Business Analyst - September 16

BUSINESS MARKET RATES
US$ 1 – GHC5.8561
GHANA STOCK WED, 15 SEP 2021
Indices and Market Cap Level Previous Level Change % Change
GSE Composite Index 2,810.86 2,800.36 +10.50 +0.38%
GSE Financial Index 1,978.26 1,959.18 +19.08 +0.97%
GSE Market Cap (GHS 'mn) 63,705.38 63,429.95 +275.43 +0.43%
GH¢2.50
Thursday, September 16, 2021. Vol. No. 098
COCOA: US$2,637.00 per tonne
CRUDE OIL: US$73.67 per barrel
GOLD: US$1,793.71 per ounce
YesterdaY, the
Ghana statistical
service announced
that Ghana’s economy
grew 3.9% in
the second quarter of 2021.
While this represents an improvement
on the 3.1 percent
growth recorded for the first
quarter of the year, confirming
that Ghana is enjoying a strong
economic rebound after suffering
a COVId 19 induced economic
recession during the
second and third quarters of
2020, the figures are at stark
variance with growth figures
announced by President akufoaddo
himself who earlier the
same day had told an investment
conference that the second
quarter gross domestic
product growth rate was at 8.9
percent. the President had
given the same figure to German
investors a fortnight ago
during his working visit to that

Thursday, September 16, 2021
UK inflation rate posts biggest
increase since records began
Key Points
• a reuters poll had predicted a
reading of 2.9% for august.
• the index jumped 2.0% in July on
an annual basis.
tHe U.K.’s consumer prices
index surged by 3.2% in the 12
months to august, official
data showed on Wednesday,
the largest ever month-onmonth
increase since records began in
Jan. 1997.
a reuters poll had predicted a
reading of 2.9% for august. the index
jumped 2.0% in July on an annual basis.
the Office for National statistics,
which published the data, noted that the
surge was “likely to be a temporary
change” and said the U.K. government’s
“eat Out to Help Out” program last year
may have accentuated the jump.
“In august 2020 many prices in
restaurants and cafes were discounted
because of the government’s eat Out to
Help Out (eOHO) scheme, which offered
customers half-price food and drink to
eat or drink in (up to the value of £10)
between Mondays and Wednesdays,” the
ONs said in its statement.
“Because eOHO was a short-term
scheme, the upward shift in the august
2021 12-month inflation rate is likely to
be temporary.”
the reading is once again above the
Bank of england’s target of 2% and will
no doubt add weight to those calling for
an end to unprecedented pandemic-era
stimulus polices. It also comes amid
rising energy prices and as the country
continues to reopen after strict
coronavirus lockdowns.
samuel tombs, chief U.K. economist
at Pantheon Macroeconomics, also
highlighted that used car prices were to
blame for the upside surprise.
“the larger-than-normal month-tomonth
increase in the core CPI in
august also was mainly due to a huge
4.9% rise in used car prices, which
pushed up that component’s inflation
rate to an eye-catching 18.3%,” he said in
a research note.
Gong forward, he said that the
headline rate of the CPI won’t likely rise
further in september, because restaurant
prices had rebounded at this point last
year.
But he added that an increase in an
energy price cap and an increase on a
“The larger-thannormal
month-to-month
increase in the
core CPI in August
also was mainly
due to a huge
4.9% rise in used
car prices, which
pushed up that
component’s
inflation rate to
an eye-catching
18.3%,” he said in
a research note.
tax levy on the tourism industry could
both contribute to a jump in October.
Firms fined over 'frustrating' nuisance messages
We Buy any Car, saga and
sports direct have been fined
for sending "frustrating"
nuisance messages, the UK data
watchdog has said.
the three firms were fined a
total of £495,000 for sending
hundreds of millions of emails
and texts.
None of the firms had
obtained permission to send the
marketing, the Information
Commissioner's Office (ICO)
said.
the nuisance messages
were all sent out before april
2020, the watchdog added.
"Getting a ping on your
phone or constant unwanted
messages on your laptop from a
company you don't want to hear
from is frustrating and
intrusive," said andy Curry, ICO
head of investigations.
"these companies should
have known better."
Historic contravention
We Buy any Car was fined
£200,000 for sending more than
191 million emails in the year
from april 2019 to people who
had asked for an online
valuation of their car.
the first emails that We Buy
any Car sent were within the
law, the ICO said, but follow-up
marketing emails were sent
without consent. the firm also
sent 3.6 million nuisance texts.
two saga firms which focus
on services including insurance
and holidays for people over 50
were fined a total of £225,000.
the firms commissioned thirdparty
firms between November
2018 and May 2019 to send more
than 156 million emails.
the third-party firms used
lists of people who had not
given the companies
permission to contact them.
"this was a historic
contravention of email
marketing regulations in
relation to activity undertaken
with two third-party providers
of saga Personal Finance and
saga services," a spokesperson
for the firm said.
"In light of this, we took the
decision to stop using third
parties for email marketing
purposes and we have worked
closely with the ICO throughout
their investigation. We have
confidence in the strength of
our privacy and marketing
protocols."
sports direct was fined
£70,000 after it sent 2.5 million
emails to people whom it had
not contacted for some time.
the firm could not show that it
had consent to do this.
We Buy any Car and sports
direct were approached for
comment.
the ICO has been charged
with a post-Brexit shake up of
data rules, including getting rid
of cookie pop-ups.
digital secretary Oliver
dowden has said he favours
"light touch" data regulation.

Thursday, September 16, 2021
Conflicting 2nd quarter
economic growth data emerges
• Continued from front
country.
Interestingly, the statistics
office has not commented on the
figure given by the president.
Prior to the official announcement
of the much lower
figure by the Gss on Wednesday,
the President’s figure had been
unanimously accepted as correct
and not just because it had come
from the nation’s highest official.
the Bank of Ghana’s latest Composite
Index of economic activity,
covering the 12 month period
up to May this year had recorded
a record high growth of 33.1 percent.
although the CeIa measures
economic activity as
different from the Gss’s economic
growth figures which
measure changes in the value of
the economy, both data sets tend
to loosely correlate, moving in
the same direction and having a
certain degree of quantitative
correlation. Consequently, based
on previous correlations economists
had done ‘back of the envelope
computations’ which
suggested that Ghana’s second
quarter growth, when announced
by the Gss would be
somewhere between 6 percent
and 10 percent. thus the President’s
8.9 percent announcement
fit in with such
expectations.
Indeed, when Finance MinistervKen
Ofori atta had at the
2021 mid year budget review, announced
just a marginal increase
in government’s economic
growth target for the full year
2021 from the original 5.0 percent
to 5.1 percent – an increase of just
10 basis points, shortly after the
central bank had released its
own encouraging data on surging
economic activity - many
economists felt government was
being overly conservative in its
raised expectations.
a subsequent surge in consumer
price inflation to 9.8 percent
– close to the BoG’s upper
end of its target band of between
6 percent and 10 percent – accompanied
by the fastest cedi exchange
rate depreciation in over
two years, was consequently attributed
to surging economic
growth which was putting the
economy in danger of over-heating.
such analyses have now been
put on the back burner as economists,
public policy analysts and
other stakeholders in Ghana’s
economic fortunes – both local
and foreign – now await a clarification
as to the true growth figures
and how either the
President or the Gss has presented
very wrong data. Indeed
the gap between the two is so
large that some public policy
commentators are suspecting
that neither figure is correct and
the true figure is somewhere in
between.
earlier this week the Finance
Ministry issued a press release
down playing the unflattering
sovereign credit risk ratings assigned
it recently by Moody’s and
standard & Poors – of B3 with
negative outlook and B- respectively
- and rather focusing on
the two rating agencies appreciation
of the country’s extraordinary
growth.
to be sure, even at 3.9 percent
Ghana is significantly outperforming
the average growth for
sub saharan africa in 2021
which is projected at a little over
3.0 percent.
However the sharply conflicting
second quarter growth figures
are casting a major pall over
the quality of economic data
being given by government.
Producer price inflation falls to 8.1%
… August PPI fall suggests impending
slowdown in consumer price inflation
tHe Producer price inflation (PPI) rate
for august 2021 has decreased to 8.1%,
the Ghana statistical service (Gss) has
said.
this rate represents a 0.3 percentage
point decrease in producer inflation relative
to the rate recorded in July 2021
(8.4%). this is being seen as possibly an
early indication that consumer price inflation
may slow in accordance with the
PPI;s slowdown unless producers seek to
widen their profit margins to compensate
themselves for COVId 19 induced
losses incurred last year.
the month-on-month change in producer
price index between July 2021 and
august 2021 was 0.5%.
the producer price inflation in the
mining and quarrying sub-sector decreased
by 5.4 percentage points over the
July 2021 rate of 2.2% to record -3.2% in
august 2021.
the producer inflation for the manufacturing
sub-sector, which constitutes
more than two-thirds of the total industry,
increased by 0.8 percentage points to
record 12.8%.
the utility sub-sector recorded 0.2%
inflation rate for august 2021.
In august 2020, the producer price
inflation rate for all industry was 9.0%.
the rate increased to 9.7% in september
2020 but declined consistently to record
7.0% in december 2020.
In March 2021, the rate increased to
13.0%, but in april 2021, it declined to
10.9%.
In May 2021, the rate rose to 11.8%
but decreased continuously to 8.1% in
august 2021.
In august 2021, four out of the sixteen
major groups in the manufacturing
sub-sector recorded inflation rates
higher than the sector average of 12.8%.
Manufacture of coke, refined petroleum
products and nuclear fuel recorded
the highest inflation rate of 25.3%, while
the manufacture of textiles recorded the
least inflation rate of 0.3%
the producer inflation rate in the petroleum
subsector was -5.4% in august
2020. the rate fluctuated between september
2020 (-0.3%) and december 2020
(-4.0%).
subsequently, the rate increased continuously
to pick at 31.0% in March 2021
but declined to 23.9% in June 2021. the
rate increased to record 25.3 percent in
august 2021.
the year-on-year producer inflation
for all industry was 8.1% in august 2021;
the monthly change rate was 0.5%.
the manufacturing sub-sector
recorded the highest year-on-year producer
price inflation rate of 12.8%, followed
by the utility sub-sector with
0.2%.
the Mining and Quarrying sub-sector
recorded the lowest year-on-year producer
deflation rate of -3.2%. the
manufacturing sub-sector recorded the
highest monthly inflation rate of 0.9%,
while the utility sub-sector recorded no
change in inflation (0%).
the mining and quarrying sub-sectors
recorded the least monthly deflation
rate of -0.4%.
GIADEC, Rocksure partner on
Nyinahin-Mpasaaso bauxite mine
…marks start of ambitious US$6 billion
bauxite to aluminum value chain
tHe Ghana Integrated aluminium development
Corporation (GIadeC) has announced
it is partnering with rocksure
International Company as part of efforts
to develop Ghana's Integrated aluminum
Industry (IaI).
GIadeC has selected rocksure International,
an indigenous company as its
strategic partner to develop one of four
projects being executed under the IaI
value chain initiative which is expected
to create a Us$6 billion value chain
President akufo-addo who witnessed
the signing of the agreements between
the two parties at a brief event held in
accra said that the IaI remains an integral
part of his government’s industrialization
agenda.
He stressed that his government
would ensure the implementation of the
IaI, which would involve mining, refining
and smelting are carried out in a responsible
manner.
President akufo-addo, who also
launched GIadeC’s four-project agenda
for the Integrated aluminium Industry,
further commended the Corporation for
working assiduously to select rocksure
International as its partner after a transparent,
competitive and rigorous investor
engagement process.
He said that his government will
continue to create the enabling environment
needed to attract more investors to
venture into the industry.
President akufo-addo was particularly
excited that rocksure International
is a wholly-owned Ghanaian company
and stressed that the decision further
demonstrates his commitment to the
promotion of local content and local participation.
the Minister of Lands and Natural
resources Mr. samuel abu Jinapor speaking
at the event pledged the support of
the Ministry in ensuring that government’s
vision of a fully operational and
globally competitive IaI is realized.
the Chief executive Officer of the
Ghana Integrated aluminium development
Corporation, Mr. Michael ansah for
his part emphasized that the agreement
would culminate in a joint venture partnership
between GIadeC and its new
partner rocksure International to build a
mine at Nyinahin-Mpasaaso and a refinery
solution.
the project, also referred to as Project
2, according to him is one of the four (4)
projects GIadeC is currently executing.
the projects, estimated to require
some six billion dollars to execute cumulatively,
but to be executed in phases, will
be one of the most ambitious initiatives
embarked upon since Ghana’s independence.
they would largely be driven by private
investors in partnership with the
Ghana Integrated aluminum development
Corporation (GIadeC).
the entire initiative will be implemented
in four phases, with the first
phase involving the expansion of the existing
mine at awaso in the Bibiani-anhwiaso-Bekwai
Municipal district of the
Western North region, and the building
of a bauxite refinery.
• Continued on Page 11

Thursday, September 16, 2021
GHANA’S UNSUSTAINABLE
BORROW AND SPEND
ATTITUDE
JusT last week, Moody’s, one of the three international
sovereign credit rating agencies that tracks and assesses
Ghana’s public credit worthiness reaffirmed its rating of
the country as B3 with negative outlook. By international
standards this makes many multinational corporations far
more credit worthy than Ghana. Worse still the negative
outlook is a warning that the agency believes Ghana’s
fiscal situation will get worse before it gets better.
This rating , which is basically the same as that of the
other two credit rating agencies – Fitch and standard &
Poors – does not mean Ghana cannot get access to more
debt on international capital markets, but it does mean
that further borrowing will be increasingly expensive with
regards to the interest rates demanded by investors in
Ghana’s international bond issuances.
It is instructive that already, public institutions such as
COCOBOD and GNPC can borrow at cheaper rates than
government itself. It is also instructive that government
declined to borrow as much as it originally intended to in
its most recent Eurobond issuance in March this year
because it considered the interest rates demanded by
investors on half of the total us$6 billion offered to be too
expensive.
At the risk of sounding like a repetitive doomsayer this
newspaper protests that Ghana’s debt trajectory is
completely unsustainable. Indeed our current public debt
to GDP ratio of about 77 percent is only because
government continues to classify large portions of the
public debt as not being sovereign debt, most notably the
legacy energy debt. If all the public debt was included in
government’s computations the ratio would exceed 80
percent , well higher than the ratios of our peer middle
income countries.
unfortunately the incumbent government’s stance on
public borrowing is little different from that of its
predecessor which it correctly criticized vehemently when
still in opposition; borrow more than what is sustainable
now to get money to please the electorate, refinance
whatever debts are falling due by borrowing from Peter to
pay Paul and leave the ultimately disastrous results to be
someone else’s problem having left office long before the
day of reckoning arrives.
Consider this: in 2021 49 percent of Ghana’s tax
revenues are being used to service debts; banks as a rule
do not allow households to be indebted beyond using more
than 40 percent of their revenues to service the debts,
because it would make the household’s financial position
untenable. In short, if Ghana was a household, no bank
would lend it money anymore.
From next year the series of Eurobonds issued annually
since 2013 will start falling due for repayment every year
and with our current poor credit rating, it may be even
more expensive to refinance them than it was to issue
them in the first place.
successive governments have pointed to Ghana’s rising
oil production and consequent revenues as the eventual
source of repayment of the country’s foreign debt. Indeed
this is a central theme of all our road shows when seeking
investors for our Eurobond issuances. But it is instructive
that our foreign – and total – public debt has been rising
even faster than those revenues over the past decade.
As long as investors are willing to buy Ghana’s bonds,
albeit at rising coupon rates, successive governments will
continue to issue them, using the proceeds to please voters
in order to stay in power and enjoy the obvious benefits,
while assuring that all is well.
It is not. Eventually, Ghana’s house of cards will fall, but
long after those successive governments that built it have
left power and are enjoying wealth that will insulate them
from the economic difficulties most of the populace will
have to face.
unfortunately we the doomsayers are also the truth
tellers.
South African
retailers retreat from
East and West Africa
tHe recent
announcement that
south african retail
company Massmart
was selling off its
once-prized Game stores in five
african countries rang alarm bells
about the future of consumer
opportunity in africa.
For the past decade and more,
a consumer boom has been driven
by demographics, the growth of
the middle class in africa, high
growth in a dozen or so countries,
increasing demand for quality
goods and products, and a taste
for more modern shopping
environments.
But in the past year, there has
been a retreat of south africa’s
biggest retailers from many
african markets. shoprite
announced last year it would sell
its 25 stores in Nigeria and later
revealed it would also shed its
stores in Uganda, Kenya and
Madagascar. Mr Price closed its
last store in Nigeria in early 2021
and in august this year, tiger
Brands said it was selling its 49%
stake in UaC Foods, one of
Nigeria’s biggest consumer
companies.
Massmart follows
the trend but remains
in Southern Africa
Massmart announced recently
that it was busy selling off 14
stores in five african countries as
part of a group turnaround
strategy to stem losses in its
Game chain both in african
markets and at home. Five stores
will be sold in Nigeria, four in
Ghana, three in Kenya, and one in
each of Uganda and tanzania.
Massmart CeO Mitch slape told
investors, “the performance and
the complexity in running those
businesses is something that,
frankly, we needed to address.”
this leaves it with its
investment concentrated in
southern africa: Botswana,
Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique,
Namibia, swaziland and Zambia.
retailers were struggling even
before the pandemic course, the
Covid-19 pandemic has changed
many forecasts for african growth
as lockdowns and global paralysis
in 2020 affected jobs and incomes
and precipitated general
economic hardship. this had a
knock-on effect on consumer
demand in many african markets.
However, the investment story
was already taking strain by the
time the pandemic arrived. Covid-
19 has hastened, rather than
caused, the pullback of south
african retailers from far-flung
regional markets.
Game and shoprite have been
the main anchor tenants in many
of the shopping malls built in
Nigeria and other african
markets. they were the tenants in
the first western-style mall in
Nigeria that opened in 2005. Both
chains also entered the highly
competitive Kenyan market later,
with their early expansion
strategy focused more on markets
with obvious gaps in the retail
sector. Game tried to enter
through acquiring local firm
Naivas, but it was unsuccessful
and opted instead to roll out its
own brand. shoprite only entered
Kenya in december 2018, taking
advantage of a gap in the market
provided by the collapse of the
country’s biggest chain,
Nakumatt. However, it announced
the closure of its two stores there
during 2021, saying they were
underperforming.
Competing with local
informal markets
Massmart’s drive to expand
was similar to that of other
retailers: increasing competition
and low growth at home, as well
as the expectation of a rapidly
growing consumer market in
other african cities, which lacked
the formal retail long enjoyed by
south africans. But Game’s value
proposition has always been
challenging in african markets.
at home, consumers knew the
brand and it slotted into the retail
ecosystem alongside shoprite,
Makro and others. It was a
different story in other african
markets. Its pitch as discount
household goods and general
merchandise store was not clearcut
in countries such as Nigeria,
where people are used to
shopping for similar goods in the
huge markets that exist in all
major cities.
the prices at Game were not
necessarily competitive, nor was
the merchandise particularly
novel. Much of it was imported
from China, from where local
entrepreneurs also sourced their
goods. a similar situation exists in
Kenya where an estimated 70% of
shopping is in the informal
sector, known as the ‘kadogo’
economy, according to market
research firm Nielsen. this leaves
formal retailers scrambling for
the remaining 30%.
High rentals, low
spending power and
other challenges
the convenience of
comfortable, air-conditioned
shopping malls have its
attractions, but rentals are high,
which can result in
uncompetitive pricing even
within economies of scale
enjoyed by south africa’s large
retail chains. It is likely the south
africans have made incorrect
assumptions about the size of the
addressable market, shopping
habits and the likely disposable
income of consumers in african
markets. the south african retail
market is not a good indicator of
what lies north of Limpopo. Its
formal retail sector is much
bigger and more entrenched than
it is in any other sub-saharan
african country.
the size of the middle-class in
africa has been over-estimated by
strategists. While it has been
growing, many of those defined as
middle class by one or another
measure is at the unstable end of
the definition and prone to
disruption by economic shocks
like high inflation and low
growth as well as exogenous
shocks, such as the drop in the oil
price for crude-dependent
countries such as Nigeria and
even Ghana.
Game did not have strong
brand recognition in other
african markets and probably
assumed, as some other retailers
such as Woolworths did in other
countries, that its reputation as a
household name at home would
be enough. It chose not to rebrand
under the more recognised Wal-
Mart name after the Us giant
bought Massmart in 2010. the
look and feel of the stores, along
with the choice of merchandise
in them, has also been criticised.
• Continued on Page 10

Thursday, September 16, 2021
Menzgold customers seek
Parliament’s intervention
to retrieve locked up funds
CUstOMers of the defunct
gold dealership firm, Menzgold
Company Limited, are
calling on Parliament to investigate
the closure of the
company three years after its collapse.
they also want a probe into circumstances
leading to the supposed disappearance
of some 400 kilograms of gold
bars during the economic and Organized
Crime Office’s (eOCO) closure of the company.
the customers bemoaned the lack of
commitment on the part of the government
to have their monies paid to them.
they are also unhappy about the
delay in the prosecution of Menzgold’s
Chief executive Officer (CeO) Nana appiah
Mensah, also known as NaM1.
spokesperson for the aggrieved customers,
Fred Forson, who was speaking to
journalists in accra at a press conference
said:
“We call on Parliament to investigate
the closure of Menzgold including the
role played by seC and eOCO as well as
the bank accounts of the CeO and board
members of Menzgold and Brew Marketing
Companies. the whereabouts of some
4000 kilograms of gold assets should also
be investigated.”
since the collapse of the company in
2018, Menzgold Ghana Limited, following
a suspension order from the securities
and exchange Commission (seC), has
been struggling to reimburse its customers.
Management of the company has
promised to pay the customers their
locked-up funds, which have been in arrears
for the past three years, but that is
yet to happen.
this time around, the customers believe
Parliament’s intervention will bring
an end to their long-standing woes.
“Ghana should as a matter of urgency
treat the unresolved Menzgold issue as an
emergency national catastrophe. We call
on the government in the spirit and
within the wind of cooperation blowing
in parliament to work closely with the
august house to find an amicable solution
to this conundrum that customers
find themselves. Finding a solution will
end the extinction of over a million
Ghanaians whose lives and very existence
have been shut with the shutdown
of Menzgold”, Fred Forson added.
SOURCE: CITI BUSINESS
Importers and Exporters
Association welcomes
freeze on freight rates
tHe Importers and exporters
association of Ghana on tuesday
welcomed a decision by CMa
CGM Group, an international
container transportation, and
shipping company, to suspend
the increment of freight charges
effective september 9, 2021, to
February 1, 2022.
a statement signed by Mr
samson asaki awingobit, the
association’s executive secretary,
and copied to the Ghana News
agency urged importers to
patronize the new directive and
support its implementation.
according to the statement,
Mr rodolphe saade,
Chairman and Chief
executive Officer of
CMa CGM Group, in a
letter signed to its
global partners, said
the decision to
suspend increment in
freight charges was as
a result of the
unprecedented hike in
freight charges which
began at the beginning
of the year.
the CeO said the
suspension would be
applicable to spot prices on all
services operated by their
shipping lines such as CMa
CGM, CHeNG LIe Navigation
Company (CNC Lines),
Containerships, Mercosul Line,
aNL, and american President
Lines LLC (aPL).
Mr awingobit said: “the
association which has been
fighting shipping lines over the
astronomical increment in
freight charges at the detriment
of our members, see this directive
as a sigh of relief”.
the association commended
the CMa CGM Group for taking
the bold step after
acknowledging the massive
investment they had already
made in terms of increasing
capacity to meet the demand of
their customers.
this, the association, believes
would go a long way to bring
some relief to importers who had
been affected by the unexplained
increment in the past.
“We urge all members
(Importers) to cash in on the
latest development which began
this month, and patronize the
services of the various shipping
lines under CMa CGM,” it said.
It further
urged other
shipping
companies and
lines to take a cue
from the
unprecedented
initiative taken by
the CMa CGM
Group and also
effect similar
directives to help
reduce the cost of
doing business at
the country’s
Ports.
Invest in Africa and Tullow
Ghana collaborate to deliver
financial readiness programme
INVest in africa (IIa), a not-forprofit
organisation focused on
growing local small and medium
enterprises (sMes) across subsaharan
africa, has been selected
by tullow Ghana Limited to
implement its recently launched
Financial readiness programme.
the Financial readiness
programme is an eight-month
programme, launched in august
2021, with the goal of assisting
suppliers in the oil and gas
industry to build financially
resilient and sustainable
businesses for the future.
IIa will provide selected
suppliers with financial tool kits
that will enhance their
interactions with lending
institutions and offer 150 sMes
access to various funding
options, as well as insights into
financial restructuring
opportunities.
alongside hosting workshops,
IIa will offer more tailored, oneto-one
business advisory support
to tullow Ghana’s larger
suppliers. these will be delivered
on the back of a successful track
record of similar interventions
led by IIa.
speaking on the potential
impact of the programme, IIa
Ghana’s Country director Carol
annang said: “In many ways, the
pandemic has reshaped how we
conduct business. Its
ramifications on financing for
Ghanaian sMes may be felt many
years down the line, so even
though this programme has a
short-term outlook, its overall
contribution to these sMes will
be much longer-lasting. this is
something both IIa and tullow
Ghana can appreciate, given our
shared commitment to
strengthening local supply
chains.”
Wissam al Monthiry,
Managing director of tullow
Ghana, on his part, said “as a
company, the development of
local capacity for participation in
the oil and gas industry remains
our priority. Central to
developing local participation is
the ability of our local supply
chain to remain financially
resilient to continue
participating in delivering oil
and gas services to our
operations. this Financial
readiness programme will add to
our goal of ensuring a financially
stable supplier base that is
globally competitive”.

Thursday, September 16, 2021
Revealed: The top-ranking
media channels and
brands in 2021
AFTER the severe decline
in media investment in
2020, the ad industry has
been encouraged by a
rapid recovery in 2021,
with advertising being used as one of
the levers to fuel recovery. As
consumer behaviour continues to
evolve, and we emerge into a new
media landscape, brands need to
understand which consumer and
marketer attitudes have changed, and
which have stayed the same. Which
media brands have retained their
appeal, and which have grown
stronger?
Media reactions provides a
comprehensive view of the global media
landscape. Just launched, the 2021 edition
is informed by the opinions of over 14,500
consumers covering over 290 brands in 23
markets and 900 senior marketers around
the world to help brands navigate the new
media landscape. It offers essential
guidance for campaign planning with a
ranking of media channels and brands
and detailed insights into the channels
and platforms consumers and marketers
prefer.
Top-ranking media
channels
While the pandemic accelerated
digital growth in every aspect of life, we’ve
seen robustness in consumers’ preference
for offline advertising, and some strong
local news brands. Consumers continue to
be more positive about cinema ads,
sponsored events, magazine ads and point
of sale (POs).
Podcast ads have risen in popularity
amongst consumers since 2020.
Positioned now at number 11 in the overall
ad equity ranking, they have overtaken
influencer content as the preferred digital
ad medium.
Podcast ads are perceived as better
quality and more relevant than they were
in 2020, but also more repetitive,
unsurprising given the increase in ad
spend on the platform.
Our data shows that campaigns are
seven times more impactful among a
receptive audience, so marketers need to
ensure their strategies respect these
consumer preferences.
TikTok tops the ad equity
chart again
tiktok has done an impressive job
retaining its differentiated advertising
proposition with consumers – even as its
user base has almost doubled over the past
year.
across branded digital platforms,
tiktok remains top of the global ad equity
rankings. although only ranked as the
number one platform in one market,
taiwan, tiktok is the leading global
digital platform in the important Us
market and is the first or second-ranked
digital platform in nine of the 22 markets
“Podcast ads
have risen in
popularity
amongst
consumers since
2020. Positioned
now at number
11 in the overall
ad equity
ranking, they
have overtaken
influencer
content as the
preferred digital
ad medium.
we measured it in.
the inclusion of commerce platforms
in this year’s ranking illustrates their
increasing importance across the digital
advertising landscape. amazon ranks
second globally among consumers,
topping the list in four markets. together
with regional e-commerce giant Mercado
Libre, which leads in argentina, amazon’s

Thursday, September 16, 2021
success showcases why e-
commerce has entered the
online media channel ad
equity rankings in third place.
We also saw the reemergence
of retail as a
critical ad platform, both
online and physically.
advertising strategies that
seamlessly align with
omnichannel retail strategies
provide a great opportunity for
marketers to deliver more
popular campaigns.
The three media
dilemmas
as well as detailed insights
into the evolving media
landscape, this year’s study
addresses three strategic
media dilemmas.
1. the digital dilemma
How can you maximise
consumer engagement and
trust in an increasingly digital
world?
despite the explosion of
digital media consumption
and spend, as we see in the
media channel ranking,
consumers are still generally
less positive about digital ads.
this means that the risk of
increasing irritation will rise
unless marketers select the
best digital channels and
formats. While marketers
continue to back digital
platforms, the advent of a
cookieless world has increased
their uncertainty.
Understanding the current
digital landscape is essential
to maximise consumer
engagement in an
increasingly digital world.
there should no longer be
a divide between online and
offline channels. a holistic
approach to media is
necessary as digital is more
integrated into consumers’
day-to-day lives and more
channels become digitised
and opportunities to use data
abound.
2. the global dilemma
How do you balance the
benefits of the scale of global
media platforms with the
promise of greater relevance
from local media gems?
Media reactions
highlights the importance,
and challenge, of marketspecific
media strategies. In 16
of the 23 markets surveyed the
number one ranked brand was
a local media brand or a
localised version of global
media brands. ten of these 16
are news and magazine
brands. this local success,
together with differing
attitudes to the ads on global
digital media brands, makes
balancing the benefits of scale
of global media platforms with
the promise of greater
relevance from local media
gems ever more important.
3. the innovator’s dilemma
How can media brands get
the balance right between
maintaining trust while
driving innovation?
Media reactions also
highlights the challenge for
brands to keep their media
mix reflective of the latest
consumer media preferences
as well as their own values
and brand positioning.
Marketers favour channels
and platforms they believe
provide both trustowrthy
and innovative advertising
environments. among the
global brands, Instagram
best manages this
balancing act. Youtube,
Google and Facebook are
trusted platforms but are
considered slightly less
innovative.
tiktok is not yet
trusted by marketers as
much as the more
established platforms, but
it has made enormous
improvements in the past
year. It remains
comfortably the most
innovative place for ads,
and trust has doubled, so
many more marketers are
now positive about placing
ads on the platform.
The future
outlook
the marketers’ survey
provides insights into media
growth areas for 2022. the vast
majority of global marketers
plan to increase spend on
their favoured ad formats:
online video, influencer
content and social media ads.
Many will reduce spend on
print ads. Youtube, Instagram
and tiktok are the platforms
set to benefit most.
Source: bizcommunity

Thursday, September 16, 2021
TECHNOLOGY
How SIGA is striving to improve
corporate governance in SOEs
The recently
established State
Interest and
Governance
Authority is making
genuine efforts to
change the way
Ghana’s SOEs are
managed for the
better. TOMA
IMIRHE examines
what it is doing in
this regard and the
challenges it is
facing.
aN intense new focus on
state-owned enterprises by
government through its
recently established state
Interest and Governance
authority (sIGa) last week culminated in
the announcement of efforts, in
consultation with relevant stakeholders
to develop a “Good Corporate Governance
Code” for state Owned enterprises. this
new initiative suggests that the
transformation of the erstwhile state
enterprises Commission into sIGa a
couple of years ago goes far beyond a
mere change of institutional name.
Mr stephen asamoah Boateng, the
director-General of sIGa, said
inadequate governance frameworks and
procedures were critical contributors to
many specified entities’ poor financial
performance in Ghana hence the
initiative.
Last week a stakeholders’
consultation forum on the draft Code of
Corporate Governance for sOes which
has been drawn up under the auspices of
sIGa, was held in accra. the draft Code
has been designed to strengthen good
corporate governance practices for sOes
in order to improve the way they are
managed and ultimately how they
perform with regards to both impact and
finances.
However Mr stephen asamoah
Boateng, the director-General of sIGa,
was given a rude awakening to the sheer
size of the challenge he is seeking to
overcome – barely one third of the chief
executives of the sOes, whose inputs are
being sought into the Code, failed to even
turn up for the workshop, although since
the event was streamed live, they had an
excuse of sorts. But an anggry asamoah
Boateng, asserting that the sheer
importance of the event demanded their
physical attendance, consequently
publicly warned that CeO s who show a
lack of commitment to their corporate
governance responsibilities would lose
their jobs.
But the impunity with which some
sOes are run clearly illustrates the
underlying management difficulties
they face – in many cases board
appointments, including those of the
managing director are seen as rewards
for past political support or bribes for
anticipated political support going
forward. the resultant lack of regard for
duly constituted supervisory authority
subsequently seeps downwards from the
Board and top management.
this is, in part, the situation which
asamoah Boateng wants to correct,
pointing out that inadequate
governance frameworks and procedures
are critical contributors to many sOes
ultimate poor financial performance in
Ghana hence the initiative.
Last week’s forum was meant to
provide a platform for stakeholders to
offer feedback and input into the draft
Code, but the failure to attend it by the
majority of the CeOs shows a lack of
willingness to be reigned in by
adherence to a formalized, binding code
of corporate governance.
However, asamoah Boateng has
shown an understanding of the problem
and a willingness to try and address it, at
the forum he admitted that state
agencies are governed by a complicated
web of leaderships involving Parliament,
Ministries, regulatory Commissions,
Boards, and Managing directors or Chief
executives, all of whom have various
reporting responsibilities.
“this has muddled the division of
responsibilities and accountability for
performance, especially between the
Board and Management. In some cases,
Chief executive Officers and Board
appointments are made based on
political considerations rather than
merit, contributing to the
ineffectiveness of some Boards,” he
noted.
Indicating his determination to
curtail the inevitable shortcomings of
this situation he asserted that “we
cannot run state-Owned enterprises the
way we used to. If specified entities
continue to underperform, we will not be
deserving of our positions and
compensation.”
“It is simple to
make
recommendations
for how to proceed.
To effect change on
the ground, it takes
foresight, a lot of
hard effort, and a
commitment to
carry out policies at
all levels of the
economy’s decisionmaking,”
he said.
the director-General said sIGa was
required by section 4 (d) of its act (act
990) to develop a code of corporate
governance to serve as a framework for
specified entities’ actions and
performance.
He said although sIGa was the
driving force behind that endeavour, “we,
however, believe that to produce a
document that will stand the test of
time, a quality document that will be
owned and accepted by all stakeholders,
requires the participation and
involvement of all parties, hence the
need for this forum.
“It is simple to make
recommendations for how to proceed. to
effect change on the ground, it takes
foresight, a lot of hard effort, and a
commitment to carry out policies at all
levels of the economy’s decisionmaking,”
he said.
Past experience suggests that for the
initiative to work, the CeOs of sOes need
to be involved in its design as well as its
implementation. He recounted previous
instances where he had consulted some
CeOs on the law setting up sIGa, before
it was actually passed. according to him
most of them paid little attention to the
contents of the then impending law, only
to express surprise at its contents when
it was almost passed.
Last week’s workshop was held to
prevent such surprises. Finally, when
approved, the proposed code will impose
sanctions on non-performing
individuals and entities.
the draft code was drawn up largely
by Yamson & associates, the
management consultancy run by the
iconic dr Ishmael Yamson, a former
executive chairman of Unilever Ghana
and one of the most respected corporate
leaders in the country. the code seeks to
establish operating procedures which
will have to be adhered to by Boards and
managements of sOes and sets out the
relationship between the two as well as
financial authority limitations and
financial reporting requirements.
the latter will prove crucial. Finance
Minister Ken Ofori-atta in July this year
revealed that 47 sOes had failed to file
their annual financial statements to the
Finance Ministry in accordance with the
law. this was at an event to sign a
performance contract with the CeOs as
he revealed that at the end of 2019, a net
loss of GH¢586.4 million had been
recorded.
the 47 institutions have since 2016
failed to submit their annual financial
statements in flagrant contravention of
the Public Financial Management act.
Indeed, more staggering is the
revelation that only 14 out of the 126
sOes operating in the country responded
to the ministry’s directive to submit
their annual statements in 2019..
addressing Chief executives Officers
of sOes at a performance signing
contract, the Finance Minister said the
revelation highlights the need for a
renewed performance contract.
as of the end of 2019, an aggregate
net loss of ¢586.4 million was recorded in
the sOes sector, and this compares to a
loss position of ¢188 million in 2018.
Indeed between 2015 and 2019, sOes
have consistently posted negative
operating margins, averaging around
10%.
this suggests that generally,
operating expenses at state enterprises
are rising rather than revenues coming
in, a situation that does not signal a good
picture.
Mr Ofori-atta stresses that for the
country to recover from the impact of
the coronavirus pandemic, the state
enterprises must pursue aggressive
accountability, transparency and
responsible custodianship.
the performance contract, an
initiative of the state Interest and
Governance authority (sIGa), aims to
evaluate and assess the performance of
the CeOs.
President Nana akufo-addo is
hopeful the sOes can turn their fortunes
around by leveraging on five key pillars..
“streamlining government oversight
of the sOes sector, piloting corporate
governance improvement, government
on-lending policy, credit risk assessment
and rationalizing compensation, as well
as salary structure in the sector, are the
key issues government is pursuing”, the
President stresses.

Thursday, September 16, 2021
THE WORK PLACE
How companies around the world
are shifting the way they work
The pandemic has
triggered seismic shifts
in how we work, causing
many companies to
transition from an
office-centric culture to
more flexible ways of
working. This shift is
largely still in the
experimental phase, as
businesses try to
conceive of and test
effective post-pandemic
working models for
their operations and
staff.
OF course, no one knows what
the ‘right’ answer is. What
works for one company may
not work for another; business
needs will vary depending on
sector, size and structure. Many
organisations, however, are doing their best
to make working more flexible – as well as
less burnout-prone, thanks to recent
conversations about mental health, work-life
balance and burnout.
some companies are going fully remote,
while others are opting for different visions
hybrid work environments. Here’s what four
companies in four different countries are
choosing to do.
Chargebee: Switching to
fully remote
Before the pandemic, Chargebee, an
India-founded subscription-management
company, used to have offices in san
Francisco, amsterdam and Chennai. today,
it’s gone fully remote with a completely
decentralised work structure that allows
employees to live and work where they
want.
Chargebee had been moving toward an
asynchronous working model before the
pandemic, anyway – meaning the focus
wasn’t on everyone working the same hours,
but on having teammates overlap a few
hours to facilitate communication. But “like
every other company during the pandemic,
we had to adapt to the realities of the world
and shift to a fully distributed model faster
and more completely than we had originally
planned”, says founder and CeO Krish
subramanian.
With meetings kept largely to
overlapping hours among teammates,
employees have a lot of flexibility around
when they work – though meetings, of
course, still need to happen. to help reduce
Zoom fatigue, on ‘Focus Wednesdays’
meetings are kept to a minimum so staff
can attend to their to-do list. In case projects
are staggered across time zones, the
company has an intranet that’s “up to date
on all activities”, with conversations,
meetings, documentation, meeting notes
and decisions open to everyone. there are
also apps, including Wingman, where
employees can access customer calls and
channels on slack where employees can post
questions – making “as much information
as possible accessible to our employees”.
subramanian says that giving
employees the freedom to manage their
time is aimed at reducing remote-work
stress and helping them disconnect from
work. But with no set hours comes the
possibility that people will have a hard time
logging off, too.
“We found that many employees weren’t
taking advantage of the unlimited PtO [paid
time off] programme we offer, especially
during the pandemic, but no one should stay
plugged in all the time – even if they are just
taking a ‘staycation’,” says subramanian. to
help protect wellbeing, employees get the
first Friday of each month off to recharge,
and there’s a mandatory two weeks of PtO
each year.
the company is sticking to a fully
remote work model for the foreseeable
future, now that it’s their standard operating
procedure. “With this transition, [upper
management has] learned a lot about the
value of empowering our employees,” says
subramanian. “the more traditional model
of having an HQ and a manager who works
in the same office as employees and having
set hours and a lot of meetings just isn’t the
most efficient model for most people.”
Instead, “as we have allowed our
employees more freedom to work when it is
says
that giving employees
the “subramanian
freedom to
manage their time is
aimed at reducing
remote-work stress
and helping them
disconnect from work.
But with no set hours
comes the possibility
that people will have
a hard time logging
off, too.
optimal for them and reduced the number of
meetings, we have found that their
productivity has grown exponentially,” he
says. “additionally, people are generally
happier and more motivated because they
have more control on how work fits around
their personal lives.”
Codility: Mostly remote, with hybrid
hubs and sponsored workspaces
Based in Warsaw, but with major hubs at
WeWork spaces in san Francisco, London
and Berlin, Codility, which helps
engineering firms hire talent, has more than
150 employees in 30 countries. Before the
pandemic, the company was already flexible
with structure: employees could rotate
among these hubs and work from home
when needed. Others were already hired to
work remotely, and even CeO Natalia
Panowicz was splitting time between the
Bay area and the offices in europe. But in
March 2020, Panowicz made the final shift to
a remote structure.
as the company transitioned, Panowicz
and her team “simply asked” employees
what they wanted to do their best at work
and tailored policies accordingly. Using their
feedback, the company has adopted a work
structure that’s both completely remote and
gives employees the chance to work in a
hybrid format.
some staff, for example, decided to move
cities or even countries. so, to facilitate their
free movement and help them remain
productive, the company gave all employees
WeWork access to any location of the coworking
company’s 800-plus outposts, so
they can have a desk to work at anywhere.
“We're monitoring closely how our team
uses the dedicated office space so that we
can scale up or down accordingly,” says
Panowicz. “In the cities where we have a
high concentration of people, 30% of staff
would come to the office each week (but not
each day), and the rest occasionally for
workshops and get-togethers.”
the company has also chosen to set
salaries across one salary band, so what
you’re paid is based on the role versus your
location. In the Us, all employees are paid a
“san Francisco salary”, while UK and eU
employees are paid at a London scale.
“It's up to the individual to decide where
to live for their best life,” says Panowicz.
“With freedom comes choice, this
immediately opens our talent pool to a
much wider net and more importantly, gives
our existing talent more freedom. We focus
on performance and output – the talent
creates the lifestyle and structure that works
for them.”
TomTom: Activity-based
working
When the pandemic hit, tomtom’s
leadership made a conscious decision to
reshape how their 4,500-plus employees
worked, rather than just copy-and-pasting
the workflow to a virtual setup. By October,
the location-technology company gave its
W@tt programme a test run – a model that
places the focus on the actual activity of
work and not where it’s done. By January
2021, its new hybrid-work structure, in
which employees decide if they want to
work in an office or home office, officially
launched.
“a lot of companies are mandating how
many days an employee is allowed to work
from home, while others have decided fully
remote is the way to go; we believe that
decision is best left up to our employees,”
says arne-Christian van der tang, tomtom’s
chief Hr officer. He says this “complete
flexibility” is the most important part of the
new working model. to that extent, the
physical offices are still part of the company,
though they’re being transformed or
rebranded into “hosting centres”, where
employees can collaborate and surroundings
are designed to support how they’re
• Continued on Page 10

Thursday, September 16, 2021
How companies around the world
are shifting the way they work
• Continued from Page 9
working.
“Our employees know what’s
best for themselves,” says van der
tang. “If they need to collaborate
with colleagues, it’s probably best
to meet up in the office, but if
they need some quiet time to
buckle down on an urgent task
with a deadline, perhaps working
from home is best. the choice is
theirs to make. the expectations
are quite simply to get the job
done.”
although the company had
always had offices around the
globe, employees can now live
abroad for up to three months a
year. “We’ve learned that our work
location is less important than we
thought it was,” says van der tang.
“so, we’re preparing for a post-
Covid world where we can
combine the best of both worlds –
a world where choice and
flexibility are key.”
Paddle: ‘Digitalfirst’
strategy
after a more than a year of
remote work, Paddle, a British
software start-up, has decided to
go hybrid with its work structure.
It recently rethought the
traditional office setup with its
new office in London: the new
digs cater specifically for hybrid
working. amenities include
moveable furniture, breakout
spaces, a recording studio and
Zoom integration with cameras
and microphones for connecting
with employees abroad.
For Chief People Officer david
Barker, this embrace of flexible
working is something he never
saw coming. “at the start of the
year, we thought about recalling
everyone to the office on a
permanent basis. However, since
March, we’ve been asking
ourselves, ‘Why is it so important
to have everyone in the office?’”
When the company asked
staff for input, it found that there
“was a great desire for flexibility”.
“Looking back on the remote
working of the past year and a
half, we could see that the flexible
model enhanced and even
accelerated our business, so we
moved away from an office-based
or hybrid approach, and replaced
it with our ‘digital first’ strategy,”
he says.
some companies are focusing
more on adopting the new tools
workers need, enabling them to
do their best work both at home
and in the office (Credit: Getty
Images)
that means that whether
they’re in the office or not, team
members should have the tools
they need to collaborate
seamlessly in-person, via video or
asynchronously, he says. “they
can choose to work in the way
that is best for them; whether
that’s coming into the office,
working from home or some
combination of the two.”
‘digital first’ has meant
investing in tools designed to
foster innovation, even if the
traditional view is that creative
behaviours suffer with remote
work. “We’ve used Miro, for
example – a virtual whiteboard
solution – to brainstorm ideas and
capture thoughts and feedback,”
says Bianca dragan, a brand and
event manager at the company.
there’s still room for playfulness,
too: “to maintain our company
culture, we've also had to become
very creative over slack – we've
had Paddlers create custom music
videos and we've paid to have
Cameos [personalized videos
made by celebrities] done for us to
celebrate big milestones.”
Barker viewed the increase in
productivity during the pandemic
as a potential sign that home and
work boundaries were getting a
little too blurry, so the company
has both in-house and outsourced
mental-health services available
for employees. It also has
meeting-free days and a quirky
policy in which 30-minute
meetings now end after 25, giving
employees five minutes to take a
breath between tasks.
“embracing the way of
working we’ve all been forced into
over the past 18 months has
forced us to re-evaluate what it
means to work,” says Barker. “It’s
been a journey and mindset
change, even with our leadership
team, but hugely positive for our
business. We’ve honed a great
medium where we feel that we
can support our people wherever
they are, fit around their lives and
still achieve our results.”
Constantly evolving
While not every business will
be making sweeping changes to
the ways employees work,
companies will be looking to each
other for inspiration as well as
trialling new models and
practices to see what’s working.
However, it’s clear that those
who are making changes can see
productivity and employeewellbeing
benefits that will
endure far beyond this initial
post-pandemic back-to-work
phase. “the repercussions of the
pandemic have shocked the world
into a more equitable and
balanced workplace that is a far
better fit for the future of the
workplace,” says Codility CeO
Natalia Panowicz. “simply put, for
work to be at its best, it needs to
fit into life.”
South African retailers retreat
from East and West Africa
• Continued from Page 4
analysts believe the company has
tried to replicate its success in south
africa rather than reshape its
business model to suit local
conditions.
One observer, on a Kenyan social
media thread on Game’s sale in the
country, wrote, “In the lakeside city of
Kisumu, Game is next to local
supermarket brand Naivas. at any
given time, Naivas is crowded while
Game sits forlornly. there’s
something about product mix,
strategy and marketing that Game
simply didn’t get right.”
there is no doubt that retailing in
regions far from home is complex
and expensive. Ports are often
inefficient, infrastructure deficits
make logistics challenging, supply
chains are long and vulnerable to
disruption, and over-zealous
bureaucracy and regulation
compound the problems. a key
challenge has been currency issues:
both devaluation and volatility. this
has at times turned profits in host
countries into rand losses back home.
Undoubtedly the extent of
disruption caused by the Covid-19
pandemic has forced a rethink of
cross-border expansion and where to
focus efforts. there are also shifts at
home where Massmart’s food
business has been struggling, also
contributing to losses at Game stores.
to stem losses, Massmart has
announced the sale of its food brands,
including Cambridge Food and 12
Cash and Carry stores, to the shoprite
Group, which is investing in the
south african market as it pares
down its african operations.
Game has not only battled on the
continent; the chain has also, along
with Cambridge Foods, been a drag on
group performance in recent years at
home. In the first half of 2021, its sales
dropped 7.6% compared to already
poor performance in 2020. Massmart
is focusing on the stores that are
working well, including Makro and
Builders. Its Builders store in Kenya
does not form part of the disposal.
strategy has become more risk averse
as new corporate leaders across many
sectors navigate uncertain waters. For
the retailers, this means markets far
from home just don’t seem to be
worth the effort right now without a
clear contribution to the bottom line.
Source: howwemadeitinafrica
GIADEC, Rocksure partner on
Nyinahin-Mpasaaso bauxite mine
• Continued from Page 3
the second phase will see the development
of a mine and a refinery solution at
Nyinahin-Mpasaaso in the atwimaa
Mponua district in the ashanti region.
the third phase will also see the development
of a mine in Kyebi in the east
akim Municipal district of the eastern region
and a second mine at Nyinahin-
Mpasaaso.
a refinery will also be built in the
atwimaa Mponua district in the ashanti
region and Kyebi, respectively.
In the fourth phase of the projects, the
VaLCO smelter will be modernised and expanded
to improve efficiency and increase
capacity.
Mr. ansah stressed that rocksure International
will, first, undertake a Mineral
resource estimate (Mre) to validate and
define the bauxite reserves leading to the
construction of a mine and a refinery solution.
according to him, the lifetime of the
mine is estimated to span over six decades
and create over 1,000 direct and indirect
jobs.
He reiterated that the four projects will
be private sector-led and will be executed
in partnership with key strategic investors.
the real impact of an Integrated aluminium
Industry, will be felt at the downstream
sector where demand for
aluminium and aluminium related products
are expected to rise especially with
the establishment of various car manufacturing
plants in the country.
this value-addition drive will not only
result in a thriving local economy but will
significantly cut down on the importation
of aluminium and aluminium products, he
added.
GIadeC is a state-owned company responsible
for the development of an integrated
aluminium industry in Ghana. the
company’s portfolio of assets includes
mining rights to all of Ghana’s 900 million
tonnes of bauxite reserves, 100% shares in
Valco - Ghana’s smelting company and interest
in Ghana Bauxite Company Limited,
a producing mine that has been operating
for over 70 years.
through strategic partnerships, GIadeC,
will hold equity stakes in new
mines and refineries to be established, and
drive integration of the bauxite – aluminium
value chain to create value.
rocksure International is a whollyowned
Ghanaian mining services company
that operates across Ghana and the
West african sub-region with expertise in
mining services, drilling services, load and
haulage. the company has considerable capacity
and flexibility in planning, equipping,
staffing and managing mines;
having supported several mines including
anglogold ashanti, african Underground
Mining services, Gold Fields, Ghana Manganese,
asanko Gold, Bumi Mine and many
more.

Thursday, September 16, 2021 PAGE 11
Ghana Stock Exchange Wed, Sep 15, 2021

Thursday, September 16, 2021
BACK
PAGE
These 4 methods can help
solve Ghana’s plastic dilemma
• Ghana currently only has waste recovery and
recycling rates of 12% and 10% respectively.
• Effective deployment of policies to stimulate
domestic demand for recycled plastics and
increase recovery and recycling rates is important.
• Domestic interventions, such as the training of
border officials to distinguish between different
types of plastic waste imports is also needed, say
experts.
GHaNa is a fastgrowing
economy
facing a plastics
dilemma. Given the
material’s favorable
characteristics, plastics are a vital
resource. It is used as an industrial
input; ensures access to safe
drinking water; and plays an
important social role by enabling
low-income populations to
purchase safe drinking water, food,
and other basic necessities, sold in
low-priced miniature plastic
sachets. at the same time, the
growth of single-use plastics,
estimated to be up to 70% of total
plastics consumption, is resulting
in a burgeoning plastic waste
problem for Ghana.
to address its plastic waste
problem, Ghana needs to take
urgent action to boost a more
circular economy. With low plastic
waste recovery and recycling rates
of 12% and 10% respectively, Ghana
could deploy policy instruments to
stimulate domestic demand for
recycled plastics and increase
recovery and recycling rates.
Industries such as consumerpackaged
goods, construction,
textiles, and Ghana’s newly
emerging automotive sector could
benefit from such interventions.
Ghana could also evaluate its
capacity to become a regional
recycling hub. stakeholders will
need to assess the merits of this
approach against the capacity to
ensure environmental goals are
met.
a recent study commissioned
by the Global Plastic action
Partnership (GPaP) and the
Platform for shaping the Future of
trade and Global economic
Interdependence – both initiatives
of the World economic Forum –
highlights the realities of the
plastics landscape in Ghana and
how trade policy could beused to
achieve a more circular economy
and add to domestic interventions.
Here are four ideas to consider:
1. Better control plastic waste
trade by equipping border officials
with the ability to distinguish
between different types of plastic
waste imports
to keep hazardous and hardto-recycle
plastic waste out of its
market, it is important for Ghana
to develop a strategic approach to
restricting such waste, in
accordance with international
trade expectations – including the
newly adopted plastic waste
amendments
to the Basel Convention. It will
be important to equip border
officials with the capacity to
implement the Basel Convention
Prior Informed Consent (PIC)
procedure and expedite trade for
responsible materials recyclers
who import or export. Greater
border efficiency could reduce the
risks of illegal trade too.
2. Facilitate imports of relevant
goods and services for creating a
more circular economy for plastics
Ghana can leverage trade
agreements to facilitate access to
the goods and services it needs to
advance its plastic waste
management agenda while
restricting the import of unwanted
goods. With respect to goods, it
could do so by enabling
differentiation between recyclable
and non-recyclable plastic waste in
its customs classification systems.
another option would be to remove
tariffs on the import of
environmental goods that would
accelerate Ghana’s waste
management progress, such as
recycling machinery. For services,
Ghana can use its trade
agreements to facilitate
investment in services that would
be critical for Ghana’s plastic waste
management progress – both
“For services,
Ghana can use its
trade agreements
to facilitate
investment in
services that
would be critical
for Ghana’s
plastic waste
management
progress – both
upstream with
respect to the
redesign of
products, and
downstream with
respect to waste
recycling,
installation,
assembly, and
maintenance.
upstream with respect to the
redesign of products, and
downstream with respect to waste
recycling, installation, assembly,
and maintenance.
3. Reduce non-tariff barriers to
improve export markets for
circular economy products
differences in design and the
implementation of standards and
regulations across jurisdictions can
lead to inefficiencies and increase
trade costs. For example, the
european Union’s Circular
economy action Plan (CeaP) sets
out mandatory requirements for
recycled content and waste
reduction measures for key product
groups, including packaging. these
developments, while positive for
circular economy objectives, add
new complexity for Ghanaian
exporters to the european Union.
Ghana could privilege the use
of international product standards
as a basis to develop technical
regulations relevant to recycled
plastics. Where relevant
international standards do not
currently exist, Ghana can play a
leading role in the progression of
international standards, or in
developing regional standards
within eCOWas or the african
Continental Free trade area
(afCFta). the World economic
Forum’s regional action Group for
africa is already exploring a
common regional standard for
food-grade rPet with the african
Circular economy alliance (aCea)
and the arsO.
4. Investigate global
partnerships for capacity building
and dialogue for sharing best
practices
Ghana could also take part in
plurilateral initiatives at the World
trade Organization to help its
officials exchange best practices
and knowledge. In November 2020,
several WtO members launched
an “open-ended informal dialogue”
on plastics pollution and
sustainable plastics trade, with a
focus on improving transparency,
monitoring, promoting best
practices, and capacity building.
Ghana does not currently
participate in this initiative.
Other relevant initiatives that
are taking place at the WtO
include the recently launched
structured discussions on trade
and environmental sustainability.
For Ghana, which does not
participate in this initiative either,
it could be an opportunity to
explore the role of the
international trade community in
capacity building and technical
assistance, including in the area of
customs control systems. It would
also be useful to explore ways of
linking the WtO’s technical
assistance programmes with those
administered by the World
Customs Organization and the
Basel Convention.
to develop a successful plastic
waste management strategy,
Ghana must proactively align its
plastic waste management
ambitions with its trade agenda,
since trade is critical in shaping a
country’s economic agenda. this, in
turn, requires an orchestrated
approach, which could be
facilitated by the establishment of
an inter-ministerial committee
focused on plastic waste and trade.
It would also be important to
engage in public-private dialogues
to continue to identify trade policy
priorities.