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The Chief Executive of the Petroleum Commission, Egbert Faibille Jnr., has disclosed Ghana lost GH¢5.7 billion (US $1.04 billion) in oil and gas revenue following the coronavirus pandemic. Mr Faibille indicated that just like the adverse effect of COVID-19 which is crippling the economy, the upstream oil and gas sector continues to suffer extensively as a result of the mishap. He made this known at the opening session of a three-day virtual conference organised by the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP). According to him, “the industry had suffered significant shocks which did not only affect the economy but also impact on work obligations and operations adding that the shortfall in revenue was very significant and that companies had to invest heavily to enable staff to work remotely to keep the industry running.”

The Ghana Commodity Exchange has successfully begun integrating Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) into its Warehouse Receipt Financing (WRF) Programme. So far, five out of the over 140 RCBs operating all around the country, have been integrated into WRF system and the process can be expected to eventually incorporate most of them into the programme which began eight months ago. Indeed, GCX under the warehouse receipt financing model has engaged 15 rural and community banks across the country so far, which means 10 more RCBs are already getting set to join the five now fully incorporated – a major step towards developing an efficient and effective agricultural finance channel for the agriculture sector.

The World Bank has said the COVID-19 global recession is expected to be reflected in the sharpest contractions in six decades in many indicators of global activity. Most notably, the World Bank said, while services-related activities were often relatively resilient during previous global recessions, high-frequency indicators suggest that the COVID-19 shock has led to a near sudden stop in a large swath of services, reflecting both regulated and voluntary reductions in human interactions that could threaten infection. In addition, industrial production and retail sales are likely to register record drops this year. The report further said beyond the unprecedented near-term damage, COVID-19 will likely dampen long-term growth, as exemplified by previous severe epidemics. The long-run loss in output growth would be compounded if the current recession triggers financial crises. For these reasons, once the immediate health emergency abates, setting the stage for a robust recovery will require policies that deal with the lingering effects of the pandemic.

The deadline for filing of annual returns has been extended by six more months from 31st July to 31st December 2020 following the increasing cases of the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the economy. The Registrar-General’s Department in a statement on Monday, July 13 said: “The Registrar-General’s Department (RGD), wishes to inform all its cherished clients that due to the continuous spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and the inability of Companies to hold their Annual General Meetings, it has further extended the deadline for the filing of Annual Returns from 31st July to December 31st, 2020.” “There will also not be any Penalty increase from GH¢400.00 to GH¢450.00 from 3rd August 2020 as initially communicated,” the statement signed by the Head of Public Relations, Constance Adomaa Takyi, noted.

Local fishermen can expect to power their fishing boats with state-of-the-art outboard motors as the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) pre-financed the purchase of 1,300 outboard motors at a cost of GH¢19.8million for the Coastal Development Authority (CODA) and the Ministry for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development. The 1,300 outboard motors, which were presented to the authority and the ministry in Tema on Friday are expected to be sold to the local fishers at highly subsidized prices since ADB absorbed all the related cost which amounted to about GH¢7million. Japan Motors and Tri-continental Trade Incorporated aided the bank in the importation of the outboard motors. Dr. John Kofi Mensah, Managing Director of the bank, in his speech noted that the importation and subsequent presentation of these outboard motors wouldn’t have been made possible without the keen support from President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Confluent Media, a Ghanaian consultancy company, is to partner IoTeedom of the United States of America (USA), to implement smart cities project in Ghana. The first phase of the project, which seeks to promote peace and security ahead of the 2020 general elections, is expected to be launched in Accra and Kumasi later this year. Through digital solutions, relevant stakeholders including government institutions would be engaged for sustainable peacebuilding campaigns to consolidate the achievements made in previous elections. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to that effect was signed between Confluent Media, IoTeedom and the West Africa Centre for Counter-Extremism (WACCE). West Africa Centre for Counter-Extremism will lead the project’s peace and security building campaigns.

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