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BUSINESS NEWS | GHANA AND BEYOND

The government of Ghana accepted all bids submitted for the 3-year bond auctioned on Thursday, 16 April 2020. According to the results, the government accepted all the GH¢849.24 million total bids submitted for the debt instrument which will mature in 2023. The initial pricing guidance was between 18.50% and 19.00%. But the clearing coupon rate is estimated at 19.00%. Class Business understands that the majority of the funds raised will be used to settle the maturing debt. The instrument was opened to both resident and non-resident investors. Each Bond has a face value of GH¢1, whereas the minimum bid was GH¢50,000 and multiples of GH¢1,000 thereafter. Absa, Databank, Fidelity, IC Securities and Stanbic Bank were the joint book runners.

The government of Ghana’s fiscal deficit is projected to reach 9.5% of GDP by the end of this year. That is according to a revised forecast by the International Monetary Fund. Excluding energy and financial costs, the budget deficit of GDP will, however, be 6.4% of GDP. This is higher than the targeted 4.9% of GDP projected by the government this year. According to the Fiscal Stability Act, the benchmark for fiscal deficit to GDP ratio is 5%. However, the expected higher budget deficit is due to the coronavirus pandemic which obviously will affect certain sectors of the economy and thus depriving the nation some revenue.

The European Union (EU) is expected to announce a US$20 billion package to deal with COVID-19 effect on food and agriculture on the African continent. The European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, outlined the EU support package for Africa that should eventually exceed $20 billion during FAO-AU Ministerial (virtual) Meeting on the Impacts of COVID-19 on Food Security in Africa, on Thursday April 16. The World Bank’s Simeon Ehui also detailed support initiatives, including the possibility of re-purposing $3.2 billion in uncommitted funding. Speaking for the African Development Bank, Martin Fregene concluded with details of a COVID-19 response programme that includes targeted technical and financial support.

The global economy is expected to shrink sharply by three percent in 2020 because of the Coronavirus pandemic, according to the World Economic Outlook for April. In its release copied to the Ghana News Agency, it said this contraction would be much worse than during the 2008-09 financial downturn. In a baseline scenario that assumes that the pandemic fades in the second quarter of the year and containment efforts can be gradually unwound, the global economy is projected to grow by 5.8 percent in 2021, as economic activity normalises, helped by policy support. The statement said effective policies are essential to forestall the possibility of worse outcomes and the necessary measures to reduce contagion and protect lives are important investments in long-term human and economic health.

Ghana’s leading waste management company, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, on Friday presented a cheque of $20,000 to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) at the University of Ghana. Noguchi, one of the best biomedical research institutes in the world has been at the forefront in the fight against the covid-19 pandemic in the country. It has been commended by government and Ghanaians in general for ensuring the testing of 50,000 samples within a space of four weeks as government intensifies the fight against the pandemic. Head of Communications at the Jospong Group of Companies, the parent company of Zoomlion, Madam Sophia Lissa, commended workers of Noguchi for playing an important role in the fight against Covid-19.

The Food and Drug Authority (FDA) has raised concerns over counterfeit chloroquine flooding the Ghanaian market. This information follows the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Global Surveillance and Monitoring System, which said fake chloroquine products were circulating in Africa. “These chloroquine products with different presentations are confirmed as falsified on the basis that they deliberately [and] fraudulently misrepresent their composition or source,” the FDA said in a statement signed and issued by its Chief Executive, Delese A.A. Darko, said. According to the FDA, these fake products do not contain the correct amount of the active pharmaceutical ingredients, based on the result of preliminary or full laboratory analysis. Also, some of the products are either not produced by the manufacturer whose name is stated on the product labels, or the batch number and date do not correspond to genuine manufacturing records.

Dealers of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) have begun removing the 13.5% levy imposed by the National Petroleum Authority on LPG. This follows a directive by the Minister of Energy, John Peter Amewu for the NPA to scrap the newly-introduced LPG Cylinder Recovery Levy levy. According to Gabriel Kumi, Vice Chairman of the Liquified Petroleum Gas Marketing Companies Association of Ghana, many of the LPG stations have removed the levy which he described as nuisance. “I pass through some LPG stations and they have removed the 13.5% levy. “We are not in good times yet, this is the time for Ghanaians to enjoy some freebies, this is the time our President is out there giving out free water, giving out free electricity, giving out free food; let’s us also contribute our part.

The National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) has begun documentation for the disbursement of the GH¢600 million soft-loan scheme pledged by government to alleviate negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on small scale businesses across Ghana. The NBSSI, has set April ending for the commencement of payment of the GH¢600 million stimulus package along with a GH¢90 million MasterCard programme also being readied to come onstream. That means access to the loan will fully be operational from May and beyond. The loan, which comes with one-year moratorium and two-year repayment period, is expected to ease some of the burden on the operations of micro, small and medium sized businesses. The loan scheme and MasterCard’s programme – NBSSI MasterCard Foundation Recovery and Resilience Programme for MSMEs – according to NBSSI’s Executive Director, Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, will benefit over 60,000 businesses.

The Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB), has contributed GH¢2 million towards the construction of the COVID-19 Infectious Disease and Isolation Facility at the Ga East Municipality Hospital. The donation for the 100-bed facility, was done under the auspices of the Ghana COVID-19 Private Sector Fund, the sponsor of the project. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo delivered the keynote address at the virtual groundbreaking ceremony for the project, estimated at US$3.5 million. A statement issued by GAB, and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Saturday, said it was committed to contributing its bid to mitigate the socio-economic impact of the respiratory disease.

Heads of businesses in the private sector have broken ground for the commencement of works on Ghana’s first Infectious Disease Isolation and Treatment Facility at the premises of the Ga East Municipal Hospital. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was expected to commission the construction of the 100-bed facility which is being funded by the Ghana COVID-19 Private Sector Fund. But in accordance with the ban on social distancing, the President undertook the exercise virtually from the confines of his office at the seat of Presidency, Jubilee House. Speaking via a video conference call on Friday, April 17, President Akufo-Addo said; “This fund that’s been created by private sector operators to assist in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic is an excellent idea. It’s an excellent initiative and it’s a tremendous demonstration of the private sectors’ commitment to the welfare of the nation.”

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