INDUTECH generates 574 million cedis gate proceeds
Rural Banks mobilise 205 billion cedis
Main stock index
inches up in poor trade
Accra (Greater Accra) 13 March
2001
The Ghana Stock Exchange All-Share
Index, the main market index, inched up in poor trading on Monday as bearish
sentiments continued to dominate the bourse.
The index gained 0.67 points at
893.32 points as mining giant, Ashanti Goldfields Company, lost 100 cedis.
Only 8,000 shares changed hands
compared with 19,700 on Friday as investors continued to turn their back to the
bourse.
Offers were also weak at 201,100,
barely stable compared with 193,340 shares on Friday while buds were higher at 111,700
compared with 69,200 last Friday.
Only six out of the 22 listed
equities sold shares, with the highest being 4,300 by Ghana Commercial Bank.
Market capitalisation was down at 3,711.09 billion cedis from 3,720.73 billion
cedis.
On the broader market, there were
two price changes, one up one down. AGC lost 100 cedis at 18,500 cedis and
Ghana Commercial Bank gained 10 cedis at 1,610 cedis.
The following are the last prices
of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 630
AGC 18,500 -100
ALW 7,000
BAT 380
CFAO 57
EIC 2,895
FML 900
GBL 1,350
GCB 1,610 +10
GGL 875
HFC 952
MGL 210
MLC 140
MOGL 18,700
PAF 240
PBC 475
PZ 620
SCB 21,700
SPPC 296
SSB 2,300
UNIL 1,598
CMLT 425
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Accra (Greater Accra) 13 March 2001
The Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB), on Tuesday announced the following average inter bank exchange rates of the cedi equivalent to the dollar and derived rates for other major foreign currencies:
Currency Buying Selling
US Dollar 6,953.36 7,169.73
Pound Sterling 10,178.33 10,498.64
French Franc 983.19 1,013.10
Swiss Franc 4,193.10 4,320.78
Deutsche Mark 3,296.30 3,398.94
Canadian Dollar 4,482.27 4,617.22
Japanese Yen 57.87 59.65
Dutch Guilder 2,926.49 3,015.64
S/African Rand 889.33 915.90
Euro 6,450.55 6,646.81
CFA Franc 9.83 10.13
Naira 63.71 65.69
Ecowas/WAUA 9,004.42 --------
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Accra (Greater Accra) 13 March
2001
Mr. Samuel K. Boakye, Exhibition
Director of the just-ended Fifth Ghana Industrial and Technology Exhibition
(INDUTECH '2001), said on Monday that gate proceeds at the fair fetched about
574 million cedis.
He told newsmen after the fair
that 140,000 out of 200,000 tickets printed for adults at 4,000 cedis each were
sold while only 70,000 out of the 200,000 tickets printed for children at 2,000
cedis each were sold.
"Proceeds from the adults
tickets therefore amounted to 560 million cedis while that from the children's
tickets summed up to 14 million cedis."
Mr. Boakye said he was correcting
the erroneous impression created by Mr. Theodore K. Gyau, Chairman of the
National Planning Committee (NPC) of the fair, in his closing address earlier
that a total 220,000 adults and 250,000 children visited the fair.
Mr. Gyau had announced that gate
proceeds yielded a total of 1.38 billion cedis, comprising 880 million cedis
from adults' tickets and 500 million cedis from children's tickets.
He said the organisers had no
problem with the ticket sellers as regards leakage of revenue as some media
reports suggested, adding that the only situation of revenue leakage was as a
result of illegal entry mostly on March 6.
"I wish to place on record
that we have not had any problem whatsoever with the ladies selling the tickets
and the boys destroying the spent tickets. Our major problem has been with
people entering the fair through dangerous gutters or jumping over the fence
wall."
Mr. Gyau said there had been a
popular request that INDUTECH be organised on a two-yearly basis instead of the
four-yearly basis, adding that the AGI council would consider it.
The organisers presented a total
of 11 awards to exhibitors, sponsors and individuals who distinguished
themselves during the fair.
GRi…/
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Rural Banks mobilise 205 billion cedis
Accra (Greater Accra) 13 March 2001
The 114 rural and community banks mobilised a total of 205 billion cedis last year out of which 85 billion cedis was advanced as loans to customers and the rest invested in treasury bills and other government securities.
Mr Eric Osei-Bonsu, Managing Director of the Association of Rural Banks (ARB), said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at the Ghana Industrial and Technology Exhibition, dubbed INDUTECH '2001.
He said through training and new effective monitoring measures put in place by the ARB, its collaborators and the Bank of Ghana (BOG), rural and community banks have gained increased public confidence through quality and reliable service in the past few years.
"Before 1994, when we began serious training of rural and community bank staff, only 23 banks were regarded as satisfactory by BOG standards," he said. "Currently, over 80 out of the 114 banks are satisfactory."
Mr. Osei-Bonsu lauded the government's directive to all Districts Assemblies to save with the rural banks, saying that the ARB is taking steps to ensure that the rural banks take advantage of the directive to play their revenue mobilisation and development role effectively.
"This is a big potential for the rural banks to grow as there is over 60 per cent of cash flowing in and out of rural farming and trading areas," he said.
He appealed to the government to enforce the Akuafo Cheque system to ensure that cash flow between cocoa farmers and their customers is channelled into the banking system.
Mr Osei-Bonsu said the Akuafo cheque system has a three-fold advantage for the government, the farmers and the rural banks.
"With the Akuafo Cheque system, the government stands to benefit from the sale and export of quality cocoa beans, the farmers will gain from safety of their money, while the rural banks get commissions on the cheques to undertake development projects in their areas of operation," he said.
Mr. Osei-Bonsu said, however, that the directive to rural and community banks to keep at least 62 per cent of their revenue, comprising 10 per cent in cash and 52 per cent in treasury bills with the Central Bank, is a disservice to the communities in which the banks operate.
He explained that by this directive, rural banks are able to advance only 30 per cent of their total revenue to their client. "We are not able to reach out to the rural community the way we should."
He, however, noted that the BOG's directive, which prevents rural banks from establishing agencies in the cities, is to protect the banks from the risks that come with heavy loans.
"Operating in the urban areas exposes customers' funds to the risk of high borrowings by sophisticated businessmen and women who may not refund the money in time and, therefore, violate the essence of rural banking," he said.
Mr. Osei-Bonsu said rural banks have, however, been allowed to open branches at the fringes of cities on condition that "if they are able to prove their capability in loans administration, they would be allowed to operate in the cities."
"We suspect that the commercial banks have a hand in confining rural and community banks to the rural areas, as our conditions provide an alternative to those poor urban dwellers who do not have the high minimum deposits required by the commercial banks."
He said much as rural banks were set up to mobilise funds for development in the rural areas, operating in rural areas comes with several difficulties, which, impede the growth of rural, and community banks.
Mr Osei-Bonsu said problems facing rural banks include poor amenities in rural areas, the falling prices of cocoa and food crops and the inability of the banks to recruit skilled personnel.
"Chieftaincy disputes are another major problem, as a parties in such disputes usually end up refusing to patronise the bank operating in the area, depending on its location and name," he said.
He, therefore, appealed to the National House of Chiefs and appropriate bodies to take steps to curb Chieftaincy disputes.
Other constraints, he said, include cash flow bottlenecks, managerial incompetence, bad debts, capital inadequacy and poor loan administration.
Mr. Osei-Bonsu urged rich urban dwellers to save with rural banks in their communities, saying that despite the constraints facing the rural banks, measures have been put in place to ensure that the system provides quality service to customers.
He said through the support of the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), effective communication facilities have been installed to link the head offices of 20 the rural banks to their agencies with the view to curbing fraud.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has also established a monitoring training unit in Kumasi to train personnel to monitor the activities of the banks to ensure efficiency, he said.
Mr Osei-Bonsu said it started with 11 rural banks in the Ashanti Region and is now being extended to the Eastern and Volta regions.
Mr Osei-Bonsu said the proposed Apex Bank would have sanctioning powers to deal with deviant rural banks and their managers.
He said the Apex Bank secretariat has qualified personnel to serve as backup managers to relieve managers of rural banks who are found to be performing badly.
Mr Osei-Bonsu added that as a result of effective monitoring, 23 rural and community banks have so far been closed while ten others have been established in the past few years.
He said a substantial amount has also been committed to train personnel of rural banks in book keeping, customer care, marketing, interpretation of financial statements, loan administration, project and funds management, corporate planning and internal controls, among others.
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