Yoofi Grant on economic fall outs of September 11 attack
SSB Bank helps GSE index to maintain momentum
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 March 2002 - Mr Yoofi Grant, Executive
Director of the Data Bank Financial Services Limited, on Monday noted that the
effects of terrorism and its negative impacts on the global insurance market
has extended to smaller markets like that of Ghana.
He said insurance companies in the country were finding it extremely
difficult to access the international insurance markets to re-insure policies
thereby making them unable to write large policies for foreign and large
companies operating in Ghana.
Mr Grant was speaking on the financial implications of the September 11
on Ghana's economy at a seminar to mark the sixth-month anniversary of the terrorist
attacks in the United States.
The seminar, aimed at reflecting and assessing the impact of the
September 11 attacks on Ghana and Africa over the past six months, was
organised by the United States Information Service (USIS).
It was co-sponsored by Friends Against Global Terrorism (FAGLAT), a
non-governmental organisation and Africa Talks Organisation, an online
discussion group that deals with developmental issues.
Mr Grant said most of the big offshore insurers now had to consider how
to deal with situations like what happened on September 11, adding that this
had had a negative impact on premiums in the market.
He said Ghana's stock market was filled with uncertainty the day after
the attack, thus many transactions lined up by companies for foreign clients
were either cancelled or put on hold.
"Suddenly, some of our clients who had been in the market for over
five years were inaccessible or were not sure what their policy towards our
market was to be." He said many were still not sure and had shied away not
only from the stock market but other markets as well.
Mr Grant said the country's domestic airline and budding tourism
industry also felt the impact of the attacks through the loss of business,
adding that travel activity and tourism fell sharply after the incident due to
security concerns. Thus most hotels that enjoyed high occupancy levels were now
seeing diminished patronage, especially from international travellers.
The attendant increase in the cost of travel, he said, has risen due to
the added cost of security. On the trading front, many transactions were
delayed after the attacks, as financial houses and banks in the country were
driven to a standstill whilst they grappled with its repercussions.
"For a clear two months it was difficult to go through the normal
business flows as many of the major finance houses had been affected in one way
or another. In fact our economy had a temporary standstill as development
partners cancelled and postponed meeting crucial to our development."
Mr Grant enumerated some of the structural changes the country's
banking system had had to adopt to respond to the event such as the scrutiny of
individual financial accounts and similar bank accounts and asset pools in
order to monitor possible financial support to terrorist bodies.
Other measures include the increased financial regulatory environment
vis-à-vis disclosure laws to pre-empt possible terrorist links or support to
terrorist groups. Mr Grant said as a member of the UN, Ghana needed to review
and strengthen its border operations, customs and immigration procedures and
intelligence co-operation.
A fortnight after the September 11 attack, the General Assembly of the
UN, fuelled by a consensus of 189 states, passed and adopted Resolution 1373 which
established a body of legally binding obligations on all UN member states to,
among other things, prevent the financing of terrorism and the denial of a safe
haven for terrorists.
He said in accordance with the Resolution monitoring and information sharing
on movement of funds had become critical and this has a significant impact on
the economy in terms of budget implications. "We need to collectively
condemn terrorism in all forms regardless of who is involved," he said.
Mr Kwasi Prempeh, Director of legal Policy for the Centre for
Democratic Development, who spoke on the impact of September 11 on democratic
consolidation and human rights, said the incident opened a new chapter in world
history and challenged key assumptions about the nature of the world after the
fall of the Berlin Wall.
He said the September 11 incident, which shook everyone out of
complacency and the sense of security has a serious implication for Africa and
Ghana. Mr Prempeh noted that the "dress rehearsals" for the attack
were staged in the heart of Africa, with the deadly bombings of the US embassy
buildings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998.
African countries remained vulnerable to terrorist infiltrations
because of its porous borders, weak law enforcement and security services and
poor disillusioned populations.
"In short, there is cause for us in Africa to continue to be
alarmed and concerned about September 11 and what it means for us, especially
in African countries with substantial militant Muslim populations such as
Nigeria, where political opportunists using self-serving interpretations of
September 11, could exacerbate religious and internecine conflicts and further
undermine national cohesion."
GRi../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 March 2002 - The West African Coffee and Cocoa
Summit 2002 would be held at the headquarters of the International Cocoa and
Coffee Organisation (ICCO), London, from 14th to 15th March to, among other
things, discuss how to correct the negative effects of liberalisation on the
industry.
The event would bring together producers and government representatives
from West Africa to work out strategies for a vibrant cocoa industry for the
21st Century to ensure that benefits come to producer countries in the long
term.
Officials organisers of the event said it was imperative to introduce
robust institutions and systems in just every area of production, marketing and
distribution from small-scale producers through to quality assurance, storage,
finance, dissemination of market information, export and shipment.
Experts on warehousing, quality, legal matters and the development of
co-operatives in West Africa would be present to answer questions from all
quarters at the Summit.
Helen Cokerr, Co-ordinator of Day Robison, organisers of the event, said
in London that senior industry representatives from the international coffee
and chocolate sectors would discuss the latest approaches to meeting social and
environmental standards and present their views on an industry-wide commitment
to quality and sustainability.
"Extensive coverage will be at policy, local and industry
levels", she said. Ghana, the world's third largest producer after cote
d'Ivoire and Brazil would be represented by Major Courage Quashigah (rtd),
Minister of Food and Agriculture.
Mr Kwame Sarpong, Chief Executive, Ghana Cocoa Board and Thomas Kubi,
Chief Executive of the ECOWAS Commodity Exchange, would also be present. Cocoa
had for decades been the mainstay of Ghana's economy. Production for the
1996/97-crop year was 322,488 tonnes, rising to 409,382 tonnes in 1997/98.
This slipped to 397,675 tonnes in 1998/99, rising to 436,946 in 1999/2000 and then slumping again to 389,800 tonnes in 2000/2001-crop year. Total value of cocoa exports to the UK in 1996/97 was 79.3 million dollars, hitting 122.8 million dollars in 1997/98 and 153.7 million cedis in 1998/99. The value slumped to 36.7 million dollars in 1999/2000 and rose slightly to 63.6 million dollars in 2000/2001.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 March 2002 - The recent rise of the GSE
All-Share Index slowed on Monday in quiet trading that saw only 20,600 shares
changing hands.
The All-Share index, the main market gauge, gained 0.37 points, thanks
to a 10 cedi appreciation by SSB Bank to 2,510 cedis. The index had gained a
total of 13.54 points during last week with SSB bank, Unilever and Ghana
Commercial Bank making important price appreciations.
The index ended the day on 987.23 points from Friday's close of 986.86
points. Change for the year was up at 3.27 per cent from 3.23 per cent while
market capitalisation rose to 3,964.64 billion cedis from 3,963.93 billion
cedis.
On the broader market, there was only one change - SSB bank's 10 cedis
gain. Total Shares traded also slumped to 20,600 shares from 342,600 shares
with GCB selling the highest of 15,300. The following are the closing prices of
the equities in cedis:
ABL 321
AGC 18,800
ALW 4,300
BAT 629
CFAO 60
EIC 3,121
FML 950
GBL 1,000
GCB 1,655
GGL 910
HFC 950
MGL 241
MLC 147
MOGL 18,502
PAF 750
PBC 450
PZ 1,100
SCB 20,553
SPPC 342
SSB 2,510 +10
UNIL 2,620
CMLT 430
GRi../
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