Economy and Finance

Government is to set up a fertilizer manufacturing firm as part of a re-engineering of the agriculture sector, with the long-term goal of saving one billion cedis expended annually on importing some food items, Vice President John Dramani Mahama announced on Monday.

According Vice President Mahama, one billion cedis is presently used in importing rice, sugar, corn, poultry products, tomato puree and sea foods, a situation, he said, would be reversed through a restructuring of the agriculture industry.

The reorganization, he said, is to make Ghana “a net exporter of agricultural products” in the foreseeable future.

Interacting with the executives of the National Farmers and Fishermen Award Winners Association (NFFAWAG) at the Castle on Monday, Vice President said government would take advantage of its oil industry to diversify the agriculture sector.

One of the by-products of oil industry is chemical manure or fertilizers, which have proven to be useful in sustaining crop yield, especially for farmers engaged in all year farming, a key factor in bringing about food security.

The establishment of the fertilizer firm, the Vice President explained, would augment efforts in ensuring a sustainable agriculture industry, which would be central in boosting farmer incomes and eliminating poverty.

The Vice President acknowledged farmers as the “moving force of the country” and said government was open to an all-year consultation with them to brainstorm on all issues affecting their work.

He assured them of President J.E.A. Mills’ commitment to make agriculture his topmost priority, through a number of initiatives that would make it easier to access funds for agriculture investment, and a youth in agriculture policy to attract ingenious youth into the sector.

Explaining, he said an export and agriculture investment fund would be launched to make it easier for people to venture into modernized commercial farming.

He said ready markets would be created for farmers to ensure that those who invest in the sector do not run at a lost while protective measures would be put in place to save fishing from its current woes.

For instance, the School Feeding Programme would be restructured to ensure that locally produced staples are used in the diet of the children.

Similarly, he said, government was working to deal with the havoc being wrecked on indigenous fishing industry by foreign pair trawlers, even as he warned their Ghanaian collaborators not to support such illegal acts.

Equally, he said both the shea and tomato industry respectively are to be revamped as both would play key roles in government’s effort to reduce poverty among women, especially in the three northern regions through emphasis on increased yield and processing for exports.

Mr Philip Abayori, President of NFFWAG, listed a number of constraints bedeviling the agriculture sector including limited credit, rising cost of inputs and low density of agric extension officers to assist farmers.

He said currently, 5000 farmers are entitled to only one extension officer, a situation, he said, must be urgently address as these officers help diffuse scientific findings that are critical in raising farm yields.

He also asked the government to take a second look as the fertilizer subsidy policy as it was benefiting the distributing companies at the expense
of framers.


Source: GNA

The President, John Evans Atta Mills, has endorsed the appointment of Dr. Henry Kofi Wampah as the First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BOG).

The appointment was announced in a press statement issued in Accra on Friday and signed by Mahama Ayariga, Presidential Spokesperson.

Dr. Wampah, who formerly worked as the Director of Research and Statistics for the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI), replaces Dr. Mahammudu Bawumia who resigned from the position in mid-January 2009 after an unsuccessful vice presidential ambition with the opposition New Patriotic Party.

Dr Kofi Wampah worked with the Bank of Ghana for 15 years in various capacities in the Public Finance and Statistics Offices of the Research Department and became the head of Research Department from February 1996 to February 2001.

He also worked with the International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC, as a Special Appointee in 1998. He also held various teaching appointments with McGill University, Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), University of Ghana, Legon in the areas of economic statistics and mathematics. He has participated in many international conferences and seminars.

Dr Wampah obtained a B.A. (Hons) Economics and Statistics degree in 1977 from University of Ghana, Legon and thereafter an M.A. (1983) and Ph.D (1986) degrees in economics with specializations in econometrics and public finance from McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

The statement noted that President Atta Mills, in consultation with the Council of State, has also appointed eight persons as Board of Directors of the Bank of Ghana.

They include: Dr. Sydney Laryea, Mrs. Diana Ayitey, Mrs. Lily Esther Nkansah and Togbe Afede XIV.

The rest are; Mr. Kweku Bram Larbi, Dr. Nii Moi Thompson, Dr. Obu Andah and Mr. Sam Appah.



Story by Isaac Essel/Myjoyonline.com

The UT Bank will officially take-off from April this year or early May, officials of UT Holdings, parent company of UT Financial Services Limited, have said.

This would mean BPI Bank will be fully re-branded to UT Bank as the Central Bank has approved the new name for the financial intermediary. Additionally, the Registrar General’s Department has also given the nod for the name BPI to be changed to UT Bank.

The Bank of Ghana has also expressed satisfaction with the acquisition and regulatory processes.

After the completion of the re-branding exercise, the bank would become an indigenous bank and therefore will have up till 2012 to meet the new minimum capital requirement of GH¢60 million as proposed by the Central Bank at the beginning of this year.

Last week, UT Financial Services released impressive financial results despite the challenging environment it operated in.

Profit before tax, which is of interest to shareholders, went up by 28 percent to GH¢7.6 million, while business loans and interest income recorded 24 percent and 17 percent growth respectively.

Growth rates and operating margins of the company were at or near the top of the financial services industry, whilst simultaneously maintaining strong capital levels and good liquidity.

The company’s auto loans portfolio also grew from GH¢3.8 million to GH¢9.5 million.

Market watchers believe that these impressive performances would inspire UT Bank to become a strong player in the industry which is hugely dominated by about 10 banks.

It has been a vibrant financial provider and can easily transform its performance into a full-fledged bank, a financial analyst told this paper.

UT Holdings acquired 51 percent stake in BPI, making it the majority shareholder, a situation that confirmed earlier indications by UT Holdings to acquire a strategic stake in a bank operating in Ghana. 

Hopaco Ventures of Malaysia, the former majority shareholder still has 42 percent shares with the remaining holdings going to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).

By Charles Nixon Yeboah

A United Bank for Africa (UBA) delegation, led by its Board Chairman, Kwame Pianim, paid a courtesy call on the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II at the Manhyia Palace last week after commissioning and launching eight new branches of the bank nationwide.

The call was to pay homage to His Royal Majesty on the occasion of his 10 years anniversary as King of the Asante Kingdom as well as support his Education Trust Fund.

The delegation was made up of Mr. Pianim; the MD/CEO, Nnamdi Okonkwo; Group Head, Retail and Commercial, Charles Odonkor; Chief Operations Officer, Cisse Morissouali; Group Head of Operations, Andy Collison; Nii Amponsah Quainoo of Corporate Communications; and  Branch Managers of  KNUST and Suame, Isaac Oppong and  Daniel Lawson.

Mr. Okonkwo, on behalf of the board and management of UBA presented a cash donation of GH¢5,000.00 to the Asantehene Education Trust Fund in support of educating the youth.

In his remarks, Mr. Pianim mentioned that UBA Ghana was grateful to the Asantehene for his sterling, remarkable and forthright qualities and vision during the 10 years of his reign.

Mr. Pianim also informed the Asantehene about the bank’s robust ICT platform which first introduced user-friendly electronic products unto the banking market in Ghana.

In his final statement, Mr. Pianim re-iterated UBA’s unflinching effort at democratizing banking in the country and that the bank in its expansion strategy would make its services available to both banked and unbanked customers.  

The Asantehene in his statement unreservedly thanked the delegation for making time to visit him and also contributing immensely to his Fund as well as acknowledging his sterling leadership to Asanteman.

The Otumfuo advised that the expansion strategy of the bank be strictly adhered to “because in doing so, the commitment of democratizing banking the UBA way, would be achieved”.

From Business desk

Mr Fred France, Chief Executive of Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS), has urged the public to use their e-zwich cards for internal money transfers in order to derive the full benefit of the card.

The biometric card introduced last year is used to pay for items at shops and places where there are e-zwich points of sale (POS) devices. But the card also provides other services including money transfer from a cardholder to another and a payment distribution system that enables employers to pay salaries and wages directly onto their employees’ cards.

Speaking to the media in Accra on Tuesday, Mr France explained that the money transfer service on the e-zwich card enabled people to transfer money to another cardholder in real time.

He said because the POS worked both on and offline, the service could be available in rural areas. According to him, rural banks had now been connected to the e-zwich platform to make the money transfer service more effective.

Besides, a significant number of post offices had been hooked onto the national platform under a project that would make sure that all post offices provided e-zwich services in order to increase access to the e-zwich service, he added.

The national electronic payment system was introduced by the Bank of Ghana to modernize the payment system as part of the financial sector reform programme.

It aims to reduce cash transaction in the economy and channel more money through the banking system, a move that can ultimately reduce the cost of borrowing.

Mr France said the payment system was very much on course with some major projects to be implemented soon.

They include payment of school fees using e-zwich cards in second and third cycle schools, installation of e-zwich compliant Automated Teller Machines ATMs, and payment of public sector salaries onto e-zwich cards.



Source: GNA

The Value Added Tax (VAT) Service is to adopt a software that would help monitor revenue generated by the Communication Service Tax (CST) popularly known as the “Talk Tax”.

Mr. Harry Owusu, Executive Secretary of the Revenue Agencies Governing Board, who made this known, said this was crucial to enable the VAT to meet its projected revenue targets of the CST.

He said the software would therefore provide VAT the means to either confirm or debunk any false returns made by their agents during their submissions.

Mr Owusu said this at the opening of a two-day retreat organised for management and other key personnel of the Service to discuss strategies to improve the tax administration in the country.

The workshop is under the theme: “Strategic Positioning of the VAT Service for Effective and Efficient tax Collection for a Better Ghana”.

Mr Owusu said although the CST had bagged 47.03 million Ghana cedis for government since its inception in June last year, the figure was 15 per cent below target.

He hoped with the software, the Service would be able to fully monitoring its agents and expand operations to cover other service providers who qualified to collect the CST.

Mr Owusu commended the staff for achieving their revenue targets last year and urged them to again work hard to achieve this year’s target of 855.35 million Ghana cedis.

Mr Anthony Ewereko Minlah, Commissioner of the VAT Service, urged the staff to work hard to exceed its revenue target of 45 per cent this year.

He said the current global financial and economic crisis called for more efforts to generate more internal revenue; hence the need for tax authorities to increase their tax yield.

The Commissioner called for frank discussions from the participants to help maximize revenue, bearing in mind government’s intentions to review the tax administration system in the country.

Mr Seth Terkper, Deputy Minister of Finance, called on the staff to redouble their efforts to help implement effective tax regimes for the country.

He also asked the staff to reflect on the need to promote integration among all revenue agencies, the proposed National Revenue Authority and how the National Identification exercise could help improve tax identification systems in the country.

He expressed government’s commitment to support revenue agencies to generate the needed resources for development.



Source: GNA