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Banks’ investment portfolio as at end-February 2020 was in favour of long-term debt instruments, the Bank of Ghana revealed. The latest banking sector report which made this known, said banks’ share of securities further increased to 70.4 percent in February 2020 from 66.3 percent in February 2019. It said the proportion of short-term bills in total investments accordingly declined to 30.9 percent from 32.7 percent between the two periods, while the share of investments in equities remained negligible at 0.9 percent. It added that the share of fixed and ‘other’ assets, which constituted the non-earning assets of banks, remained virtually unchanged at 8 percent.

The central bank says it is hopeful that the reduction in primary reserve requirements will broaden and expand the coverage of additional funds to support lending to all critical sectors of the economy. According to the Bank of Ghana’s latest banking sector report for March 2020, the reduction in primary reserves from an initial 10 percent to 8 percent is expected to cushion external shocks in the formal and informal sectors. “The Bank of Ghana is hopeful that the reduction in the prudential capital adequacy ratio from 13.0 percent 11.5 percent will compliment the reduction in primary reserves by helping to boost credit expansion to support all sectors of the economy,” the report added. Meanwhile, the BoG adds reduction in provision for loans in other loans mentioned in the category, from 10 percent 5 percent, could minimize the impact of the potential challenges of non-performing loans on loan loss provisions and profit margins of banks.

The Open Budget Survey (OBS) has revealed that although globally, budget transparency level remains low with the average score of 45, Ghana’s performance has improved from 50 in the last round of survey in 2017 to 54 in 2019. The result ranks Ghana 44th out of 117 countries. A statement issued in Accra and Copied to the Ghana News Agency by George Osei-Akoto Bimpeh, Country Director, SEND GHANA said
“This makes Ghana a relatively higher performer on the budget transparency score in comparison with six other West African countries (Sierra Leone- 39, Liberia- 38, Sao Tome- 24, Nigeria- 21, Equatorial Guinea- 5, and Gambia- 4).” It said the reason for the performance was that Ghana had increased the availability of its budget documents by particularly publishing the In-Year Reports online and in a timely fashion.

GCB Bank in the first quarter of 2020 recorded a profit after tax of GH¢92.4 million ($15,862,068.68). This according to the bank’s published financial results represents a 40% growth. From January to March 2020, GCB’s profit before tax went up by about 34% to record GH¢122.4 million. The bank’s total tax liabilities reached GH¢30 million. The income streams for the bank were improvement in interest income such as charges on deposits into cheque accounts as well as certificate of deposit. Meanwhile, GCB Bank’s total assets increased to GH¢12.67 billion for the first quarter of the year. The increase was by GH¢1.84 billion. The bank’s total assets are items they can lay claim to.
The increase was mainly due to the increase in loans and advances, investment in securities and cash and cash equivalent.

President Akufo-Addo has nominated Mr. Francis Boateng as the new Managing Director for the Tema Oil Refinery following the resignation of Mr Kweku Asante Berko. Mr Asante Berko left the post following allegations of his involvement in a bribery scandal by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the U.S.A. Mr. Francis Boateng was until his appointment, the General Manager for Commercial Operations at the Ghana National Gas Company. He was previously engaged as a consultant, working in the capacity of Contracts and Fuel Manager during the project implementation phase of a 350MW Combined Cycle Power Plant for Cenpower Generation Company Limited (Cenpower), an Independent Power Producer (IPP) company in Ghana.

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