Aliu calls on Banking Community to assist small-scale businesses
Market index records only 0.04 per cent change despite six gains
Ghana decides on partnership for national carrier
Accra
(Greater Accra) 19 September 2002 - The government has finally decided to enter
into joint partnership with a viable company to help profitably run the
distressed national airline, Ghana Airways. The decision which is one of the
three options chosen by the Ghanaian government, after a diagnostic audit of
the airline, is to enable the airline maintain its national identity.
Presently,
the government is in serious negotiations with Nationwide Airlines of South
Africa for a possible deal for a joint venture in the running of the airline,
which is indebted to the tune of about $170 million.
Ministry of
Roads and Highways sources are reported to have told the state-owned Daily
Graphic that the government zeroed in on Nationwide Airlines because out of the
about eight companies which showed interest in Ghana Airways, it was only
Nationwide Airlines that met the government's criteria.
Under the
criteria, the partner is required to have or must be able to access aircraft of
acceptable standards, provide acceptable under-wing and over-wing service (full
maintenance) and also have the capacity to train staff, particularly cockpit
and cabin crew to acceptable international standards.
The partner
is also expected to also have a reputable customer-service orientation and most
of all, be traceable. It must also accept to assist in making Ghana the
sub-regional hub among others. Nationwide has an annual turnover of between $50
million and $60 million and an average annual passenger growth of 20 per cent.
It has also
a Boeing approved maintenance facility that can maintain aircraft from A-D
checks and has a licensed training facility of international standards for
in-flight operations and indeed, currently trains staff for other airlines.
Interestingly,
Nationwide will also build a workshop in the country to maintain its aircraft
ands also that of other airlines, thereby creating job opportunities for
Ghanaians. The airline has a fleet of 22 aircraft having acquired two in 2001
and another four this year.
Should the
deal go through, Nationwide Airlines would immediately bring in two Boeing 737
aircraft to augment the sub-regional operations, two Boeing 767 for its
European and American routes and one Boeing 757 for operations in countries
within Africa but outside the sub-region such as South Africa. The company
depending on the needs would increase the number of aircrafts.
Nationwide
travels with at least 70 per cent of its seats filled and has links with
reputable airlines such as KLM, Singapore Airlines, Virgin Airlines, American
Northwest among others, to ease the hustle of passengers who wish to connect flight
to various countries or states in the US.
The
government according to the sector ministry sources has taken the decision in
the best interest of the nation, taking into consideration various views
expressed on the Ghana Airways saga.
However, none
of the companies is interested in taking up the huge debt of Ghana Airways but
suggested that it should rather be what they called "ring-fenced".
The Ghanaian Government would accordingly, under the circumstances, ring-fence
the debt, but reports say looking at the potentials of the airline, the debt
will be rescheduled after negotiations with creditors.
GRi…/
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Accra (Greater
Accra) 19 September 2002 -Vice President Aliu Mahama on Wednesday urged
International Banks and Financial Institutions to secure funds with favourable
terms for the benefit of small-scale businesses and non-traditional exporters.
Addressing a
delegation of top executives of financial institutions both local and
international, which called on him at the Castle, Osu, Vice President Mahama
expressed concern about the difficulties faced by Ghanaian business community
in obtaining funds for expansion and financing their exports, saying, the
financial institutions were better positioned to assist.
"We, as a
government, are doing our best to promote socio-economic growth, good
governance and the rule of law, but we need your partnership to bring in
external sources to make our achievements meaningful and sustainable," he
said.
Members of the
delegation, led by Mr Nout Wellink, President of the Central Bank of the Netherlands,
are participants of a three-day international conference on the West and
Central African Financial Sector.
More than 180
participants from all over the world are in Accra to devise strategies that
would enhance the development of the capital market, financing of small and
medium enterprises, the correlation between the economy and good governance and
the financing of housing programmes.
Vice President
Mahama underscored the need to support agro-businesses to improve the quality
of life in the rural areas and appealed to Mr Wellink to encourage Dutch
investors to explore the opportunities in the sector.
Dr Kofi Konadu
Apraku, Minister of Trade and Industry, told the delegation about the Ghana
Investment Fund (GIF), the Venture Capital Fund and the Export Development
Investment Fund that had been established to support the private sector to
propel economic growth.
Nevertheless, Dr
Apraku said trade financing remained a challenge for small-scale businesses,
adding that, because of the situation exporters were unable to take advantage
of a 100-million-dollar export agreement, under which they could sell their
goods to Libya.
Mr Edward Effah,
Managing Director of Fidelity Group, announced that his Company with five other
fund managers would launch a 50 million-dollar Pan African Investment Fund
early next year. The fund would assist African businesses, particularly those
in the agro -processing sector, which have the potential to prosper.
Other members of the
delegation were Mr Jean-Marie Marquebreucq, Managing Director of Trust Bank, Mr
Daniel Cuylits, Chief Executive of Dutch Belgolaise Bank, which is a majority
share-holder of the Trust Bank and Mr Michael Barth, Chief Executive of FMO, a
Dutch Development Finance Company, also a share holder in Trust Bank.
GRi…/
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SSB
introduces new service to customers
Accra (Greater
Accra) 19 September 2002 - Mrs. Emilia Nortey, Head of Information Technology
(IT) of Social Security Bank (SSB) Limited, has said the mission of the bank is
to be ahead of other commercial banks in the country.
This she believes
would come through the highly motivated, committed, and professional
individuals and teams, as well as the provision of superior customer service,
while offering innovative and attractive products.
She was speaking in
Accra on Tuesday at the launch of 'SSB SIKATEL' also termed the SSB Call
Centre, the first '24-hour' a day and 'seven-day' a week Call Centre in the
country. With the introduction of this new service to customers, the service is
expected to eradicate the present system of queuing for information at the
bank.
Mrs. Nortey said,
the service allows loyal customers and potential customers to seek and have information
about their accounts. She said the service also offers customers the
opportunity to ascertain credible information about the bank's products, their
needs, and their problems.
"It is aimed at
preparing our customers and potential customers towards a more sophisticated
technology and valued added products,” she said. She mentioned some of the
functions of the Call Centre as statement and cheque-book requests, any other
type of account inquiry and customer complaint.
The Head of the IT
assured all customers that the bank has procured additional spares and back-up
equipment in the event of link failure.
GRi…/
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Accra (Greater
Accra) 19 September 2002 - Six equities, led by Mobil Oil Ghana Limited
(MOGL) registered
gains at the close of Wednesday's trading on the stock market but the All-Share
Index recorded an upward shift of only 0.38 points or 0.04 per cent.
The market indicator
closed mid-week trading up at 1,305.58 points compared to 1,305.20 points.
This brought the
change in the year to date up at 36.57 per cent by 0.04 per cent from 36.53 per
cent. Shares traded of nine equities closed higher at 23,400 from a mere 9,800
sold on Monday.
The market
capitalisation went up to 4,851.24 billion cedis from 4,850.50 billion cedis.
In the broader market, there were six price changes, all positive. MOBIL gained
10 cedis to close at 19,710 cedis followed by Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB),
which earned three cedis to finish trading at 3,343 cedis.
CFAO Limited,
Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), SSB Bank (SSB) and Unilever Ghana Limited (UNIL)
all gained one cedi each to close trading at 67 cedis, 26,021 cedis, 3,876
cedis and 4,218 cedis in that order.
The following are
the last prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL
380
AGC 18,805
ALW 4,000
BAT 952
CFAO 67 +1
EIC
4,510
FML
1,627
GBL 900
GCB
3,343 +3
GGL 912
HFC 955
MGL 254
MLC 261
MOGL
19,720 +10
PAF 750
PBC 400
PZ 1,850
SCB 26,021 +1
SPPC 387
SSB
3,876 +1
SWL 285
UNIL 4,218 +1
CMLT 460
GRi…/
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