GRi BEF News Ghana 17 –09 - 2001
Kenya Airways makes maiden flight to Accra
Ghana Commercial Bank launches three products
Accra Bourse index dips
Ghana Airways resumes flights to US Tuesday
Accra (Greater Accra) 17 September 2001 - Ghana Airways will
resume flights to the United States of America on Tuesday, September 18.
Reports say this follows a
certification given to the Kotoka International Airport and the national airline by the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to begin flights to the US.
As a result, two flights are scheduled to leave Accra on Tuesday,
one to New York and the other to Baltimore. Passengers who have confirmed
tickets are to reconfirm their flights.
This brings the number of African airports and airlines cleared by
the FAA to five including Angola, Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt.
The airline regulatory body began conducting security checks on
airports and air carriers as part of its heightened security measures for
flights to and from the United States, following last Tuesday’s terrorist
attacks. Already, most of the airports and airlines in Europe, South America
and Asia have been cleared to operate flights to and from the US airports.
GRi./
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Kenya Airways makes maiden flight to Accra
Accra (Greater Accra) 17 September 2001 - Kenya Airways on Monday
made its maiden flight to the Kotoka International Airport as part of the
airlines route expansion programme.
The Kenyan airline would operate a Boeing 737 Aircraft twice
weekly from Nairobi to Accra on Mondays and Saturdays.
Among the 20 passengers on board the maiden flight were the
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kenyan Airways, Isaac Omollo Okello, Ron
Schipper, KLM Vice President for Africa, airline operators and reporters from
Kenya.
Robert Owusu, General Manager of Kenya Airways, West Africa,
said Kenya Airways already operates four flights weekly to Abidjan, Lagos,
Yaoundi and the flight to Accra would be a direct one.
GRi…/
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Ghana Commercial Bank launches three products
Accra (Greater
Accra) 17 September 2001 - The Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BOG), Mr
Emmanuel Asiedu-Mante, on Monday said that even though policy measures adopted
by BOG have helped reduce money outside the banking system, statistics indicate
that currency with the non-bank public is still high.
He said as at the
end of July, money outside the banking system amounted to 1.6 billion cedis,
forming 31 per cent of the total money supply of the country.
"Large cash
holdings outside the banking system puts inflationary pressures on the economy
and blunts the capabilities of the instruments of monetary management.
"It is the hope
of the Central Bank that the banks will intensify their deposit mobilisation
drive to mop up the excess liquidity in the hands of the non-bank public",
he said at the Ghana Commercial Bank's (GCB) trio-product launch- "Save
and prosper", "Kudi Nkosuo" and "FODEM" accounts in
Accra.
The new products are
aimed at improving GCB's deposit mobilisation process and aiding Ghanaians at
home and abroad to mobilise resources that would strengthen the economy and
stimulate the development of the private sector at the micro economic level.
They also seek to
reduce money circulation outside the banking system by carrying banking to the
doorsteps of people in rural areas, facilitate the provision of employment for
people in the informal sector and to encourage Ghanaians abroad to keep their
wealth in Ghana.
Mr Asiedu-Mante said
as BOG strives to keep inflation at bay as a means of ensuring the stability of
the exchange rate, banks should not only link their deposit rates to the
falling inflation and treasury bill rates but also let it impact on their
lending rates.
This would help
promote expansion in the private sector and cause an increase in domestic
savings. Mr Asiedu-Mante said the
products put on offer by the GCB are in line with the government's policy of
rural development and BOG's own policy to reduce money outside the banking
system to stimulate economic growth.
"This falls in
line with government policy to mobilise more foreign exchange and provide a
platform to tap the growing wealth accumulated by Ghanaians abroad".
Asiedu-Mante said
the development of new financial products and services to enhance efficiency in
the banking system calls for extra vigilance on the part of regulators and
supervisors.
In order to ensure
that the financial system remains stable and efficient, he said the regulatory and supervisory laws
would be constantly reviewed to respond to current developments in terms of
establishing effective controls over each aspect of technological systems and
the ability to maintain proper standards, policies, procedures to prevent fraud
and all categories of risk.
The Deputy Governor
said the BOG would support both banks and financial institutions to develop
programmes and strategies aimed at deepening the financial system for the rapid
growth of the economy.
Mr William Panford
Bray, GCB's Managing Director said the
"Kudi Nkosuo" account is meant to establish a link between the
bank and potential low-micro entrepreneurs and has both large savings and
credit component.
The saving's
component is to build up assets while the credit component is to expand
business. The "Save And Prosper" account, he said, is the transfer of
the bank's financial planning skills to customers targeted at the middle group
of fixed income earners or salaried workers.
It will be used as a
basis to provide credit, the repayment of which will be equal to a customer's
regular savings. Customers are asked to establish how much they can save
regularly.
He said the aim of
the account is to ensure that families that benefit from it would not face
financial distortions if they should take loans.
The Foreign Deposit
Mobilisation (FODEM) account is aimed at tapping the resources of Ghanaians
residing abroad and keeping them in the country for them.
Mr Bray said the
FODEM is meant to deepen and widen the bank's effort at mobilising foreign
exchange to support the development of the country since it sees earnings of
Ghanaians working abroad as exports.
The GCB, he said,
will establish a personal and business advisory unit which will link FODEM
account holders to relocation services who will meet their long-term needs to
enable them resettle in the country through investment advice.
GRi../
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Accra Bourse index dips
Accra (Greater Accra) 17 September 2001 - The GSE-All Share
index, the key stock gauge, dipped 0.04 points on Monday to finish 949.25
points as Pioneer Aluminium Factory lost five cedis to pull it down.
Generally, trading was dull as institutional investors
continued to shy away from the market. Only five equities sold shares, as
volumes again slumped to close at 14,600 shares from 16,900 shares at the
previous close.
PAF recorded the only price change for the session. It lost
five cedis to close at 800 cedis. Market capitalisation went up slightly at
3,858.31 billion cedis.
Below are the closing prices of the listed equities in
cedis:
ABL 320
AGC 18,500
ALW 4,300
BAT 600
CFAO 60
EIC 2,900
FML 1,000
GBL 1,300
GCB 1,550
GGL 900
HFC 952
MGL 240
MLC 135
MOGL
20,000
PAF 800 -5
PBC 450
PZ 705
SCB 20,500
SPPC 356
SSB 2,300
UNIL 2,000
CMLT 430
GRi../
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