Eighth International Trade Fair Opens
Government grants VALCO extension of time
to shut down
Accra (Greater Accra) 01 March 2002 - The government has agreed to give more time to VALCO to close down potlines that would be affected by the decision to reduce its consumption of power from Akosombo Dam.
A statement signed by Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey said a government team was discussing with representatives of VALCO how to mitigate the effects of actions that needed to be taken. The statement said the government's step is in line with an appeal made to the Government and VALCO by an Accra High Court to minimise mutual inconvenience.
The High Court last week dismissed an ex-parte motion filed by VALCO in its attempt to reverse the government's decision to reduce the level of power to the company by midnight on February 20.
GRi../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 01 March 2002 - Members of board of directors of government agencies are not to act and behave like executive staff issuing instructions to workers without recourse to laid down procedures.
If they did that the trust and confidence reposed in them would be eroded, the Minister of Finance, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo said on Wednesday, when he inaugurated a 10-member board of directors of the Produce Buying Company (PBC) Limited.
"Your role is just to ensure that policy directives are followed and stated objectives achieved over the period," he said. "Your job is to ensure harmony and greater willingness to achieve increase in the cocoa industry."
Referring to the new PBC directors, Mr Osafo-Maafo urged them not to place themselves in positions that would bring them into conflicts or may conflict with their personal interest.
"Every director, who is in any way directly or indirectly materially interested in any contract or proposed contract shall declare the nature and extent of his interest at a meeting of the directors of the company."
The PBC hitherto, the only cocoa buying company in the country, was listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange in May 2000 with shares currently trading at 450 cedis. The company's market share dropped sharply to 40 per cent after the liberalisation of the cocoa buying market by the government.
Cocoa has been the backbone of Ghana's economy for almost a century, accounting for substantial portion of the Gross Domestic Product. Mr Osafo-Maafo said the cocoa sector was a priority area for government; citing last week's increase in the producer price by 41 per cent to 6.2 million cedis per metric ton and the increase in cocoa board scholarship to farmers' wards fund by five billion cedis.
"The current cocoa diseases and pest control programme and the provision of 8.9 billion cedis for the rehabilitation of feeder roads in cocoa growing areas are some of the tangible expressions of government's determination to improve the cocoa sector."
The Finance Minister entreated the board to quickly put in place measures to ensure that there was prompt payment to farmers. There should also be a halt to the cheating of farmers by people, who adjusted scales and similar practices.
He charged them to pool their collective wisdom to resolve the investment and working capital problems of PBC and said the company's market share that has been falling consistently over the years must be addressed.
Nana Timothy Aye Kusi, Chairman of the Board, expressed the gratitude of the board to the government for their appointment, saying; "we deem it as a great challenge and a call to service.
He said they would be mindful of the prevailing circumstances within which PBC finds itself and ensure that it regained 60 per cent of the market share it had. Nana Kusi said the adoption of a multiple purchasing system would ensure that PBC got a competitive edge over the other companies in the cocoa buying market.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 01 March 2002 - The Minister of Finance on Thursday debunked claims that the lower producer price of cocoa in Ghana compared to neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire would encourage massive smuggling of the beans to that country.
Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that the difference was rather minimal saying, it was "something that would not cause any problem since it was not actually how much the farmer get for the beans but rather the promptness of payment which is always guaranteed in Ghana."
He asked Ghanaian cocoa farmers to look at how promptly they would be paid rather than the little extra money they might make. "Besides smuggling is a criminal offence and anyone caught in the act will not be spared."
A ton of cocoa currently sells at about seven million cedis in Cote d'Ivoire while Ghana recently increased the same quantity from 4.6 million cedis to 6.2 million cedis. It is on record that Ghana loses about 10 per cent of cocoa produced to smuggling activities, most of which ends up on the Ivorian market.
Commenting on why the government did not increase the price to the level paid by Cote d'Ivoire, the Finance Minister said: "We must look at the price change within the micro and macro economic dynamics and its impact on the national economy."
He refuted claims that the increase in the cocoa price was at the instance of the World Bank. "It is rather ridiculous that a body outside our own system should be telling government what it should do for its own farmers."
He said the Ghana Standards Board would soon begin sporadic checks on scales used by all the 20 listed Licensed Buying Companies to ensure that farmers got paid for the actual weight of cocoa delivered. The Finance Minister also said steps had been put in place to ensure prompt payment of the new price and evacuation of the beans.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 01 March 2002 - Ghanaian entrepreneurs have been advised to expand their activities to enable them to take opportunities that the international market offers.
Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, Speaker of Parliament said on Thursday that they could do this by exploring the potential trade benefits that abound in the West Africa sub-region.
Mr Ala Adjetey was opening the Eighth International Trade Fair on the theme: "Achieving Economic Growth Through Positive Partnership Between the Public and Private Sector: The Way Forward."
About 700 local and 56 foreign exhibitors are participating in the 12-day fair. Mr Ala Adjetey stressed the importance of building regional blocks, saying that the country could not afford to isolate itself from the global trends of the free market in which market forces operated on the basis of prices and quality of products.
The Government, he reiterated, would do all it could to reform the public sector to meet the needs of the private sector and assist them to create job opportunities. Mr Ala Adjetey lauded the important role trade fairs played in the upliftment of a country's economic and technological potentials as well as providing opportunities for the creation of regional blocks and trade relations.
Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, the Minister of Trade and Industry, said the ECOWAS market with a population of 250 million people should give ample impetus for entrepreneurs to expand their trade activities.
However, he said, it was important for entrepreneurs to meet the high quality standards that ruled in the global market and be efficient to penetrate the market. Dr Apraku also called for the lifting of artificial barriers to trade in the ECOWAS sub-region, adding that the fair was a means to find ways to remove the trade obstacles.
Ms Esther Ofori, Chief Executive of the Ghana Trade Fair Company, said the company was now organising specialised exhibition to expose the economic potential of all other sectors and also to ensure that the centre was fully utilised.
She said there were plans to turn the fair grounds into a multi-purpose centre with other facilities since exhibition alone could not help sustain the centre. Ms Ofori said adequate security had been provided to ensure safety of exhibitors' items.
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