Ghana Association of Bankers announces Exchange Rates
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Accra (Greater Accra) 18 Jan.
The following are the average inter bank exchange rates of the cedi to the dollar and others derived for other currencies as against the major foreign currencies for today Monday, January 18, as announced by the Ghana Association of Bankers(GAB). Currency Buying Selling US Dollar 2,336.55 2,370.18 Pound Sterling 3,836.49 3,920.28 French Franc 412.69 418.42 Swiss Franc 1,694.36 1,717.09 Deutsche Mark 1,383.82 1,403.66 Canadian Dollar 1,533.25 1,553.94 Japanese Yen 20.46 20.75 Dutch Guilder 1,228.41 1,245.48 S/African Rand 389.26 393.55 Euro 2,708.18 2,745.10 CFA Franc 4.13 4.18 Naira 27.92 28.32

Commer Bank gives new deal to customers
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Ho(Greater Accra) 18 Jan
The Ghana Commercial Bank Limited has decentralised its lending facilities to meet the needs of its customers throughout the country. Mr Michael Nartey Ahulu, Volta Region Area Manager of the bank announced this at Ho last week when he held an end-of-year party for his staff. He said a salaried worker can take a personal loan from any of the branches within 24 hours saying there is no more bureaucracy in the granting of personal loans. Mr Ahulu said the bank has also introduced personal credit line for a certain category of workers as long as such workers are in gainful employment. The bank has also introduced consumer credit scheme under which customers of the bank who want to purchase household appliances such as fridges, television sets and radios will after completing the necessary formalities with the bank, walk to a designated shop to collect the items.

Price levels are stable in Volta region
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Ho(Volta Region) 18 Jan
Price levels of goods and services in the Volta Region have remained stable in the wake of the re-introduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT). Officials of the Volta Region VAT office at Ho said this after a market survey to assess the impact of VAT on prices. Mr Michael Ajago, an official of VAT said manufactured goods such as sugar have registered price reductions from 54,000 cedis per bag to 52,000 cedis, a carton of key soap which sold at 42,000 cedis before VAT, now sells at 41,000 cedis. A carton of milk now sells at 46,000 cedis instead of 47,000 cedis before the introduction of VAT, while a bag of cement now priced at 12,700 cedis instead of 13,000 cedis before VAT. Mr Ajago said food prices are generally stable with maize which is a major staple in the region selling at 500 cedis a kilo from 600 cedis before VAT. Meat (beef) continues to maintain its pro-VAT price of 4,000 cedis per kilogram. Mr Ajago said food dealers explained that their prices are seasonal and do not depend on any tax elements. Mr Emmanuel Akpaku advised shop-owners to contact their suppliers to assist them to file for refund of their sales tax on their old stock of goods. Those who default in lodging their first VAT payments to the VAT office by February 26, this year, will pay a penalty of one million cedis and five thousand cedis for every day that they fail to meet their obligations..

Shares recover in active session
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Accra (Greater Accra) 18 Jan.
Shares prices continued their recovery on the Ghana Stock Exchange today,with the GSE All-Share Index going up by 0.28 points to close at 871.49 points, as against the 871.21 posted on Friday. Total shares traded dropped slightly to 124,360, down from 173,700 posted at the last session. There were 2.5 million offers and 407,710 bids. Market capitalisation appreciated to 3,366 billion cedis on the back of price appreciations in the shares of Ashanti Goldfields Company (AGC), Guinness Ghana Limited (GGL) and Mobil Oil Ghana Limited (MOGL). This compares with 3,351 billion cedis on Friday. In the broader market, eight equities saw price changes. Six went up, while two declined. AGC, riding on a success wave on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), went up by 150 cedis to close at 18,950 cedis. This is above the initial offer price of 18.000 cedis. Mobil Oil Ghana Limited, the most active stock since trading began this year, went up by 1,150 cedis to close at 19,900, the second most highly priced equity. GGL climbed by 50 cedis, to end at 950 cedis and Fan Milk Limited (FML) came out richer by 30 cedis to finish at 1,680 cedis. The other gainers were Mechanical Lloyd Company (MLC), which made six cedis to close at 226 cedis and SSB Bank, which appreciated by a cedi to end at 2,271 cedis. On the losing front, Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) continued its losing streak today, dipping by 70 cedis, to end at 1,030 cedis, and Super Paper Products Company also went down a cedi to close at 250 cedis. The following are the prices of listed equities : ABL 800 AGC 18,950 +150 ALW 2,800 CFAO 55 EIC 2,400 FML 1,680 +30 GBL 2,000 GCB 1,030 - 70 GGL 950 +50 HFC 750=09 MGL 220 MLC 226 +6 MOGL 19,900 +1,150 =20 PAF 400 PTC 400 PZ 900 SCB 24,000 SPPC 250 -1 SSB 2,271 +1 UNIL 1,620 UTC-E 125

Deputy Governor alerts banks against challenges in 1999
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Accra (Greater Accra), 18 Jan.
Mr Emmanuel O. Kumah, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BOG), has said that 1999 would pose great challenges of competition in the banking sector. Banks therefore need to introduce the appropriate innovations to remain competitive, Mr Kumah said at this year's grand award presentation ceremony of the Standard Chartered Bank's "Road to Riches" raffle in Accra over the weekend. The grand award of a Mercedes Benz "C" Class was won by Mr Richard Oppong of Tema. Ms Nancy Anokye-Yeboah won the second prize of two KLM Business Class tickets for Amsterdam and 10 million cedis spending money, while Mr Martin Oteng-Ababio won the third prize of two KLM economy class tickets to the same destination, with six million cedis spending money. Mr Kumah noted that in 1998, the country achieved a "congenial stable macroeconomic environment", saying this was evidenced by an appreciable fall in inflation, a steady drop in interest rates and a stable exchange rate regime. "These successes were achieved through the introduction of appropriate and stringent monetary and fiscal policies, which were painstakingly implemented by the financial institutions, with the banks at the forefront." He said the various promotional packages introduced by the banks in the past year has generated the awareness of savings in the public and helped to mop up excess liquidity in the economy and contributed to effective monetary management. Mr Kumah, however, noted that while those products have helped to reduce excess liquidity, much more money is floating outside the banking system, which demands that banks should introduce more innovations this year to attract more money. He therefore urged the banks to adopt "carefully planned marketing strategies to mobilise more cash deposits, if they are to remain competitive this year." Mr Kumah urged the public to patronise the promotional packages of the banks to enable them to have more cash deposits for loans on a large scale and pledged the central bank's support for the banks, saying, "attempts by banks at mobilisation of cash will be supported and encouraged by the Central Bank." Mr Vishnu Moham, managing director of SCB, said the bank's promotional packages are meant to ensure that the public regains confidence in the banking system and adopt saving habits to give the economy a strong financial base. He said the SCB aims at making banking in Ghana "world class" as the next millennium gets close, adding: "We believe our aim is being achieved through the world class services we provide, making life easier for our customers." The occasion was also used to launch four new products, which would offer customers the chance of winning more prizes, getting big housing loans, discounts on air tickets and access to automated teller machines (ATMs) in four supermarkets in Accra and Kumasi. He said the Home Ownership Mortgage also offers loans to the tune of 100 million cedis for house purchasing, while the Premium Fixed Deposit Account offers customers a fixed interest rate for two years running, "no matter what happens to the market interest rate" and an additional two per cent interest as bonus at the end of the two years. Additionally, customers who save up to five million cedis would be offered 20 per cent discount on all KLM tickets they buy, while those who save between six to 10 million would receive a 30 per cent discount. "KLM has also offered six tickets for New York, London and Hong Kong to be won in a draw in April this year," Mr Chang added. Traders told to honour their tax obligations
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Dormaa-Ahenkro (Brong Ahafo), 18 Jan.
Mr Kwadwo Boateng, district chief executive of Dormaa has asked traders in the to honour their tax obligations promptly to enable the assembly to execute its planned programmes. Speaking at forum over the weekend, he said traditional sources of revenue are important determinants in Common Fund allocation to district assemblies and asked them to expand their revenue base to enable the district to have a larger of the Fund. Mr Boateng said the assembly has set aside 100 million cedis for poverty alleviation from its share of the common fund to support small-scale farmers, industrialists and traders and assured the traders that the assembly would do everything possible to ensure proper environmental sanitation at the markets to enable them to do business in a congenial atmosphere.

Village folks storm mining concession
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Wangarakrom (Western Region), 18 Jan.
The people of Wangarakrom, a farming village, near Tarkwa, last Monday brought work to standstill for than six hours when stormed Teberebie Goldfields Limited (TGL) to stop workers from blocking a path through the mine to the village. They took hostage Mr. M. F. Aboagye, chief security officer of TGL,; he was released only after the police had intervened. The case is now being handled by the Wassa West District Chief Executive, Mr. Solomon Amoah. According to Mr. Henry Adusei Arthur, assemblyman for Teberebie electoral area, there has been a long-standing conflict between the people of Wangarakrom and TGL over the access path to the village which, as a result of mining activities, was diverted. Mr. Arthur said both sides agreed for the construction of the access road outside the mining area to avert any casualty, because of the movement of heavy equipment but the construction of the 28-kilometre road to Tarkwa meant that the people have to pay more for transport. He said early last Monday morning, the people of Wangarakrom stormed part of the TGL concession and brought work to a halt. The chief security officer of TGL who, upon hearing this, went to the scene to talk to the people, was taken hostage. According to the assembly man, the people are demanding that they be resettled because the village is too close to the TGL concession, but the company has refused, because it has already compensated people whose farmlands are in the concession.