Interest on Ghana’s $1b Eurobond disappointing – DALEX CEO
The Chief Executive Officer of Dalex Finance Ken Thompson says the almost 11 percent interest Ghana will be paying on its recent 1 billion-dollar Eurobond is disappointing.
The 15-year bond according to government will among other things be used to finance maturing debts.
Government went through a lot of difficulty to get parliamentary approval for this bond-issue but easily managed to get the World Bank to guarantee part of it.
But in an Interview with Joy Business Mr Thompson says although the bond raised is good, the rate given to Ghana smacks of a lack of trust in its economy.
Labour unions expose Ghanaian employers
Members of the Industrial Liaison Council of Ghana, on Thursday said many employers in the country used all kinds of ploys to unjustly retrench workers.
It said, such subterfuge includes re-organisation, amalgamation, takeovers, and outsourcing to concentrate on core business and thereby, cut down on operational costs and maximize profits at the expense of the Ghanaian worker.
Mr Solomon Kotei, Secretary General of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), who presented the statement on behalf of the Council to mark the day, noted that, such ploys at times took place in collusion with employment agencies, which later recruit the workers on casual basis.
The statement titled: “From decent work to precarious work: the case of the Ghanaian worker”, was signed jointly by the Mr Kotei, on behalf of the ICU, Mr Prince Ankrah of the Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU) and Fuseini Iddrisu of the General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union (GTPCWU).
GCAA gives Starbow the green light to continue operations
The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority has given domestic airline Starbow the green light to continue with its operations despite the recent accident involving one of its aircrafts in Tamale in the Northern region. Starbow has recorded two major close shave accidents in two years despite receiving an IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certificate for meeting modern operational safety requirements. There are calls for the regulator of the aviation sector to get tough and halt the operations of the company. But the Deputy Director-General, Finance and Administration of the GCAA Abdullai Alhassan disagrees. “We haven’t told them to stop, they can continue their operations. We have a comprehensive audit of all the airlines (domestic).
Operate Tier-2 pension scheme, NPRA to compel private sector organisations
THE National Pension Regulatory Authority (NPRA) has given hint of its intention to compel private sector establishments to operate the second tier (Tier 2) pension scheme.
Out of the 51,466 private establishments which are active under the SSNIT scheme, only 10,610 have registered under Tier 2.
“The NPRA’s main strategy is to distribute the 40,344 employers without schemes (EWS) through ballot. Thereafter, the EWS will be allocated to corporate trustees based on the ballot,” the Director of Regulations of the NPRA, Mr Ernest Amartey Vondee, announced at an organised labour leadership forum in Accra yesterday.
The forum, on the theme: “Implementation of the National Pensions Act (Act 766): Challenges and prospects”, was organised by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), with sponsorship from the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).
We have released all DKM funds -BoG
The Bank of Ghana has denied reports that it has not released in full funds of DKM Micro-finance company. According to customers of DKM, the company has suspended the payment of their investments and is blaming the BoG. Citi Business News desk has been inundated with calls and complaints from customers of the company in the Brong Ahafo and the Upper East regions seeking for clarification on the issue. But the Head of the Licensing and Resolution Office at the Bank of Ghana, Joseph Frimpong-Manso in an interview with Citi Business News said the excuse being given by the company is not true. He said , “the fact is that we have released every money we took from them to the company. In fact the report we had is that they were even surprised when they saw the money in the same form that we took from them , in terms of the denomination, the way the money was packed in trunk and locked , were given back to them in the same form”.
Mobile phone sales pick up after debilitating effects of 20% import tax
Mobile device sales took a nose dive due to a 20 per cent import tax on all mobile devices and accessories, but industry players say they have noticed a gradual rise in sales in 2015.
The Head of Alcatel Onetouch in Ghana, Robert Oduro told Adom News “there was a significant dip in sales between 2013 and 2014 following the introduction of the import tax, but now we are recovering gradually as sales have started picking up this year.”
The 20% import tax caused a huge uproar from industry players then. Some mobile device marketing companies threatened to vacate the country, while some dealers actually closed down their shops for a day in the capital city in protest of the tax.
The argument then was that the tax was not necessary because years back it was replaced with the communication service tax (CST), so bringing it back amounted to double tax on the consumer.
Moreover, it threatened to lead to handset smuggling, a collapse of the phones dealers’ business and even lead to the return of phone theft.
Industry players petitioned government to remove it and government went into discussions with players and later gave signals of willingness to review it. But almost two years has passed and a firm action is yet to be taken on the matter.
“Beside the 20 per cent there was 17.5 per cent VAT (value added tax), 2.5 per cent ECOWAS levy and another two to three per cent Customs duty,” Mr Oduro said.
Private participation in operations of ECG will attract investment — MiDA
THE Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) says the search for private participation in the management and operation of the Electricity Company of Ghana ECG) is primarily aimed at attracting the much-needed investment in the utility company and not as a result of inefficiency on the part of the power distributor.
The Chief Executive Officer of MiDA, Owura Kwaku Safo, said it was on record that the distribution segment of the power sector required about $200-million investment every year for a number of years, a responsibility the government alone could not shoulder.
Mr Safo said this at a news conference in Accra yesterday to interact with the public on its road map and some achievements that had been chalked up since the second compact, the Ghana Power Compact, was signed in August 2014.
World Bank cash helps Ghana to successfully launch its 4th Eurobond
Ghana has finally succeeded in issuing its fourth Eurobond.However it had to cut back on its initial figure to get a better rate for the bond Government initially announced it would issue a 1.5 billion dollar Eurobond but ended up taking 1 billion dollars after getting 2 billion dollars from investors. It got a yield of 10 .7 percent as against the 11.5 percent investors demanded the week before. However at 10.75 percent, the yield on the bonds is still much higher than government’s initial target of 8.5 percent and also higher than the previous one which had coupon rates of 8 and 8.5 percent for its two billion dollar- bond issued.
Credit: Joy Online, Citi Online, Graphic