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BUSINESS NEWS | GHANA AND BEYOND

The University of Cape Coast (UCC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Park Agrotech Ghana Limited, to ensure the cultivation of enhanced sugarcane for full-scale sugar production for the Komenda Sugar Factory in the Central Region. The Vice-Chancellor of UCC, Prof. Joseph Ghartey-Ampiah appended his signature on behalf of the university, while the Managing Director of Agrotech Ghana Limited, Lalit Mishra, signed for the company. Mr Mishra said that the agreement was a start towards a brighter future and indicated that, the company would invest about $21 million into the factory for the four-year period. He noted that, the deal with UCC was very crucial as the company required quality planting material to produce sugarcane to feed the factory.

Golden Star Resources Ltd has said it has entered into an agreement with Future Global Resources for the sale of its 90 percent interest in the Bogoso-Prestea Gold Mine. The agreement stipulates that an initial purchase price of $55 million shall be paid with a further contingent component of up to US$40 million staged payments to ensure FGR focuses investment capacity on the asset itself while providing Golden Star with exposure to its long-term growth potential. A statement from the mining company noted that operations are planned to continue at the Prestea underground operation, which includes the use of alimak mining on 24 Level and long hole open stoping mining activities on the newly developed 17 Level

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has announced the planned establishment of an Automobile Industry Development Centre to coordinate licensing of vehicle assemblers and manufacturers, and monitor their compliance with industry regulations. With the expected implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) once the COVID-19 pandemic is brought under control, Mr. Ofori-Atta said the establishment of the centre, together with other policy decisions to facilitate the assembly of automobiles in the country, will lead to the export of vehicles from Ghana to the rest of the continent. The AfCFTA had been expected to come into force on July 1, but the impact of the pandemic on participating countries has led to the postponement of the start date. A new date is yet to be communicated. Based on the number of participating countries, the AfCFTA is the largest trade agreement since the formation of the World Trade Organisation. Its implementation will form a US$3.4tn economic bloc with 1.3bn people across the continent.

Import revenue realized at the Tema Port fell by 45.02 percent for June 2020, Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) data has shown. The monthly report released on July 1, 2020, indicated that for June 2020, the revenue target at the Tema Port was GH¢1 billion but the total revenue raised was only GH¢554 million. This means there was a shortfall of GH¢453million. In a country where import revenue contributes a significant part of total government income, reducing the revenue by half, as captured by the monthly revenue performance reports compiled by the policy and programmes outfit of the Ghana Revenue Authority – Customs Division, shows an ongoing loss of vital import revenue.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has revealed that more than 64,000 small businesses have received financial support to help alleviate the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Presenting the mid-year budget review statement last week, Mr. Ofori-Atta said GH¢57.1m has been given out as microloans as part of the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP) Business Support Scheme run by the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI). The Minister stated that the average amount disbursed was GH¢889.80. The amount disbursed so far is less than 10 percent of the GH¢600m scheme designed to support micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) under government’s GH¢1.2b Coronavirus Alleviation Programme.

Bitcoin’s price blew past $11,000 Monday for the first time since 2019, signaling the end of a multi-year downtrend and pointing to further gains over the horizon. The bitcoin price peaked at $11,417.11 Monday evening, up more than $1,500 on the day. At the time of writing, the digital asset was sitting on a gain of 13% at $11,233, according to TradingView. From a technical standpoint, bitcoin’s price far exceeds the 50-period and 200-period moving averages. The relative strength index on the hourly chart points to overbought conditions. At its current price point, bitcoin has a total market cap of nearly $205.2 billion. That accounts for 63.1% of the overall crypto market, which is presently worth almost $327 billion.

The controversial Communications Service Tax (CST) is set to be slashed by 4 percent, Finance Minister
Ken Ofori-Atta has said. This, the Finance Minister indicated, should be done within six months from now. Ofori-Atta made the revelation during his 2020 mid-year budget statement to Members of Parliament on Thursday. If approved by lawmakers, the ‘talk tax’ as it is known would stand at five percent, one percent lower than what it was before the Akufo-Addo administration increased it a year ago. The decision received widespread backlash, criticism that intensified after the telecommunication companies transferred the charge directly to consumers.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has announced the planned establishment of an Automobile Industry Development Centre to coordinate licensing of vehicle assemblers and manufacturers, and monitor their compliance with industry regulations. With the expected implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) once the COVID-19 pandemic is brought under control, Mr. Ofori-Atta said the establishment of the centre, together with other policy decisions to facilitate the assembly of automobiles in the country, will lead to the export of vehicles from Ghana to the rest of the continent. The AfCFTA had been expected to come into force on July 1, but the impact of the pandemic on participating countries has led to the postponement of the start date. A new date is yet to be communicated. Based on the number of participating countries, the AfCFTA is the largest trade agreement since the formation of the World Trade Organisation. Its implementation will form a US$3.4tn economic bloc with 1.3bn people across the continent.

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