Monetary and Fiscal policies on course - Acquah
Kumasi
(Ashanti Region) 14 September 2002- Mr Akwasi Osei Adjei, Deputy Minister of
Trade and Industry, has said that the government was evaluating the policies,
programmes and projects of all key sectors of industrial development with a
view to harmonising them.
Mr Adjei
was addressing the national delegates' congress of the Association of
Polytechnic Higher National Diploma Accountancy Students, Ghana (APHAS-GH) in
Kumasi on Friday. The theme for the two-day congress was: "Propelling our
local industries into competitiveness - A challenge to HND accountancy
graduates."
"Whilst
we are making efforts to build a solid foundation for the take-off of
indigenous local industries, we shall continue to attract Foreign Direct
Investment to partner local industries in our socio-economic development,"
he said, adding that foreign direct investments were needed to accelerate the
country's development process.
"For
Ghana not to be marginalised, we need to sharpen our competitive edge and the
HND accountancy graduates have a big contribution to make to the process,"
he said. He noted that the manufacturing sector accounted for about nine per
cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) between 1996 and 2000.
He noted
that the sector's contribution had fallen from its mid-1970s level of nearly 15
per cent of GDP to its present level largely because of the sector's weak
growth relative to other sectors of the economy.
Speaking
on: "Propelling our local industries into competitiveness, an alternative
through the stock exchange", Mr Ekow Afedzie, Senior Manager,
Marketing/Research/Systems of the Ghana Stock Exchange, said it was time local
industries explored the stock market as an alternative for raising long term
capital for expansion. Mr William Kofi Larbi Appiah, National President of the
Association, called on industrial concerns to extend their scholarship packages
to the polytechnics.
GRi…/
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 14 September 2002- Dr Paul Acquah, Governor of the Central Bank
(BOG) on Friday said the economy was on the path toward sustained disinflation.
He said the continuous downward trend of the inflation rate from 13.5 per cent
in July to 13.1 per cent at the end of August attested to the fact that
monetary and fiscal policies were on course.
Dr Acquah
was speaking at a press conference to highlight on the work of the Monetary
Policy Committee of the Bank. The Committee was inaugurated in Accra recently
to formulate monetary policy under the Bank's Act in Accra. He said low and
stable inflation was indispensable for creating the macroeconomic environment
for economic growth.
He said;
"monetary policy is most effective in delivering price stability with the
co-operation of fiscal policy, sound banking system and other agencies in the
economy," adding that there were no dogmatic or one-size-fits-all approach
to monetary policy.
Different
Central Banks, he said, depending on the particular circumstances of their
economies used different monetary frameworks in trying to achieve price
stability. Dr Acquah emphasized the importance of communication of monetary
policy decisions to the public to enable them to have a sound understanding of
the system.
"The
public at large need to understand what we are doing and why we are doing what
we are doing to guide inflationary expectations and shape the economic
fundamentals," he said. Answering question on 'if the introduction of the
new notes would make any impact on inflation," Dr Acquah said the high
denomination notes should be seen as a means to bring about efficiency in the
payment for goods and services and had nothing to do with inflation.
He said the
new notes would be introduced during the cocoa season but fell short of
mentioning the exact date and stressed the need to educate the public on the
security features of the notes.
GRi…/
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 14 September 2002- The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) recorded
another poor trading on Friday as big investors continued to stay away from the
market. The GSE All-Share Index, the main market gauge, inched up by only 0.25
points as retail investors in seven companies sold only 9,800 shares. The Index
ended trading at 1,304.49 points from 1,304.24 points.
The change
in the year to date was slightly higher at 36.46 per cent from 36.43 per cent
on Wednesday while market capitalisation was also higher at 4,849.13 billion
cedis from 4,848.15 billion cedis. Shares traded slumped further to 9,800
shares from Wednesday's 21,000 shares.
In the
broader market, there were four price changes, all positive. Ashanti Goldfields
Company (AGC) gained four cedis at 18,805 cedis, Ghana Commercial Bank was two
cedis richer at 3,333 cedis, British American Tobacco gained one cedi at 951
cedis and SSB Bank gained one cedi at 3,873 cedis.
The
following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL
380
AGC 18,805 +4
ALW 4,000
BAT 951 +1
CFAO 66
EIC
4,510
FML 1,627
GBL 900
GCB
3,333 +2
GGL 912
HFC 955
MGL 254
MLC 261
MOGL 19,710
PAF 750
PBC 400
PZ
1,850
SCB
26,020
SPPC 387
SSB
3,873 +1
SWL 285
UNIL 4,217
CMLT 460
GRi…/
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