had argued that government had no role in engaging
in business, "but the foregoing shows that government must and should be
involved somehow. Government's role to me is to work to bring stability into
the Sector."
Kwamena Bartels, Minister of Private Sector Development, said it was
time to look beyond the short term planning and development of the Sector,
adding that with the support of all, Ghana could make it.
Bartels said the development of any nation depended on the active
participation of the Private Sector, "and they must be helped to get the
nation to that level".
He said the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) proposed changes
needed to create an enabling environment for an effective Private Sector led
growth.
"The proposed policy measures are in the area of macroeconomic
stability; creation of new institutions and restructuring of existing ones as
well as the reforming of the legal regime to make them more responsive to the
needs of the Private Sector..."
Bartels said the Ministry would explore linkages and synergies between
sectors for a greater impact on the growth-enhancing and poverty-reduction
measures proposed in the GPRS.
He explained that the GPRS proposed the development of partnership
between public and private sectors through the outsourcing of some of the
management of public facilities to private sector operators and the provision
of public services by the private sector with shared responsibilities and
interests.
The Minister said government believed in the need to build a shared
understanding and appropriate remedial polices. "The first step is to
build consensus on the strategic assumptions that would drive policy-making in
the corporate sector and put Ghana on a high growth path."
He said the challenge facing the nation was how to come up with a
credible Private Sector-led growth strategy that involved all, including the
Sector itself.
Later in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) Business Desk,
Kwesi Adu Amankwaa, TUC Secretary General, said government had a role to play
in the Private Sector, especially in taking up huge investments in ventures
that the Sector on its own could not shoulder.
"Government should also provide regulations that would ensure that
funds are not dissipated by people entrusted with public funds."
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GWCL to implement automated meter reading tech
Accra (Greater Accra) 26 June 26, 2003 - The Ghana Water Company Limited
(GWCL) is consulting with other international service providers to explore and
adopt an automatic meter reading technology that would help it run a more
efficient system.
The technology, dubbed "Project Kingfisher", currently being
implemented in the country on pilot basis at areas around the Ministries and
the Castle.
The system is being carried out in collaboration with Advanced
Technology RAMAR Limited, a UK leading provider of automatic meter reading and
Ericsson, a Swedish phone manufacturers.
The introduction of the technology is one the company's attempts to
minimise its commercial and operational problems, Mr Mike Gough the Commercial
Director of RAMAR said on Wednesday.
Explaining the technology to the press and stakeholders in Accra, he said
his company was approached in 2001 to help the GWCL address the inadequacies in
water provision.
He said the losses resulting from such inadequacies over the years,
added up to over 50 percent unaccounted water bills together with an 80 percent
revenue collection ratio giving an overall efficiency of 40 percent.
This situation, he said, necessitated the introduction of the project, which focussed on the deployment of zonal and customer water meters that are fitted with radio transceiver devices.
The devices he said, would enable on-demand meter readings to be taken
from a central site or across a local and wide area network, which would
provide information into a standard database from where it could be accessed by
user application software.
From a central host computer, consumer meter flows could be read and
summated for comparison with the inflow through the related zonal meter and
through that arrangement, the system assist in isolating faults leading to
early detection of leakage.
Gough said a system had been proposed for the project in order that the
necessary expertise could be gradually built within GWCL before embarking upon
a full-scale nation-wide rollout of approximately 250,000 zonal and consumer
meters.
He said the first phase would cover the North Western part of Accra
with installation of 11,000 meters while the second, third and fourth phases
would cover Ashanti, Western and the other regions respectively.
Peter Korsinah Management Information System Manager of GWCL said
findings after the meeting would be presented to the Board of GWCL for the
necessary funding to be sought for its implementation.
He expressed the hope that the project would help the company to
provide an efficient billing system among other things.
GRi…/
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