Builsa Community Bank makes 59.5 million cedis profit

Seventy-two Free Zone Enterprises registered.

Market activities slow down

Sandema (Upper East) 30 Nov. '99

Mr Cletus Achaar, vice-chairman of the Builsa Community Bank, has appealed to shareholders to increase their shares to enable the bank to expand and be the financial pillar for district's economic development.

Addressing the Annual General Meeting of the Bank at Sandema on Saturday, Mr Achaar said the bank made a net profit of 59.5 million cedis in 1998 representing 400 per cent over its 1997 profit of 11.9 million cedis.

He said the bank contributed 477.5 million cedis to support the Builsa District Assembly's 87.8 million cedis to be disbursed under the poverty alleviation scheme.

The loans were granted to promote agriculture and other economic activities, Mr Achaar said but did not indicate the number of people to benefit from the fund.

He said the bank also disbursed 119.9 million cedis as loans to 49 women groups, made up of 1,068 beneficiaries under a UNICEF and Freedom From Hunger, an NGO micro finance scheme dubbed "Credit with Education for Women".

He appealed to shareholders, the private sector and people of the Builsa District to buy more shares in the bank to make it economically strong.

Mr Amadu Montia, Deputy Manager of Banking Supervision of the Bank of Ghana, cautioned directors of rural banks not to make monetary demands over services rendered to the bank.

He asked them to be content with the normal sitting and transport allowances approved for them by shareholders at Annual General Meetings.

"Any claim for allowance or payment for any service rendered by any director to his bank should be referred to the Bank of Ghana for consideration".

He said where approval has not been given by the Central Bank for the payment of any such allowance, the beneficiary director would be made to refund the amount involved immediately.

The deputy chief manager said the measure, a Bank of Ghana directive to all rural banks, is part of "measures to ensure that directors of rural banks do not use their positions to make unnecessary demands on their banks which may lead to the non-performance of such banks".

He advised the shareholders to raise their share capital to 300 million cedis in order to inject sanity and efficiency in the operations of the bank.

GRi../

Baatsonaa (Greater Accra) 30 Nov. '99

The Ghana Free Zone Board (GFZB) has registered 72 enterprises within three years of the implementation of the programme.

They are in furniture, metal fabrication, dress making, petroleum products, food processing, beauty products, telecommunications, warehousing and fibreglass manufacturing.

Out of these projects, 45 are operating whilst the rest are starting up or building up. Mr George Aboagye, Executive Secretary of the GFZB, announced this in a speech read on his behalf at a seminar organised by the Tema Municipal Assembly at the on-going second Tema Trade and Industrial Exposition (TEXPO' 99) fair at Baatsonaa on Monday.

The seminar, which was on "Benefits to be derived out of the Free Zones concept", was organised for workers leaders drawn from industrial establishments in Tema.

Mr Aboagye said out of the 72 licensed projects, 26 including the Business Focus Group (BFG) of Malaysia, which is a Free Zone developer are located in Tema.

The BFG is expected to develop 284 hectares out of the 500 hectares Export Processing Zone (EPZ) to make Tema the modern industrial hub of Ghana with facilities readily available for investors.

Mr Aboagye said Free Zone Enterprises are employing over 4,500 people.

The inflow of foreign firms in the Free Zones would create managerial and technical opportunities for the local labour force and foster skills development.

Answering questions from the participants, Miss Patience Agbleze, Marketing, Promotion and Publicity Officer of GFZB, urged the participants to discard the idea that the Free Zone Enterprises are in to milk the nation dry looking at the exemptions granted them.

She said with regard to foreign exchange earnings, Free Zone Enterprises are primarily engaged in export manufacturing and generate foreign exchange from the sales of goods and services.

Miss Agbleze said although these enterprises can generally repatriate foreign exchange, substantial portion of their earnings are converted into local currency to pay for cost such as labour, raw materials, rent, rates, utilities and transportation.

She said backward linkages of these enterprises in Ghana's economy are stimulating domestic industry through the use of local products and services.

GRi../

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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 Nov. '99

Market activities slowed again on Monday bringing the All-Share Index down to 747.53 from 747.66 points.

The All-Share Index declined by 0.13 points on the loss of 10 cedis by Unilever, Ghana, Limited (UNIL) despite gains in the share prices of Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) and Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB).

Total shares traded finished the day lower at 21,600 shares from 103,900 shares, last Friday, and market capitalisation was slightly down at 3,220.57 billion cedis from 3,220.78 billion cedis.

Offers were down from 753,200 to 609,220 with bids closing far lower at 96,100 shares from 201,800 shares.

On the broader market, two equities made gains while one lost.

ABL and GCB gained five cedis and one cedi to close trading at 440 cedis and 750 cedis respectively.

UNIL lost 10 cedis at 1,860 cedis.

The following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis:

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