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The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has revealed that the government’s budgetary operations for 2019 recorded a deficit of 4.8 percent of GDP, slightly higher than the revised target of 4.7 percent. The deficit was financed from both domestic and foreign sources, the Central Bank noted in the 2019 Annual Report. Total government receipts amounted to GH¢53.0 billion (15.2% of GDP), marginally below the revised target of GH¢54.6 billion (15.6% of GDP). The major components were tax revenue of GH¢42.4 billion (80.0% of total receipts), non-tax revenue of GH¢7.6 billion (14.3% of total receipts) and grants of GH¢1.0 billion (1.9% of total receipts). Total government payments for the year amounted to GH¢67.7 billion (19.4% of GDP) which was below the revised budget of GH¢70.2 billion (20.1% of GDP).

Exports of cocoa beans and products increased by 5.0 percent to US$2.29 billion in 2019, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has said in its 2019 Annual Report. The report said cocoa beans exported amounted to US$1.45 billion, an increase of 3.2 percent compared to the value in 2018. The average realised price of cocoa beans increased by 8.8 per cent to US$2,366.94 per tonne, while export volume fell by 5.2 per cent to 613,184 tonnes. Earnings from cocoa products increased by 8.2 per cent to US$0.84 billion, on account of both price and volume effects. The report further indicated that the value of timber exports fell by 23.7 per cent to US$0.17 billion, the Bank of Ghana has announced.

Ghanaian agribusiness company, Park Agrotech, has received Cabinet’s approval as the preferred strategic investor for the Komenda Sugar Factory, Trade Minister Alan Kyerematen has disclosed. The Minister told Parliament, in Accra, that Agrotech was expected to work with STM Projects Limited, an Indian company with extensive experience in the management and operation of Sugar Mills and plantations both in India and other parts of the world. Accordingly, following the approval by Cabinet as required by conventional practice, the Transaction Advisors entered into final negotiations with the successful bidder with the view to entering into concession agreement for the operations of the Komenda Sugar Factory. Mr Kyerematen, who was addressing the current state of the Komenda Sugar Factory, said over the first three years of the agreement, Agrotech would invest US$28 million in capital expenditure and working capital, and would pay an annual concession fee of US$3.3 million for a period of 15 years.

The African Development Bank has loaned Nigeria just over $288m (£227m) to help it deal with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The finance minister warned last month that Nigeria’s economy – Africa’s largest – could shrink by up to 9 percent. It’s suffered a big hit from the global slump in oil prices in recent months. There have been proposals to reduce basic healthcare spending by almost half, and make significant cuts to the education budget. In April, Nigeria received an emergency package worth about $3.4bn from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to help support the economy during the pandemic.

The new Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS) within a week generated GH¢177.3 million revenue at the Tema Port as a result of successful processing of 4,793 Bills of Entry (BoE) from Custom house agents and freight forwarders. A statement from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Sunday said the amount was not the total revenue generated at Tema Port for last week. This is because a large chunk of BoE for goods cleared last week had been processed through the systems of the outgone service providers and the revenues declared through that system. The statement said Customs was expected to complete processing of all BoE declared through the previous systems in the next two weeks to reflect the full revenue generated at the Port.

Aker Energy Ghana has reaffirmed its commitment to finding a solution that will allow for the commencement of a phased development of the Pecan field offshore Ghana. “In a time when most other E&P companies are putting development projects on the shelf due to the COVID-19 situation and historic low oil prices, Aker Energy and our partners, Lukoil, Fueltrade and GNPC, working closely with the Ghana government, are actively pursuing a development concept where we can commence phase one of a phased development of the Pecan field,” said Håvard Garseth, CEO of Aker Energy. In March, Aker Energy announced that a final investment decision (FID) for the Pecan field development project had been placed on hold, postponing the project. While no new date has been set for the FID, the company is working actively to confirm the feasibility of a phased Pecan field development by executing conceptual studies.

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