Stock index continues to climb
Accra (Greater Accra) 11 March 2002 - The Police on Friday confirmed that within a few days an individual cashed almost one billion cedis of ECOWAS Travellers Cheques from the National Investment Bank, while in February this year about 3 billion cedis was cashed from the same bank by a handful of people.
The Police said the magnitude of the withdrawals by the individuals within the short time raised eyebrows, the GNA reports police sources it describes as reliable as saying that an operation had been mounted to investigate the conspiracy by some West African nationals including Ghanaians using ECOWAS Travellers Cheques to cash cedis at banks in the country. They have, therefore, warned banks to crosscheck before honouring these cheques.
Meanwhile the National Investment Bank in a rejoinder to an earlier GNA report on the issue said: "It has never dealt with fake ECOWAS cheques let alone facilitated the encashment of the fake cheques to the tune of 4 billion cedis."
The GNA however says its report was not on the encashment of fake ECOWAS Travellers Cheques at NIB but huge withdrawals. Investigations by Ghana Review International have however revealed that there is no ceiling on how much can be withdrawn by an individual or an institution through the ECOWAS Traveller’s Cheque.
The NIB therefore says it did nothing wrong in honouring the cheques since the Central Bank has not given any limit on how much could be withdrawn at time. Ghana Review also gathered that the countries participating in the ECOWAS Travellers Cheque are considering the possibility of imposing a limit as the potential loophole in the system has monetary implications for member countries.
The GNA quotes police sources as giving the breakdown of withdrawals from the bank as follows: In February this year alone one Richard Tagoe cashed ECOWAS cheques to the tune of more than 700 million cedis from the NIB; an Alberta Afful also cashed over 500 million cedis at the same bank.
The source gave other breakdowns as follows: Edward Paul Danso cashed more than 343 million cedis; Andrew Egbukichi, a Nigerian withdrew a total of more than 332 million cedis at NIB, while Matthew Adegbite another Nigerian cashed over 247 million cedis. Another Nigerian Amawze Emeka on the same day withdrew over 224 million cedis while one Tony Ahwie also withdrew over 126 million cedis.
GRi../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 11 March 2002 - Dannex, a drug manufacturing company, exported more than 200,000 bottles of its moan blood product, Durol, to Nigeria last year, Mr Charles Obeng-Mensah, General Manager said at the re-launch of the tonic in Accra.
The company was vigorously pursuing programmes to penetrate other markets in the sub-region, he said and commended the Ministries of Trade and Finance for their assistance to enable the company to enter the export market.
The focus was to capture the ECOWAS sub-region with a total market of over 250 million people before venturing into other regions in Africa. He gave the assurance that the company would continue to research into customer demands to enable it meet the competition and to ensure the efficacy of its products.
GRi../
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Aflao (Volta Region) 11 March 2002 - The 350 per cent increment in tax rates across the board by the Ketu District Assembly to step up its revenue generation has met the disapproval of some organised groups in the district.
The Aflao Hair Dressers and Beauticians Association described the increment as unrealistic while the Electronic Technicians Association also described it as "unprofessional and useless."
At a meeting called by the Aflao Urban Council, the revenue collection agent for the assembly in the area to discuss problems associated with the increment, the two organisations urged the assembly to reduce the rates by half or they would not pay.
"How do you increase from 6,000 cedis to 24,000 cedis when we have to pay income tax and rent," Madam Bettey Donkor, the chairman of the Beauticians Association asked.
Madam Donkor explained that due to the large number of apprentices passing out yearly the number of Beauticians had increased, thereby reducing their customers' ration and returns.
The Association disagreed with the Assembly for charging artisans according to the number of working tools such as hairdryers, sewing machines and barbering machines, that one had in his shop.
The Electronic Technicians Association also disagreed with the Assembly for giving different rates to artisans on the premise that some are in less populated areas. "The Assembly is acting on mere mental judgment without any scientific approach," Mr Marconi, member of the association said.
Mr Paul Wornoo, the Aflao Urban Council Secretary who chaired the meeting appealed to the artisans to exercise restraint while he conveyed their sentiments to the Assembly.
Meanwhile, indications are that the Corn Millers Association had also decided to protest over the new rates when its members were compelled last year not to increase milling charges by 50 per cent, following the increase in fuel prices.
GRi../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 11 March 2002 - The GSE All-Share Index gained 3.29 points in trading on Friday that saw only six equities selling more than 340,000 shares.
The index ended trading at 986.86 points from 983.57 points following gains by British-American Tobacco, Ghana Commercial Bank and Unilever. Change for the year also went up to 3.23 per cent from 2.89 per cent on Thursday while market capitalisation increased to 3,963.93 billion cedis from 3,957.55 billion cedis.
On the broader market, there were three price changes, all positive. Ghana Commercial Bank led the way with a 34 cedi-gain at 1,655 cedis while Unilever gained 10 cedis at 2,620 cedis. British American Tobacco was up two cedis at 629 cedis.
Total Shares traded also increased from 226,500 shares to 342,600 with Ghana Commercial Bank alone selling 216,400 shares. The following are the closing prices of the equities in cedis:
ABL 321
AGC 18,800
ALW 4,300
BAT 629 +2
CFAO 60
EIC 3,121
FML 950
GBL 1,000
GCB 1,655 +34
GGL 910
HFC 950
MGL 241
MLC 147
MOGL 18,502
PAF 750
PBC 450
PZ 1,100
SCB 20,553
SPPC 342
SSB 2,500
UNIL 2,620 +10
CMLT 430
GRi../
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