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BUSINESS NEWS | GHANA AND BEYOND

The Bank of Ghana has released an amount of GH¢5.5 billion as first tranche of the GH¢10 billion of the COVID-19 Relief Bond, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta announced in Parliament in Accra on Thursday. In a memo to the House, the Minister said, the programme, launched earlier by the Government of Ghana is to trigger the emergency financing provision as result of challenges brought on by COVID-19 pandemic.The GH¢5.5 billion first installment of the bond was released on May 15, 2020. With high hopes of Ghana’s economy to rebound after the pandemic, Mr Ofori-Atta characteristically, and in a prayerful tone made biblical allusions with hope in God that Ghana would regain its economic strength.

Ghana’s is expected to lose about GH¢15.85 billion in revenue as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, a report from the Ministry of Finance states. The nation is targeting about GH¢67 billion in revenue (tax and non-tax) for this year. According to the Finance Ministry, Ghana’s fiscal gap as a result of the COVID-19 will hit about GH¢21.42 billion. This is made up of Revenue Shortfall Impact of GH¢15.85 billion and COVID-19 related expenses of GH¢5.57 billion. Due to this, the government submitted to Parliament to access emergency financing of GH¢10 billion from the Bank of Ghana consistent with the provisions in Section 30 of the Bank of Ghana Act, 2002 (Act 612), as amended.

Ghana accepted all the GH¢751.33 million bids from investors via the issuance of the 3-year bond. The yield however was 18.85%, 0.10% higher than the 2-year bond issued last month, according to auctioning results. The government raised GH¢668.76 million at 18.75% from the issuance of the 2-year bond last month. Analysts had forecast a yield of less than 19%. Because of the impact of the COVID-19 on the global economy, the amount raised from both domestic and foreign investors was good, some analysts told Class Business. Chunk of the funds will be used to finance maturing debts. The debt instrument, which is expected to mature in 2023, was be opened to both resident and non-resident investors. Absa, Databank, Fidelity, IC Securities, Stanbic were joint lead managers for the issuance of the debt instrument.

Ghana earned US$3.3 billion from the Year of Return initiative, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Barbara Oteng-Gyasi has said. According to her, the earnings were proceeds from accommodation, food, shopping, local transport and entertainment. Also, GH¢6 million was, however, spent on promoting the Year of Return campaign in and out of the country. The minister emphasised that the average expenditure per tourist was $2,391.

Gold output from the large-scale mining sector increased by six percent to 2.989 million ounces in 2019 from 2.807 million ounces in 2018, according to the annual report of the Ghana Chamber of Mines. During the period, small-scale production decreased to 1.588 million ounces in 2019 from 1.984 million ounces in 2018. The 20 percent fall in the small-scale mining sub-sector resulted in an overall decline in total gold production to 4.577 million ounces in 2019 from 4.792 million ounces in 2018, Mr Eric Asubonteng, President of the Chamber, said in the report during a virtual annual general meeting. The large-scale sector improved on its contribution to national gold production, from 59 percent in 2018 to 65 percent in 2019 whereas the small-scale sector accounted for 35 percent of national gold production in 2019; a decline from 41 per cent in 2018.

The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has announced a review of prices on petroleum products starting June 1, 2020. NPA in a statement said the decision was taken by Cabinet and communicated to the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) through the Ministry of Energy. The statement signed by Chief Executive Officer of the NPA Hassan Tampuli, read “We write to inform you of a review of the BOST Margin in the Price Build-Up (PBU) of petroleum products effective 1st June, 2020. This is in line with a decision taken by Cabinet and communicated to the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) by the Ministry of Energy.” This however means Ghanaians will from 1st June 2020 pay more for fuel at the various filling pumps as government has increased a tax component on petroleum products.The BOST Margin, which used to be three pesewas per litre has been increased by an additional three pesewas by the government.

The Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), is to provide US$1.5 million to the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to construct an Air Conditioner Test Containment Building and Testing Laboratory. The project is part of the Millennium Challenge Corporation Power Compact Two. Speaking to Citi Business News , a Technical Controller at MiDA, Ing. William Amuna, said the objective is to enhance efficiency in electricity consumption. He explained that the construction work on the Containment Building for a Testing Laboratory which will assess the performance of ductless Room Air conditioning (RAC) Systems will begin on June 1, 2020. He said the funding was provided by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an Agency of the United States Government, under the Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management Project of the Ghana Power Compact.

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