Monday morning business wraps
Govt plans $250m gas pipeline to Tema
While plans are underway to join the Ghana Gas and the West African pipelines, government is planning another dedicated pipeline from the Western Region to Tema to help evacuate larger volumes of gas in the near future.
The second pipeline will also serve as a substitute whenever problems are encountered with the West African pipeline.
Chief Director of the Petroleum Ministry, Prof Thomas Akabza, told BFT that the project, estimated to cost around $250 million, has become necessary in anticipation of larger volumes of gas and the increasing number of thermal plants in the Tema area.
Technicians, Prof Akabza said, have determined that up to 350 million standard cubic feet of gas can be evacuated to Tema when the Ghana Gas and the West African pipelines are joined.
Other gas projects, meanwhile, are in the works: the Sankofa project is expected to produce at maximum 170 MMSCFD while some 50 MMSCFD is expected from the Tweneboah, Enyeara and Ntomme (TEN) project n addition to the 120 million from the Jubilee Field.
All that gas cannot be used up in the Aboadze enclave of the Western Region; indeed, Tema is witnessing an increasing of thermal plants in recent times – all of which will require gas to operate.
Distribution of cocoa inputs is intact and transparent – COCOBOD
The free supply of inputs to cocoa farmers by Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) is intact and transparent, an intelligent operative of the Board has declared.
The operative who spoke on behalf of Dr. Stephen Opuni, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the COCOBOD made the declaration at a press briefing organized by the Ashanti Regional Office of the Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CHED), at Tepa in the Ahafo-Ano North District of Ashanti Region.
It was a reaction “to clarify and set the records straight” regarding an allegation by Nana James Kwabena Dankwa, chief farmer at Numasua (aka Camp Two), a cocoa-growing community in the Tepa Cocoa District, in a news item, aired on Radio Gold FM on Monday, August 31, alleging that “farmers from Tepa, Nyinahini and Obuasi have been deprived of the mass cocoa spraying exercise and distribution of some farm inputs”.
Nana Dankwa also alleged that the distribution was done on partisan basis.
Single window port operations show positive signs – Report reveals
A report on the single window system at the ports has revealed successful operational activities that are making various processes at the ports easier and more effective.
This was after customs had successfully taken over the activities of the Destination Inspection Companies (DICs) on September 1, 2015, using the Pre-Arrival Assessment Reporting System (PAARS) as their main tool.
The report, which was commissioned by West Blue, a copy of which was obtained by the Daily Graphic, noted that attendance was encouraging for the first week of the project.
Consequently, the supervisors have been tasked to ensure optimum attendance throughout every day of the week.
Ghana’s debt to GDP ratio crosses dangerous 70% thresh-hold
Ghana’s total debt stock has increased by GHc5 billion more, between May and June 2015. According to figures from the Bank of Ghana, the country’s total debt stock now stands at GHc94.5 billion, representing 70.9% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This was contained in the BoG’s summary of economic and financial data for September 2015. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) report after reviewing Ghana’s performance under the Extended Credit Facility program said, Ghana’s total public debt now exceeds pre-HIPC levels. The IMF is projecting that Ghana will end the year 2015 with a 75% debt-to-GDP ratio. Ghana’s total public debt in the first half of the year has increased consistently by about GHc15.1 billion, growing from GHc79.4 billion in January, to GHc94.5 billion in June. Meanwhile government has sought to assure that the rate at which it is borrowing, will not harm the country, and that, it is engaging in what it described as “smart borrowing.”
Mixed views over whether BoG will maintain policy rate
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) will today 14th September, 2015 announce whether or not it will increase or maintain the monetary policy rate.
Some economists are predicting that the policy rate, which currently stands at 22 percent, could be increased. The policy rate which is the rate at which the central bank lends to commercial banks and is also used by banks to calculate their base rates hit 22 percent in May this year the highest since December, 2003 when the rate was at 21.50 percent. The central bank maintained that figure at its last meeting in July and attributed its hold to the recovery of the cedi as well as underlying inflationary pressures which was evident in the country’s inflation rate which in July was 17.1 percent after recording 16.9 percent in May.
Credit: BFt, Joy Online, Citi Online, Graphic
