Day: April 7, 2024

The Naira on Friday strengthened at the official market, trading at N1,251.05 to a dollar.

Data from the official trading platform of the FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), revealed that the Naira gained N4.02. Treasury Bills Yield Steadies as Naira Slides at Official FX Window

This represents a 0.32 per cent gain when compared to the previous day’s trading on Thursday, exchanging at N1,255.07 to a dollar.

However, the total daily turnover increased to $248.27 million on Friday up from $138.99 million recorded on Thursday.

Meanwhile, at the Investor’s and Exporter’s (IandE) window, the Naira traded between N1,281 and N1,220 against the dollar.

Source: Ghana Web

Joseph Abuabu Dadzie, is to Act as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), effective May 2, 2024.

Portions of his appointment letter from the Office of The President said: ‘Pursuant to Section 10 (2) of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation Act, 1983 (P.N.D.C.L. 64), I am pleased to inform you that the President has appointed you to act as the Chief Executive of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (the ‘Corporation’) pending receipt of the required advice of the honourable Minister for Energy, given in consultation with the Public Services Commission,’ his appointment letter signed secretary to the President Nana Bediatuo Asante and dated Wednesday, 3 April 2024 read.

‘Your appointment is effective 2nd May 2024. I take this opportunity to congratulate you formally on your appointment Kindly indicate your acceptance or otherwise of this appointment, within 14 days of receipt of this letter Please accept the President’s best wishes,’ the letter read.

Prior to
his appointment, Dadzie served as the deputy chief executive (DCE) responsible for Commerce, Strategy, and Business Development within the corporation. He takes over from the current CEO, Opoku-Ahweneeh Danquah.

Source: Ghana Web

The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) has predicted a significant rise in fuel prices in the coming weeks.

In an interview on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme on Friday, the Executive Secretary, Duncan Amoah, attributed the development to the trends in the international market price and the performance of the Cedi.

‘The reversal of the petroleum levy has also contributed to this, and the market is squeezing itself; if not, the rise would have been more significant.

‘We are widely exposed, and the signals as far as international market price movement and the CEDIA’s performance are concerned don’t look too good, and fuel prices will continue to increase,’ he stated.

Fuel consumers in Ghana are bracing for higher prices following the reversal of the suspension of the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy on petroleum products by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).

On the back of this, the NPA on April 3 directed the stakeholders in the oil marketing and distribution sector to apply additional char
ges: 16 pesewas per litre for petrol, 14 pesewas per litre for diesel, and 14 pesewas for every kilogram of liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

This recent surge in fuel prices represents the largest increase since February 2023, when a litre of fuel was priced at GHS15.40 and diesel at GHS15.50.

Reacting to this, Mr. Amoah indicated the only way to alleviate the burden on consumers was through the reduction of taxes.

However, he stated that this will not be possible due to conditionalities in the ongoing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

‘We will be deluding ourselves if we expect the government to do anything at the moment because their hands are tied. The onus now lies with the Bank of Ghana to perform the magic they did in 2022 to appreciate the Cedi,’ he added.

Source: Ghana Web

In 1930, only around 6,000 passengers were travelling by air. By 1934, this had risen to just under 500,000. Fast-forward to 2019 and it had exploded to 4 billion travelers.

In fact, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) projects 8 billion air travelers annually by 2040. The demand for air travel is booming.

To prepare for this, 425 major construction projects (worth around US$450 billion) were already put underway at existing global airports. According to the Centre for Aviation, the industry also invested in 225 new airport projects in 2022.

Bricks and mortar infrastructure is only part of the solution though. Without state-of-the-art, adaptable digital solutions, airlines and airports will struggle to manage passenger numbers. This will affect the quality of the travel experience they’re able to deliver.’

SITA’s Biometrics White Paper, ‘Face the Future’ highlights how the surge in air traveller numbers places extraordinary pressure on existing and new airports, national borders, and airlin
e resources. In short, ‘existing paper-based and manual travel infrastructure and legacy processes simply won’t be able to cope’.

The solution, explains SITA, is harnessing the power of facial and fingerprint biometrics to create a smoother, safer, and slicker air transport experience. By applying advanced technological solutions SITA will also solve other industry challenges, like space constraints, specialist staff shortages, and evolving passenger wants and needs.

The white paper takes us behind the scenes by showcasing successful case studies like the Star Alliance Biometric initiative and the Indian government’s DigiYatra program. Both cases use the end-to-end biometric passenger processing solution SITA Smart Path.

Stefan Schaffner, VP of Airports at SITA, explains: ‘SITA Smart Path biometrically enables every step of the passenger journey, from mobile enrollment to aircraft boarding and every point in between and beyond. With facial recognition across as many airport touchpoints as you need, it lets
passengers manage their identity across their whole journey, in a unique and touchless way. The final result is a radically improved travel experience.’

The white paper goes on to outline more solutions using advanced biometrics technology. These include SITA Flex, a common-use passenger processing platform, and SITA Border Management, which covers border control, risk intelligence, and travel authorization. Both solutions are well recognized in the industry today and used by more than 40 airports globally. The white paper also breaks down SITA’s Digital Travel Credentials (DTC) solution, a hotly anticipated verifiable digital identity shared before arrival (with the passenger’s consent) for seamless border crossing.

As a member of both the IATA’s One ID initiative and the International Civil Aviation Organization’s DTC, SITA is leading the way in rolling out border-grade DTCs. They’re also helping define rigorous standards around passenger identity management within biometrics. An exciting example is how S
ITA DTCs were used to create Aruba’s Happy One Pass, a collaboration which lets passengers arriving at the Caribbean island nation of Aruba ‘can now disembark at international arrivals and cross the border without stopping or even showing a travel document’.

The future of air travel is clearly outlined in the white paper – one that’s safe, ethical, and fully embraces biometrics. It emphasizes the need to prioritize privacy, flexibility, and adaptability.

The white paper’s release, along with its case studies and insights, reveals that the future of travel isn’t some distant concept anymore. It’s happening now. The global demand for travel is rising, and biometrics is at the forefront of this transformation.

Source: Ghana Web

Green Butterfly, an eco-friendly Ghanaian company, Saturday held the ‘1st Saturday Market’ at the Department of Parks and Gardens in Accra.

Participating companies showcased their products which ranged from locally manufactured textiles, footwears, and clothing, crockeries and cook wares, jewelries, foods and drinks skin and hair products, decorative artifacts among a host of other Ghana-made wares and services.

Madam Yasmeen Helwani, Director of Green Butterfly, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said the reason for bringing together such a huge pool of businesses was to promote an eco-friendly culture via the patronage of naturally Ghanaian made products.

The exhibition, she also said, was a platform to help grow the country’s economy by showing what indigenous Ghanaian companies had to offer to the consuming market.

‘It is important that we preserve our local environment and economy hence the need to support our artisans both in Ghana and across Africa. That is, small scale businesses es
pecially those owned by women. we started this green butterfly market every third Saturday of each month to help the marginalised but talented artisans who don’t have shops to also get the needed patronage, ‘she said.

She said the event, held for 14 years, would help mitigate capital flight from the country and continent in general because it promoted the patronage of locally manufactured products and services only.

‘…We are encouraging our monies to stay local instead of sending them outside to purchase goods in that case we are strengthening our local economy,’ she said.

Harriet Akosua Yeboah, the CEO of Ahwremia Gallery – an art and craft company, said the Green Butterfly’s exhibition programme offered an opportunity for her to showcase her creative abilities.

‘These are not stuff we have gone to buy, and we are selling. They are things that we have created with our hands so when we come to Green Butterfly, we get the kind of clients interested in our eco-friendly aspects of our business such as recycl
ing,’ she said.

For Wood Artists such as Isaac Agyei, the event was not only about money, but the exposure.

‘…If you are in your workshop doing stuff and you don’t have a showroom, this platform is another way to exhibit your things to get new clients. That is why I came here to participate’, he said.

Since 2010 when it was founded, Green Butterfly has empowered several indigenous Ghanaian small-scale businesses and their owners in several sectors of the economy to come to the limelight with the aim of helping them grow and spread their tentacles across the country and to other parts of the continent.

The aim is to help create indigenous wealth and much needed employment in the country and beyond.

Source: Ghana News Agency