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The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) will next year inject US$200 million into domestic cocoa processing. The money will be given as a loan to augment the working capital of existing local processors that are struggling financially, as well as potential local processors. This amount, which is expected to be used to buy cocoa beans, will add some 50,000 metric tonnes of beans to the country’s local cocoa processing capacity.
Currently, COCOBOD has signed an agreement with Cargill to add a new line that will increase its annual processing volumes locally from 60,000 to 90,000 tonnes. President Nana Akufo-Addo in 2017 set the target of local processing to increase from the current 30% to 50% of the nation’s cocoa by the year 2022.
The $200 million and the expansion by international processors operating in the country are to facilitate the achievement of the government’s target.

The Electoral Commission (EC) has processed and cleared 12 presidential aspirants to contest in the 2020 general elections. They are; Alfred Walker; an independent candidate, President Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Christian Andrews; The Ghana Union Movement (GUM), Brigitte Dzogbenuku; People’s Progressive Party (PPP), John Dramani Mahama; National Democratic Congress (NDC). The others include; Akua Donkor; Ghana Freedom Party, Nana Konadu Agyeman- Rawlings; National Democratic Party (NDP), Hassan Ayariga; All People’s Congress, Ivor Kobina Greenstreet; Convention Peoples Congress (CPP), Kofi Akpaloo; Liberal Party of Ghana, David Apasera; People’s National Convention (PNC) and Henry Herbert Lartey; Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP). Out of the total 17 aspirants who submitted their nomination forms to be considered as presidential candidates, the Commission disqualified five of them.

The International Monetary Fund is forecasting the price of crude oil in the range of US$40 to US$50 per barrel next year. This will not come as a good omen for the Ghanaian economy since oil price before covid-19 had been trading above US$60. The government of Ghana had projected US$62 per barrel of crude oil in its 2020 Budget. But covid-19 pandemic had made the forecast unachievable. Presently, a barrel of crude oil is hovering around US$40 per barrel. The IMF in its forecast said the outlook for oil demand remains grim amid new waves of coronavirus and uncertainty about U.S. fiscal stimulus and the U.S. presidential election. Brent crude stood at US $42.73 per barrel in London. The Fund does not see oil prices staging a dramatic recovery anytime soon

Beneficiaries of the Nation Builders’ Corps (NABCO) programme have been assured of permanent jobs in both public and private sectors. The NABCo programme currently offers temporal employment to over 23,000 trainees in the Ashanti region. Regional Coordinator of NABCO, Dennis Kwakwa, says government will transition trainees onto a permanent job scheme. The Nation Builders Corps is a government initiative which seeks to solve graduate unemployment in the country. Beneficiaries currently enjoy a fixed monthly stipend of GH¢700. Dennis Kwakwa however says government is working to engage the beneficiaries on permanent jobs in both public and private sectors.

The World Bank is supporting the extension of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) for Ghana and other countries by six months. By 2021 WBG and International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings, the World Bank will also determine if the economic and financial situation of developing and emerging economies requires to extend further the DSSI by another six months, with targeted complements to the April 2020 DSSI Term Sheet. This will cushion many developing countries including Ghana from shocks brought by COVID-19 that has slowed down the fiscal consolidation process.

Charge d’Affaires of the Chinese Embassy to Ghana Mr. ZHU Jing, has pledged that the embassy will continue to deepen the long-existing diplomatic, trade, economic and commercial ties with Ghana. According to Mr. ZHU Jing, the Chinese Embassy will follow the well-established footprints of the former Ghanaian leader Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to deepen the diplomatic ties and leverage on already robust economic commercial, boost cultural and people to people exchanges. Speaking at the Launch of Commemorative Stamps ceremony for the 60th Anniversary of China-Ghana Relations on Tuesday, October 20, 2020 in Accra, Mr. ZHU Jing said “I’m sure the relationship between China and Ghana will continue to thrive for mutual benefit and prosperity”.

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