Drop in inflation, result of domestic and foreign investments - Yankah
Y2K problems takes centre stage at AITEC Conference
Kutire okro farmers look for market
Mobil holds annual general meeting
Drop in inflation, result of domestic and foreign investments - Yankah
Kumasi (Ashanti), 28th May '99 --
Mr Kojo Yankah, Ashanti Regional Minister, has attributed the drop in the rate of inflation to 10 per cent to growth in investment and savings in the country.
He was speaking at a day's seminar, organised by the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) to introduce the Network Financial Service (NFS), a Ghanaian -United States registered Company which offers low interest rate and unsecured loans to medium scale entrepreneurs in Kumasi.
Mr Yankah said the Ashanti Region, which has a long tradition of entrepreneurial flair and abounds in natural resources has played a remarkable role in the economic transformation of the country.
However, most of the companies in the region are operating below capacity because they cannot raise the necessary funds from local sources.
The Regional Minister said these companies do not also have the capability to access funds from the international market to make their businesses grow because of high interest rates.
The NFS, a limited liability company, operates through an Exclusive Master Agency Agreement with the First International Bank (FIB), a commercial lending institute in Hartford, Connecticut and is supported by the United States Export and Import Bank (Exim).
The NFS' clients include a wide range of medium-sized private sector and public companies that have been operating profitable businesses for over three years and can produce financial statements of their activities.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 28 May '99
Mr Alan Harris, Managing Director of Computer Based Systems (CBS), a local computer consulting firm, has called on institutions and organisations in the country not to be obsessed about changing softwares in their computers with the hope of making them Y2K compliant.
He also called on companies with computers not to rush to change or buy new computers with the hope of skipping the millennium bug problem.
Mr Harris was speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra on Thursday.
"You need to look at the hardware as well, since some softwares are dependent on the hardwares to operate".
Mr Harris said companies using computers rated 386, 486 and Pentium do not necessarily have to buy new ones that are claimed to be year 2000 compliant.
He said CBS which supplies UPS systems from 600 KVA and above, has also a system called BEST Systems for accounting and business information.
CBS has been operating in Ghana since 1990 and deals in networking including fibre optic technology, sales, service of computer systems and related equipment.
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Y2K problems takes centre stage at AITEC Conference
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 May '99
The Third West African Computing and Telecommunications Expo '99 opened in Accra on Thursday with the Y2K problem assuming centre stage in all discussions and presentations.
The three-day Conference and Exhibition, dubbed See The Future - Shape the Future, is organised by African Intermediate Technology Exhibitions and Conferences (AITEC).
Mr John Mahama, Minister of Communications, said government, realising the dire implications of the problem, has come out with a strategy.
"A new Y2K project has been set up in the Ministry of Communications where a national inventory has been completed, and an assessment of the scope of the problem has been made," saying "solution providers from a database compiled at the Y2K office are being assigned to assist distressed organisations".
He said a number of seminars have been held with the private sector, where they are deemed to be "far ahead in their Y2K compliance programme".
The Y2K problem is one in which computer softwares and micro-processes will not be able to recognise or transform to four digit years such as 2000. This will cause information loss or distortion.
It can also cause systems to give wrong information and not to recognise date fed into it.
The Minister said the communications sector has truly given reality to the often repeated adage of the private sector being the engine of growth.
"In the mass media, from a situation in which we had a state monopoly of print, radio and TV mediums, we have in this short while converted to a state of over 30 regular newspapers and magazines, 25 radio stations and four TV stations, mostly privately owned, except GTV.
" In telecommunications, government's liberalisation has broken state monopoly of the former P & T to a situation of three mobile phone operators, two national network operators and numerous internet service providers and data transmission companies", Mr Mahama said
Mr Sean Moroney, Group Chairman of AITEC, said AITEC is committed to its markets and has a bright and business oriented vision of electronic issues in Africa.
AITEC now has offices in Ghana, Kenya Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa.
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Kutire okro farmers look for market
Kutire (Brong Ahafo) 28 May '99
Large quantities of Okro are getting rotten in the Berekum district due to lack of ready market.
Particularly hit by the glut is the farming community of Kutire, where over one hundred vegetable farmers routinely throw away baskets of okro daily because they cannot find an outlet for their produce.
Consequently, most of them are finding it extremely difficult to recoup their investments to re-pay loans or pay their children's school fees.
The regional chairperson of the Ghana National Association of Farmers and Fisherman (GNAFF), Madam Yaa Badu, today visited the affected farmers at Kutire, near Berekum, to ascertain how best they could be helped.
Madam Badu described the situation as "pathetic and demoralising", and said the association is arranging for extensive radio announcements on the glut to help attract buyers for them.
She disclosed that because of the critical nature of the situation, the association has put in place a package under which the produce of registered members would be purchased by the GNAFF for re-sale in Accra.
Madam Badu appealed to vegetable traders in the urban centres, especially those in Accra, to go to Kutire and other communities, such as Mpatapo, for their okro purchases to save the farmers from financial disaster.
One of the affected farmers, Mr Thomas Kwadwo Gyamfi, 31, said this year's harvest has been exeptionally good, because of the adoption of modern methods of farming imparted to them by agricultural extension officers at the beginning of the farming season.
Mr Gyamfi noted that the adoption of the modern methods has brought about the mixed blessing of bumper harvest and low prices.As a result, a medium size basket of okro, which should be sold at 7,000 cedis, is being bought at 3,000 cedis.
Mr Gyamfi said proceeds from sales of the okro is so low that farmers in their desperate attempt to find market walk on foot for about five kilometres to Berekum with their produce, because they cannot afford the cost of transport.
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Mobil holds annual general meeting
Accra (Greater Accra) 29 May '99
Mobil Ghana Limited (MOGL) on Friday declared a final dividend of 428 cedis to bring the total dividend for 1998 to 1,734 cedis.
The company has already paid an interim dividend of 745 cedis to its shareholders.
Mr Craig Murphy, Managing Director and Chairman of Board of Directors, told the annual general meeting of shareholders in Accra that the company recorded a profit after tax of 13,026 million cedis, out of which a total of 4,515 million cedis was paid as dividend.
It paid a total of 1,020 cedis as dividend in 1997.
Mr Murphy said set targets were not met due to the impact of the energy crisis, instances of product shortage and severe tightening of profit margins.
However, the company registered, among other things, a 23 per cent increase in sales volumes, a 19 per cent increase in profitability and 103 per cent increase in its share price.
The company's growth of 23 per cent exceeded that of the industry growth of 16 per cent while its market share was in excess of 25 per cent.
Gross profit increased to 33,728 million cedis compared to 27,250 million cedis for 1997, with other income also increasing from 2,682 million cedis to 5,729 million cedis.
Total expenses stood at 20,304 million cedis up from 1997's 14,250 million cedis.
Mr Murphy explained that the company's success for the year in review could be attributed to extensive promotions and emphasis on retail outlets.
He said during the year, the company opened more outlets and upgraded some of the old ones.
Multi-purpose pumps that serve both diesel and petrol, were also installed while new serving stations are being constructed at Baatsona, Amasaman, Sakumono and Dome to meet customer demands.
Mr Murphy said Mobil supports government's efforts designed to reduce the reliance of the industry on the Tema Oil Refinery as it would increase competition.
Some shareholders outside the capital city appealed to management to upgrade Mobil outlets in their towns.
Mr Phillip Docherty, General Manager of West African Cluster of Mobil, was elected member of the board of directors while Mr Kerry Wark, President, Mobil Africa, and Mr John Sackah Addo, Managing Director of Prudential Bank, were re-elected to serve on the board.
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