Daily Heritage November 16

Nov 16/17 NEW.qxp_Layout 1 11/15/17 9:07 PM Page 7
15TH
NOVEMBER
2017
TUESDAY
CURRENCY PARIS CODE BUYING SELLING
US Dollar USDGHS 4.3896 4.3940
RATES Pound Sterling GBPGHS
5.7491
5.7561
Euro
GBPGHS
5.1230
5.1275
10
DAILY HERITAGE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2017 WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
Ambassador hosts
‘Diplomacy Meets
Business Series’ today
• Mr Baah Wadieh, Ag Government Statistician (5th R), with some management members of GSS
GSS launches
2017 African
Statistics Day
BY ROSEMOND BOATENG ADDAI
Rosemond.adjetey@yahoo.com
THE GHANA Statistical Service
(GSS) has launched this year’s
2017 African Statistics Day to
raise public awareness of the
importance of statistics in all aspects
of social and economic life.
Mr Baah Wadieh, Acting Government
Statistician, said at the launch in Makola
Market yesterday that the day would provide
an opportunity to advocate major statistical
operations, including censuses and surveys.
“The theme for this year’s celebration is
‘Better lives with better economic statistics’
and focuses on the critical role economic
statistics play in economic governance that
leads to durable growth, and linking economic
growth with better lives and better
economic status for all citizens of Africa,”
he explained.
According to the Statistician, availability
and appropriate use of good economic statistics
can translate into better lives for people
through providing evidence as a basis
for policy and decision-making by nation, or
by firms, households and citizens.
He said “statistics provide information
for monitoring, evaluation, and reporting
on progress in meeting goals and targets of
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
as well as basis for effective economic governance
to promote the welfare of a nation.”
He added that the achievement of
SDGs, which are packed with tremendous
promises of better quality of life for all, is
to be owned, especially by African countries,
where poverty continues to strike the
life of large groups of people.
Mr Wadieh pointed out that the importance
of statistics in understanding and
using economic information for planning
and policy design cannot be overstressed.
“All key macroeconomic variables such
as national accounts, savings and investment,
employment, interest rates, inflation
as well as microeconomic indicators such as
poverty, inequality, and social outcome indicators
are based on statistics,” he said.
Data statistics
The Statistician explained that trade statistics
data provide information on the volume
and value of goods and services that
move in and out of the country and thus
the direction of trade.
He said that industrial statistics provide
useful information on the industrial sector,
while price statistics are used for the computation
of Consumers Price Index and inflation
rate, which are used by the Bank of
Ghana in the formulation of monetary policy
rate; the commercial banks for fixing interest
rates; employers for the determination
of wages and salaries and market women in
fixing the prices of their commodities.
Dr Albert Luguterah, General Secretary,
Ghana Statistical Association, said using statistics
enable one to know the sectoral composition
of and trends in the economy and
therefore policies for growth and transformation
can be designed.
He added that agricultural statistics provide
input and output information in agriculture,
including crop production, livestock
products, forestry and fishery products, land
use, agricultural machinery, water use, fertilizers
and pesticides.
“The development of agricultural statistics
is key to monitoring poverty reduction,
food security, environmental sustainability,
and improving the livelihood of citizens,”
he said.
THE HUNGARIAN Ambassador
to Ghana, His Excellency
András Szabós, will
interact with a cross-section of
Ghanaian entrepreneurs,
startup companies, business
owners and professionals at
the second edition of the
‘Diplomacy Meets Business
Series (DBMS)’ scheduled to
come off today at the Hungarian
Embassy in Accra.
Organisers have stated in
a press release copied to the
DAILY HERITAGE that
“The seminar would be
geared towards unveiling opportunities
available for partnerships
and investments
between Ghanaian and Hungarian
businesses.”
“It would create a platform
for Ghanaian business and entrepreneurs
to expand their network
and broaden their scope
of operations by taking advantage
of programmes and opportunities
offered by the
diplomatic missions in Ghana
through their tenets of Economic
Diplomacy,” it added.
The initiative, according to
organisers, would bridge the
gap and bring the diplomatic
community closer to start-up
companies, entrepreneurs and
business executives in Ghana to
share ideas and identify areas of
possible collaboration and assistance
to boost the reach, operations,
and successes of
entrepreneurship and the private
sector in Ghana.
“The Hungarian economy is
currently in a very robust shape
based on the country’s expansionary
fiscal policy, substantial
monetary stimulus and inflows
of European Union investment
funds. These factors have
pushed the Hungarian economy
into a higher gear in the first
two quarters of this year, and its
annual Gross Domestic Product
growth is on track to almost
double the growth rate observed
in 2016,” the release
stated.
Ambassador Szabós said
Budapest, the Hungarian capital
is now acknowledged as a prime
• H.E.
András
Szabós,
Hungarian
Ambassador
to Ghana
hub for start-ups, investors and
incubators in the Central and
Eastern European region.
The release said Mr Szabós
would lead discussions on the
business and entrepreneurship
climate in Hungary, its growing
business sectors and how entrepreneurs
and businesses in
Ghana can be connected to
their counterparts in Hungary
to expand their reach and network.
The statement disclosed
that the Ambassador would
touch on programmes and support
offered by the Embassy
and the Hungarian government
to businesses and individuals
hoping to tap into the Hungarian
market and economy, and
exchange programmes for entrepreneurs,
among others.
The second edition of the
DBMS will be hosted at the
Embassy of Hungary to create
an opportunity for one-on-one
conversation and networking
with officials of the Embassy
on all issues relating to the subject
matter for the meeting.
The DBMS is an initiative
of the International Perspective
for Policy & Governance, a foreign
affairs and international relations
think tank. The
programme is strictly by invitation
and also open to those
who will able to register to participate
in it.