Day: June 28, 2024

ONGWEDIVA: Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC) has announced that it will host the inaugural MTC Tech Hub Conference during the Annual Ongwediva Annual Trade Fair in August.

MTC’s Corporate Affairs Manager, John Ekongo made the announcement during a press conference held at Ongwediva on Friday.

The inaugural conference will take place on 28 August 2024, at the OATF, which will be held from 23 to 28 August.

According to Ekongo, the conference aim to showcase cutting-edge technologies with a specific focus on enhancing digital inclusivity in the country.

Ekongo indicated that the conference will be held as a pilot project and is expected to host about 100 people from enterprises, the agriculture sector, the directorate of education and the general public.

‘Our goal is to demonstrate how technological advancements contribute to digital inclusivity,’ he said.

He added that they will also provide free wireless internet for users during the trade fair.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday approved Ghana’s US$360 million third tranche for the implementation of the country’s Post COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG).

This comes following a successful completion of the second review of the US$3 billion three-month Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement, having recently concluded debt restructuring with external creditors.

‘Completion of the second ECF review allows for an immediate disbursement of SDR 269.1 million (about US$360m), bringing Ghana’s total disbursements under the arrangement to about US$1.6 billion,’ the Fund said in a statement on Friday, June 28, 2024.

It noted that all quantitative performance criteria for the second review, and almost all indicative targets were met, with good progress made on the key structural reform milestones, despite some delays.

‘Looking ahead, sustaining macroeconomic policy adjustment and reforms is essential for fully and durable macroeconomic stability and debt s
ustainability – especially during the upcoming electoral period,’ the Fund said.

Kenji Okamura, Deputy Managing Director, IMF, said, ‘Resolve in keeping the domestic revenue mobilisation agenda on track and tightening expenditure commitment controls is critical to avoid policy slippages ahead of the December 2024 general election.’

He also urged the government to continue to improve tax administration, strengthen expenditure control, and management of arrears, enhance fiscal rules and institutions, and improve State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) management.

‘Greater focus on reforms aimed at private sector development is needed to foster inclusive growth and poverty reduction,’ the IMF Deputy Managing Director, said.

Welcoming the development, businesses, manufacturers and traders alike, have urged the government to prioritise stability of the economy, and ensure that it reduced the appetite for accumulating debt that it could not repay.

That should include further reducing inflation and stabilising the depre
ciation of the Cedi through targeted policies, and making the business environment friendlier, including making taxes affordable and easy to pay.

Mr Seth Twum-Akwaboah, Chief Executive Officer, Association of Ghana Industries, said the completion of the country’s debt and the approval of the third tranche US$360m would boost confidence in the economy.

He said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, noting that was important for the government to make policies solidify economic gains and enable businesses have respite to grow and expand.

‘Restructuring does not mean the debt is cleared; the government must continue to work towards making it easy for the productive sectors of the economy to thrive to generate the resources and pay appropriate taxes,’ he said.

‘By so doing the expected revenue would be realised to pay debt when it’s due,’ Mr Akwaboah said, urging the government to manage governance system to lessen the debt burden on Ghanaians.

He noted that the Cedi depreciation, a major challenge
of businesses was fuelled by speculation, leading to uncertainty in the system and the tendency for people to buy the dollar and hoard them even when they did not need it.

‘So, anything that brings confidence into the system is very important, and the government announcing an end to the debt restructuring and the third tranche would help bring confidence to the people and market,’ he said.

‘Most of our businesses have this year suffered a loss of about 23 per cent, mainly due to the depreciation of the Cedi, which does not augur well,’ said, Dr Joseph Obeng, President, Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA).

He urged the government to come up with interventions that would inspire hope into the system, and reduce people’s habit of buying the dollar as a store of value because to speculation.

He expressed confidence about the third tranche US$360m helping to stabilise the economy, and making businesses grow.

Source: Ghana News Agency

 The Sunyani Area of the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) has disconnected electricity power of the Yaa Afari Social Centre owing to an outstanding debt of GHC21,000.

The facility, located in Baanafour, a suburb of Drobo in the Jaman South Municipality, was also found to be operating under a residential meter instead of a commercial meter.

The disconnection occurred during a visit by a team of NEDCo officials as part of the phase five revenue mobilization and Loss control exercise which started on June 24, 2024.

However, the St. Mary Catholic Hospital in Drobo, which owed GHC67,000, came to an agreement with NEDCo on payment terms. While the Holy Family Nursing and Midwifery Training College – St. Mary’s Campus in Drobo also agreed to settle its debt of GHC16,195.

Additionally, the authorities of Our Lady of Providence Girls’ Senior High School in Kwasiduokrom agreed on settlement plan to their outstanding balance of GHC396,000 with NEDCo.

During a media briefing following the exercise,
Mr. Augustine Akolgo Nsor, the General Revenue Protection Officer for the Sunyani Area of NEDCo, emphasized the importance of the exercise in providing valuable insights into technical issues affecting both the utility provider and its customers.

Mr. Nsor on the loss control activities, stated that NEDCo officials in the field had been advised to gather information in cases where customers with meters were not receiving bills, to ensure proper procedures were followed.

He stressed the financial impact of power loss, noting that every kilowatt of power lost translated into lost revenue and emphasized the importance of accounting for all units of power used by customers to prevent financial losses for the utility provider.

Furthermore, Mr. Nsor underscored the necessity for NEDCo to invest in network improvements, saying power fluctuations and outages were consequences of insufficient funds for upgrades.

He said it was time for NEDCo to adopt smart technologies to enhance customer service and reduce operati
onal burdens, acknowledging that such innovations required financial resources to implement effectively.

Source: Ghana News Agency

A consultative stakeholders’ learning event for key players in the shea industry has been held in Tamale.

It offered the platform for learning and experience sharing on quality and standard shea production to improve the shea industry and create more jobs as well as other business opportunities in northern Ghana.

This forms part of the implementation of the Shared Business Empowerment Project being carried out by Global Shea Alliance, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation among other consortium partners such as SOFTtribe, Advans, Women for Change, Agrocenta and Nuts for Growth.

The event attracted key stakeholders in the shea industry including women and young people in the Northern Region.

Mr Aaron Adu, the Managing Director, Global Shea Alliance, speaking at the event, said it was to encourage the youth, especially women, to venture into shea production to create dignified jobs and business opportunities.

He said the shea industry was endowed with profitable opportunities, which when maximised,
could contribute to reducing unemployment in the country.

He said Global Shea Alliance, under the partnership, set out to create 30,000 dignified and fulfilling jobs in northern Ghana, and reported that 32,000 jobs had been created so far after two and a half years of implementation.

He advised youth groups, cooperatives, small and medium-sized enterprises and individuals to prioritise joining the shea industry to enhance economic transformation and improve their livelihoods.

Mr Gottfried Odamtten Sowah, the Acting Head, Entrepreneurship Development, Mastercard Foundation, expressed the preparedness of the Foundation to support in creating employment opportunities.

Three million dignified jobs had already been created with 70 per cent being women as part of its young African work strategy.

He said the needs of the youth in the country were not homogeneous and called for more sustainable investment in the youth space to address issues of youth unemployment in the country.

Madam Zakaria Fatima, Secretary,
Boribijerisuli Cooperative Shea Processing Centre, who shared her experience, said adequate investment in the shea industry was a viable option to encourage young people into the sector.

She said the laborious system of shea production was not profitable and sustainable enough thus making the sector a preserve for poor and older women.

Miss Vanessa Ivy Dodoo, who served as an intern at the Shared Business Empowerment Project, recounted her experience with women at Gushegu Shea Cooperative Association.

She said technological support and adequate facilities, especially in the rural communities, would help make shea production more attractive to the youth.

Meanwhile, prior to the learning event, a team from the Global Shea Alliance, Mastercard Foundation and partners inaugurated an ultramodern shea processing centre for Boribijerisuli Shea Cooperative Association, and an early childhood development centre for the children of the women, who would be working at the processing centre at Nwodua in the Kumbungu D
istrict of the Northern Region.

The centre would benefit about 13 communities including Kumbungu, Sagnarigu and Tolon districts in the Northern Region.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Ghana has for the first time in about 30 years, reclassified Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) through a new regulatory instrument.

The Legislative Instrument (LI), known as the Ghana Enterprises Agency Classification of Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Regulation, 2023, LI 2470, is to streamline the classification of MSMEs in the country.

It is recognition of changing trends in the business landscape, and to help attract local and international investment, facilitate better data analysis for policies, and help in creating a more conducive environment for MSMEs to thrive.

The launch of the new regulation, which coincided with the commemoration of the 2024 International MSME Day, was done in Accra on Thursday, June 27, 2024.

The commemoration of the day was on the theme: ‘MSMEs and SDGs; leveraging the power and resilience of MSMEs to accelerate sustainable development and eradicate power in times of multiple crises’.

Per the new LI, micro enterprises are those with permanent emp
loyees from one to thirty persons, with a turnover of up to GHS150,000 or a fixed asset valued at the same amount.

An enterprise is a small business which has permanent employees between six and thirty persons, a turnover of more than GHS150,000 and up to GHS6 million, a fixed asset value up GHS6 million.

Medium enterprises are those with permanent employees between 31 and 100 persons, a turnover of more than GHS6m and up to GHS18m, a fixed asset valued at the same amount.

Meanwhile, enterprises that employ people exceeding 100, a turnover or fixed asset value exceeding GHS18m are also medium enterprises.

Speaking at the event, Mr Kobina Tahir Hammond, Minister of Trade and Industry, said the new classification was to address policy inconsistencies and tailor government and other development partner interventions to MSMEs.

He explained that the classification had been necessitated by economic expansion, population growth, and technological advancements.

He said the government was not oblivious to the ch
allenges confronting MSMEs, which constituted about 90 per cent of businesses, 80 per cent of workforce, and 70 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The Minister said the GEA had been repositioned to facilitate the needed financial assistance, provide capacity building, and market access, to enable MSMEs contribute more to the economy.

He lauded Ghanaian youth for their innovations in leading transformation in the MSMEs sector and their commitment to Ghana’s industrialisation agenda, adding that the government would continue to empower and support them to thrive.

Mrs Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), GEA, said, ‘for the past 30 years, the country has not redefined what an MSME is… we can’t push or design policy interventions, when we haven’t defined what an MSME is.’

The new classification, she said, was to give direction and create more space for SMSEs in the country to grow, enabling the Agency to also come up with new tools for its operations and supports to MSMEs.

Sh
e said MSMEs continued to play a major role towards sustainable development and poverty eradication, and ‘to see growth, we need to migrate businesses from micro to small, and small to medium.’

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Seth Twum-Akwaboah, CEO, Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), said, the reclassification would help to clearly define MSMEs, and package the needed assistance to them.

It would also help know the appropriate taxes for the respective enterprises, therefore, engender tax compliance and enable the government gain more revenue to support development projects as well as the MSMEs.

He, however, called on the government to ensure that policies were targeted towards supporting MSMEs which constituted over 80 per cent of enterprises in the country, to make them grow sustainably.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Professor Joshua Yindenaba Abor, a Financial Economist, has recommended the mainstreaming of climate finance into the operations of Development Finance Institution (DFI).

The professor of Finance at the University of Ghana Business School observed that DFIs has the capacity to mobilise additional finance, develop relevant frameworks and implement green projects to ensure that sustainable climate policy was fully compatible with Sustainable Development Goals and other climate agreements.

‘DFI can achieve the global good of climate action by mainstreaming climate change into their activities and operations, adaptation and financing mechanisms,’ he said at an inaugural lecture of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS).

He was speaking on the topic, ‘Rethinking Development Finance for Inclusive Green Finance: Are there Financial Stability Implications?’.

He said DFI such as the Development Bank of Ghana were critical actors in mobilising resource towards addressing climate change and sustainable develo
pment.

‘DFI leverage financial resources from capital markets owing to their strong credit ratings and this enables them to provide long-term capital to support development projects,’ he said.

Prof Abor advised that financing provided by DFI especially multilateral development banks (MBD) must focus on areas such as smart/green agriculture, clean energy, and green infrastructure.

He also encouraged collaboration between MDB and National Development Banks (NDB) for contextual knowledge on safeguards, risk management framework and appropriate pricing model before lending to target entities.

He said DFIs must among other things engage shareholders for political will to support climate change fight and leverage private sector investments to support climate-related projects.

On the other hand, he said government had a critical role of increasing public investment in climate-related areas through domestic revenue from appropriate carbon taxes.

He also called for the revision of the architecture of channelling
Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to allow surplus on SDR to serve as a source of international public funding for climate change.

Prof Abor also highlighted the need to explore voluntary and compliance carbon markets, promote intra regional trade to reduce carbon emissions and ensure efficient management of natural resources.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Madam Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the Minister of Communication, has touted the prospects of Ghana’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy as a game-changer.

The Government in 2022, with the support from the GIZ and other partners, developed the national strategy to guide the nation’s adoption of the fast-developing assistive technology.

The Minister, in a speech read on her behalf at the Eighth Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the Communication Workers Union in Ho, said the Strategy was being held up by eight dedicated pillars to ensure the needed capacity and sustainable environment were created for competitiveness in the global digital market.

Pillar one would ‘expand AI education and training,’ building generations of graduates with specialisation in various fields while ensuring inclusion across geography and gender, she said.

‘Subsequent pillars would ensure youth empowerment for AI jobs and research capabilities to help build and maintain acumen for future tech.’

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said the Digital
infrastructure would be ‘deepened’ to support AI development.

Another major pillar was the provision of ‘improved access’ to affordable data and cloud services, also based on inclusivity and national access.

‘Pillar four will facilitate data access and governance, providing the needed quality, privacy and security for the digital ecosystem.’

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said a robust AI ecosystem and community would be developed, which would empower AI talents and projects by building collaboration and knowledge sharing.

‘AI adoption in key sectors would be accelerated, and the support structures of the national strategy would leverage the private sector to promote the technology in various areas of the economy.’

‘One major pillar would invest in AI applied research, and with another promoting AI adoption in the public sector.’

Ghana’s AI ecosystem should be future-oriented and able to drive value and progress towards local challenges and sustainable development, she said.

‘We want to focus on research to address
local challenges and promote sustainable development.’

‘Our aim is to enhance public services through AI, drive demand for AI technologies through procurement, and build capacity for responsible AI adoption through the public sector.’

She said an ethical AI framework had been developed to ensure the technology supported the country’s development and urged the Union to consider strongly the reskilling and upskilling of workers as part of initiatives to secure jobs for the present and the future.

The Quadrennial Delegates Conference was on the theme: ‘The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Future of Work: The Role of the Union,’ during which the Communication Workers Union expressed strong concerns over job losses in the wake of AI adoption in the industrial landscape.

‘AI is no longer a science fiction,’ Madam Vida Quansah, Chairman of the Union, said while expressing concerns over job losses despite the touted benefits of the technology.

Mr Joseph Yao Hotor, the General Secretary of the Union, coun
ted hundreds of job cuts at major communications and media companies and said the Union would take a stand.

‘While the Union fully supports technological progress, it strongly objects to the introduction of technologies that would result in job loss and displacement of workers,’ he stated.

Present at the Conference was the Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress, Mr Anthony Yaw Baah, and heads of sister unions.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has announced the maiden minimum producer price of mango per kilogramme at GHS 4.00 for the 2024 main mango season (May to July).

It said a producer with first-grade mango could negotiate for a better price, and any quality below the second-grade would not be accepted by the industry and hence should be discarded or sold at a scrap value.

This was announced by Dr Bryan Acheampong, Minister of Food and Agriculture in a statement read for him by Mr Yaw Frimpong Addo, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry (Crops) at a media launch in Accra on Friday.

Dr Acheampong said; ‘I am delighted to stand before you today to address an important milestone in our agricultural sector by implementing the minimum producer price (MPP) for mango.

‘This achievement demonstrates our collective efforts to promote sustainable agricultural practices and ensure fair returns for our hardworking farmers and all the other actors within the mango value chain in the country.’

He said in accordance wi
th Section 3® of the Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) Act, 2029 (Act 1010), and Regulation 47(1) of the Tree Crops Regulations, 2023, the TCDA, in collaboration with the Federation of Associations of Ghanaian Exporters (FAGE), mango actors, stakeholders, and with funding from Deutsche Gesellschaft fr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), has developed a pricing formula for the determination of the MPP for mango.

‘We are grateful for the efforts you made in the days of three different workshops to develop this formula,’ he stated.

Dr Acheampong said despite efforts to support the mango industry, it was faced with several challenges which ranged from trading, lack of inadequate processing facilities to add value to the produce, transportation, limited access to advanced farming techniques, inputs, among others.

‘This often results in farmers selling their mangoes at lower prices due to the perishable nature of the fruit,’ he stated, adding that: ‘The good news is that the Ministry, together with the TC
DA Board and our esteemed stakeholders, is diligently working to develop a programme aimed at enhancing the current processing capacity for mangoes in the country.’

He said the initiative sought to ensure that the fruits do not go to waste due to the recurring gluts that have plagued the industry over the years.

‘This initiative is not just about setting prices; it is about supporting our farmers, ensuring they receive fair compensation for their hard work, and giving information to the buyers and processors to plan their businesses, to foster a sustainable and prosperous agricultural sector,’ the Minister stated.

Mr William Agyapong Quaittoo, Chief Executive Officer of the TCDA said establishing the minimum price was crucial for transparent negotiations with buyers and local process, and for building trust among value chain participants.

‘Currently, Ghana boasts approximately 200,000 hectares of mango plantations, producing between 300,000 to 400,000 metric tons annually, with the potential to reach thre
e million metric tons per year,’ he stated.

Mr Quaitto said the price would serve as the benchmark for compensating production costs and resolving commercial disputes, ensuring a universal reference across the production-market-consumption chain.

The TCDA was established by Act 1010 in 2021, to regulate and oversee the production, processing, and trading of six major tree crops: oil palm, coconut, mango, shea, rubber, and cashew.

The Chief Executive expressed gratitude to the GIZ for creating sustainable employment through Agribusiness Programmes.

Present at the launch was Mr Davies Narh Korboe, President of FAGE, and Mr Kwaku Yeboah Asuamah, President of the National Mango Growers Association of Ghana.

They expressed gratitude to the Ministry for announcing the minimum price of mango and that the initiative would go a long way to motivate farmers to produce more quality grade mangoes for domestic consumption and for exporter.

Source: Ghana News Agency