Sunday, April 06, 2008

Inflation goes up

THE Consumer Price Index (CPI) which measures the average changes in prices of goods and services in the country for the month of February edged up from 0. 4 percentage points to 13. 21 per cent.
This is the third consecutive time that inflation has been on the rise since November last year.
The January inflation rate was 12.81 per cent.
Announcing the figures at the monthly press conference in Accra yesterday, the Head of Economic Statistics Division of the Ghana Statistical Service, Mr Magnus Ebo Duncan, said the high prices of some basic foodstuffs such as fish, bread and cereals were responsible for the surge in inflation rate.
He said these products contributed 0.89 points and 0.55 points respectively, adding that some other contributors are vegetables, potatoes and other tuber vegetable groups accounted for 0.38 points and meat group accounted for 0.35 points.
Mr Duncan said the non-food component of the index contributed 0.85 percentage points to the index with furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance group contributing 0.43 points. Other contributors were clothing and footwear which accounted for 0.34 points to that sector.
Inflation has been on the rise since November, 2007 where it stood at 11.40. It went up in December last year to 12.75 per cent and was up again in January this year to 12.81 per cent.
Mr Duncan said the monthly rate of inflation as compared with the previous month was 1.59 per cent.
The monthly rate shows how much the general price levels have changed in two consecutive months.

Non-traditional exports post strong growth

Story: Boahene Asamoah

NON-TRADITIONAL Exports (NTEs) have shown strong performance over the past years, reaching $1.164 billion, above the $1 billion target for 2006.
The exports increased from $460 million in 2001 to $1,164 million in 2007, showing a growth rate of over 150 per cent.
On annual basis, the growth translates into a 20.7 per cent increase yearly.
According to a report from the Ghana Exports Promotion Council (GEPC), made available to the the Daily Graphic, total national merchandise exports of Ghana had shown positive growth over the past three years.
They have grown from $2.74 billion in 2004 to $4.19 billion in 2007, representing a 53.08 per cent growth in 2007 over the 2004 figures.
Within the same period from 2004 to 2007, NTEs grew from $705 million to $1,164 million, showing a growth rate of 65.08 per cent.
However, the percentage contribution of NTEs to total exports rose from 26.14 per cent in 2006 to 27.76 per cent in 2007.
Although the current year under review, 2007 follows the general trend of increase in NTEs achieved over the last five to six years, the export earnings achieved in 2007 exceeded the $1 billion earmarked for 2006 but falls below the expected amount of $1.2 billion forecast for the year 2007.
NTEs percentage contribution to total exports in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 were about 25.74 per cent, 28.09 per cent, 26.14 per cent and 27.76 per cent respectively.


Review of NTEs Sector 2007
Total value of NTEs in 2007 was approximately $1,164 million. This depicts a growth of 30.42 per cent over the 2006 figures ($892 million). Previous year's performance showed an increase from $778 million in 2005 to $892 million in 2006, representing 14.8 per cent growth.
The performance of the sector over the period 2004-2007 is shown graphically below:
The total earnings of the non-traditional export sector in 2007 were made up of earnings from three main sub-sectors as follows:
The agricultural sector contributed by $197.24 million, representing a 16.9 per cent of the total exports. The manufacturing sector contributed $963. 5 million, representing 82.7 per cent while the handicraft sector contributed $3.79 million representing 0.32 per cent.
The GEPC report said the performance of semi processed/processed and the agricultural sub-sectors grew positively by 35.53 per cent and 11.14 per cent over the 2006 earnings. However, the handicrafts sub-sector recorded a negative growth of 15.59 per cent over 2006 earnings.
This was because major buyers of Ghanaian crafts in the United States of America (USA) turned to the Far-East, especially Indonesia, India and China for handicraft supplies with relatively good finishing and functionality.

Performance of NTEs by leading products
The 10 top performing products included cocoa paste which contributed 12 per cent worth $139.75 million, followed by canned tuna with 8.51 per cent of total exports amounting to $99.15 million.
Veneers accounted for 7.50 per cent with $87.8 million worth of veneers exported, $86.6 million worth of cocoa butter was exported, representing 7.45 per cent of total exports.
Other products including plastic wares, plywood, fresh or chilled tunas, nutural rubber sheets, shea nuts and cut pineapples, all made impressive gains during the 2007 export year. The total value of the top 10 earning products amounted to US$ 671,112,968 representing 57.63 per cent of the total NTEs for 2007.
According to reports, the increase in cocoa paste and butter earnings was due to increases in the futures prices for the product during the period on the London futures market.
Moreover, the increase in earnings was partly due to capacity expansion of a major exporter of cocoa paste, Barry Callebaut Ghana Limited and a major exporter of Cocoa butter, Cocoa Processing Company Limited.
The report said veneer sheets and plywood earnings increased significantly. This is mainly because a major exporter, John Bitar Company Limited, expanded its plant capacity and also acquired a defunct wood export company, Metro Star Limited together with its buyers.
Canned tuna also increased significantly because of the increase in the average world market price of the product and partly to the contribution of Myroc Food Processing Company Limited which did not feature in 2006.
In the agricultural sub-sector, the top export earner was frozen tuna which saw a 33.78 per cent increase from $39.4 million in 2006 to $52.8 million
Shea nuts, pineapple, cashew nuts and banana recorded negative growths of -0.88%, -29.40%, -9.99% and -3.54% respectively, compared with the 2006 performance.
Earnings from frozen tuna and other frozen fish grew significantly over the period, due to a huge investment and the utilisation of modern fishing implements by Panofi Company Limited.
Export of pineapples experienced a negative growth because of the fall in pineapple production due to many of the outgrowers leaving the industry.
Cashewnuts earnings decreased over the period due to the inability of one of the exporters, Rals Commodities Company Limited to export in the year under review. The company made US$3.2 million in the year 2006.
In the handicraft sub-sector, hides and skins were the top earners in that sector with 274 per cent increase in exports in that sector from $378,873 to $1,416,980.
The ten leading general product categories each contributed over US$30 million to NTEs earnings. The lead earning category, cocoa products, contributed 21.11 per cent to total NTE earnings in 2007, while rubber and rubber products, the tenth earning category, contributed 2.63 per cent to total NTE earnings in 2007.
The 10 leading general product categories were made up of seven processed or semi processed and three agricultural products. One out of the ten product categories, namely; horticultural products recorded a negative growth of -6.37 per cent in 2007 compared with 2006.
The performance of the NTE sector by markets indicates that the markets of the European Union and ECOWAS absorbed 46.55 per cent and 31.36 per cent respectively of NTE exports from Ghana. Other African countries and other developed countries as well as other countries including emerging or transitional economies/markets absorbed 2.36 per cent, 9.25 per cent , 10.48 per cent respectively of NTE exports from Ghana. This is shown in the chart above.
According to the GEPC report, a comparison of the performance of the various markets in 2007 to 2006 reveals that all the markets recorded positive growth. The EU market performance grew by 29.10 per cent whereas the markets of the other African countries, other developed countries and other countries including emerging markets grew by 8.97 per cent, 8.93 per cent and 14.89 per cent respectively.
In 2007, Ghana's single largest market for the NTEs was the United Kingdom, absorbing 11.42 per cent of total NTEs during the period
Nigeria which was overtaken by Burkina Faso in 2005 and 2006 has resurfaced as Ghana's leading market in the ECOWAS sub region.
Significantly, there was a positive growth in Nigeria's market share of total NTEs of 67.93 per cent in 2007 relative to 2006. Burkina Faso, the second most important market in the sub region registered a negative growth of 8.13 per cent in 2007 market share over 2006.

Tullow Oil pays $2.3 million tax

Tullow Oil (fin)

Story: Boahene Asamoah

TULLOW Oil Plc, an oil exploration, developing and producing company, has presented a cheque for $2.3 million withholding tax to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for two operations it carried out last year.
At the presentation ceremony in Accra today, the Commissioner of the IRS, Major (retd) Dan Ablorh-Quarcoo, commended the company for their initiative, adding that in most cases the service had to chase companies to pay their withholding taxes.
He said the company had demonstrated high sense of responsibility by adopting self compliance in the payment of the witholding tax.
The Country Manager of Tullow Oil Plc, Mr Kofi Esson, said the payment of the tax was part of the company’s obligation to the state and that the tax represented two operations the company undertook last year.
Tullow Oil signed an agreement with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to explore, develop and produce oil in the country last year.


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Tullow Oil pays $2.3 million tax

Tullow Oil (fin)

Story: Boahene Asamoah

TULLOW Oil Plc, an oil exploration, developing and producing company, has presented a cheque for $2.3 million withholding tax to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for two operations it carried out last year.
At the presentation ceremony in Accra today, the Commissioner of the IRS, Major (retd) Dan Ablorh-Quarcoo, commended the company for their initiative, adding that in most cases the service had to chase companies to pay their withholding taxes.
He said the company had demonstrated high sense of responsibility by adopting self compliance in the payment of the witholding tax.
The Country Manager of Tullow Oil Plc, Mr Kofi Esson, said the payment of the tax was part of the company’s obligation to the state and that the tax represented two operations the company undertook last year.
Tullow Oil signed an agreement with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to explore, develop and produce oil in the country last year.


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ECOBANK is Best Emerging Market Bank

ECOBANK has been selected as the Best Emerging Market Bank in Cote d'Ivoire, in an exclusive survey to be published in the May 2008 issue of Global Finance magazine.
Global Finance editors - with input from analysts in the industry, corporate executives and banking consultants, selected ECOBANK based on the criteria which includes growth in assets, profitability, strategic relationships, customer service, competitive pricing and innovative products.
A statement issued by the bank quoted Mr Joseph D. Giarraputo, Publisher and President of Global Finance, as saying “We have identified the banks that provide service to corporations seeking to take advantage of substantial opportunities for growth in a sometimes challenging environment”.
It said the ECOBANK Group's Chief Executive Officer, Arnold Ekpe, said “The choice of ECOBANK confirms our position as a leader in the emerging African banking industry and our long-term commitment to the African continent”.
Ms Evelyne Tall, ECOBANK Executive Regional Director for the UEMOA Region, stated that “we are proud of this distinction. It highlights our commitment as a world-class Pan- African bank, to provide convenient, accessible and reliable banking and financial products and services to our customers in Africa”, the statement added.
Mr Charles Daboiko, Managing Director of Ecobank Côte d'Ivoire said “this distinction rewards our dedication to provide superior customer service, before and during difficult times. It motivates us to work harder for our customers, including investors, during this post-conflict era”.
Incorporated in 1985, ECOBANK Transnational Incorporated (ETI) is the parent company of the largest independent regional banking group in Africa.
The ECOBANK Group currently operates in 22 African countries, namely: Benin, Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Liberia, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
In addition, ETI is listed on the stock exchanges in Lagos, Accra and Abidjan (BRV).
The group has over 8,000 employees in over 450 branches. ECOBANK is a full-service bank providing wholesale, retail, investment and transaction banking services and products to governments, financial institutions, multinationals, international organisations, medium, small and micro-businesses and individuals.
Global Finance, which celebrates its 21st year of publishing in 2008, has 50,000 subscribers and more than 284,000 readers in over 158 countries. This audience includes chairmen, presidents, CEOs, CFOs, treasurers and other financial officers responsible for making investments and strategic business decisions for large global companies and financial institutions.
Global Finance also targets the 8,000 key portfolio investors who control over 80 per cent of all assets under professional management.

Prudential Bank to roll out e-banking products

Story: Boahene Asamoah

THE Managing Director of Prudential Bank Ghana Limited, Mr Stephen Sekyere-Abankwa, has said the bank would soon role out electronic banking products in its bid to attract more customers to the bank.
He said the introduction of electronic banking services “will provide convenient, time saving and easy access to banking services”.
Mr Sekyere-Abankwa made this known during the official inauguration of the branch office of the bank at Weija, a suburb of Accra, last Wednesday.
The managing director mentioned some of the electronic banking services as the Auto Teller Machines (ATMs), mobile phone banking, debit and credit cards, point of sale terminals, e-payment, e-marketing and Internet banking.
He said the new services being introduced would complement the traditional banking services that the bank had over the years offered to its numerous customers.
Mr Sekyere-Abankwa said the new branch at Weija was necessitated by the rapid expansion of the area and brings to two, the number of branches in that area.
“The bank plans to add seven more branches to its branch network by the middle of the year 2009,” he stated.
He said the bank had established its presence firmly in the banking sector of the economy and had delivered excellent performance in banking services and products that had made the bank to win numerous awards.
He said the bank was recognised for its service during the Ghana Banking Awards over the past two years and was adjudged the Best Bank in Long Term Loan Financing in 2005.
“The name Prudential Bank Limited is now synonymous with excellence, and today, we have brought our services to the business centre of Weija,” he said, adding, “We assure you that you will find us a vital partner in the growth of your businesses.”
Mr Sekyere-Abankwa encouraged micro, small and medium-scale enterprises to do business with the banks to ensure the growth of their business.