Business Analyst - August 9

Tuesday, August 9, 2022
Wisconsin Chancellor commits 10k
to GJA’s Journalists Support Fund
tHE Chancellor of
Wisconsin International
university
College, Dr.
Paul Kofi Fynn,
has committed
an amount of GH¢10,000 seed
money to the Journalists Support
Fund.
the money is to help build
the capacities of journalists
and as well support their welfare.
Dr. Paul Kofi Fynn gave the
money at the opening ceremony
of the three-day retreat
at the Mount Pleasant Inns
and Apartments at obosomase-
Akwapim in the Eastern region.
the Ghana Journalists Association
(GJA) held its first retreat
to brainstorm over
policies and programmes that
will strengthen the GJA as well
as offer hope to its members.
the three-day retreat,
dubbed, "Building Legacies in
Welfare, professionalism, and
rebranding to reposition GJA
for A better future", also focused
on some critical subjects
including the welfare of journalists.
Speaking at the event, Dr
Fynn expressed the hope that
more institutions will also contribute
so that the aim of the
Journalists Support Fund can
be achieved.
He also implored journalists
to promote the good things
about Ghana to the world, noting
that the pen was more
powerful than a weapon.
He noticed that people had
a bad impression of the African
Continent, debunking the notion
that Africa is not bad as
some people see it.
"We are depending on you
to tell the whole world that
Africa is not a dark Continent,
a place of suffering. Africa, especially
Ghana has a lot of good
things in it. Write balanced
stories to promote the image of
Ghana and help make Ghana a
better place," he added.
GIPC signs MOU for deeper
collaboration with GSE
tHE Ghana Investment Promotion Centre
(GIPC) and the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE)
have today signed a Memorandum of understanding
to facilitate a deeper collaboration
between the two institutions.
the Mou was signed on behalf of the two
institutions by Yofi Grant, CEo of GIPC, and
Ekow Afedzie, Managing Director of GSE, at
the Centre's head office in Accra.
the Mou establishes a practical framework
for developing greater cooperation between
the GIPC and the GSE. As a result, the
GIPC and the GSE, which have the same goal
of attracting and advancing investments in
Ghana, will pursue more innovative and
proactive approaches to attracting and retaining
both Portfolio and Foreign Direct Investment.
"the GIPC and the GSE have long been
partners," said Yofi Grant, CEo of the GIPC, at
the signing. "the signing of the Mou today
represents an important milestone under
which we will jointly explore ways to work together
to attract greater investment into the
country and advance our visibility and connectivity
with international markets."
Both parties have been looking forward to
this partnership to accelerate the collaboration
needed to attract more
investments into Ghana and
to use the GSE platform to
raise patient capital to catalyze
the much-needed
growth of several industries
for the development of the
Ghanaian economy.
According to Ekow
Afedzie, Managing Director
of the GSE, the partnership
will go a long way toward
supporting the exchange's
activities. He said: ‘’the GSE
strategic plan aligns with the
national strategy of making
Ghana the financial hub and
the preferred investment
destination in the sub-region
and I believe that this historic
Mou will help leverage
each other’s strength and
networks to grow investment
and support national economic development.’’
Gracing the occasion as a special guest
was the Director General of the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC), rev. Daniel ogbarmey
tetteh. In his remarks, he said: “the
synergistic opportunities between Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) and Foreign Portfolio
Investment (FPI) cannot be overemphasized.
FDI Inflows assist in the value creation, required
to generate attractive portfolio investment
opportunities. FPI, on the other hand,
helps to deepen the capital market, improve
liquidity, and provide more scope for investment
and capital raising. Ghana is very ripe
for both FDIs and FPIs given the compelling
opportunities existing today and therefore it
is time,
more than ever, for an even stronger collaborative
effort between the GSE and the
GIPC to garner higher FDI and FPI inflows
into the country.”
Both parties pledged their commitment to
the flawless execution of the Mou to ensure
the full optimization of investment and capital
mobilisation opportunities from the collaboration
to support the growth of the
Ghanaian economy.
S&P downgrade: Gov’t
urged to quicken pace of
fiscal consolidation
EConoMISt with Databank,
Courage Martey has reiterated calls
for government to hasten the pace
of fiscal consolidation in the short
to medium term.
In an interview with Citi Business
news, the economist said this
will restore the country back above
the current downgraded position
that the country is facing.
His call comes as international
ratings agency, S&P Global ratings,
last week revised Ghana’s rating
from B-/B to CCC+/C, a situation
that threatens Ghana’s debt sustainability
efforts with investors demanding
higher credit risk
premium.
“there are a number of things
that need to be done for us to get an
upgrade. It significantly hinges on
rebuilding fiscal and external
buffers because that has been the
main point of concern for investors.
there must be an improvement in
our fiscal deficit position. now, if
you look at the S&P statement, for
instance, they essentially considered
the need to record a primary
surplus equivalent to 2% of GDP.”
“that is a tall order though government
has already signalled that
it is working to record a primary
surplus equivalent to 0.4 worth of
GDP. We are not far from the direction
that the fiscal situation should
be heading, except that it is moving
slower than the rating agencies
would anticipate. thus, government
should be able to quicken the pace
of fiscal consolidation. that would
be good news towards, reinstating
us back above the current downgraded
levels we have found ourselves
in,” he said.
S&P Global ratings said though
government has taken steps towards
consolidating the fiscal
deficit, including the recent passage
of the Exemptions bill, high borrowing
costs and softening growth
make it difficult to put debt to GDP
on a downward path.
After a careful assessment of the
economy, S&P also reviewed the
country’s economic outlook to negative.
the negative outlook, in a statement
issued by S&P on Friday,
August 5, 2022, reflects Ghana’s limited
commercial financing options,
and constrained external and fiscal
buffers.”
S&P Global ratings also noted
that the Covid-19 pandemic and the
russian invasion of ukraine have
worsened Ghana’s fiscal and external
imbalances.
Demand for foreign currency
has been driven higher by various
factors, including non-resident outflows
from domestic government
bond markets, a lack of access to Eurobond
markets, retail dollar purchases,
dividend payments to
foreign investors and higher costs
for refined petroleum products.
Currently, the local currency
which has seen a sharp depreciation
in recent times is nearing ¢9 to
one uS dollar.
It would be recalled that government
earlier this year introduced
some revenue generation measures
such as the E-Levy, the tax Exemptions
Bill, some cuts in discretionary
spending.
However, S&P notes that while
these changes could improve revenue
generation going forward, the
situation remains challenging.
Credit: Citinewsroom