Business Analyst - June 23

Thursday, June 23, 2022
Covid-19 expenditure
Govt spent GH¢3.72 billion less
• Continued from front
According to a statement by Mr.
ofori-Atta, a total amount of GH¢11.162
billion (this includes the CAP) in 2020
was programmed for CovID-19 related
expenditure.
out of this amount, a total of
GH¢8,122 million was utilised. the
amount was utilised to provide support
to households; Supply equipment and
provide relief to health workers (Health
response); Health Infrastructure;
Security operations, Evacuations,
• In 2020 and 2021
Quarantine and Coordination;
Economic relief; Stabilization and
revitalization; and Covid-19
Complementary releases.
A total amount of GH¢4.601 billion
was programmed in the 2021 budget for
CovID-19 related expenses.
At the end of December 2021, total
utilisation was GH¢3.914.40 million
representing 85% utilisation.
“I wish to dispel the notion that
there have been inconsistencies in
government data on CovID-19. His
Excellency the President intimated
during that State of the nation Address
on 30th March, 2022, that we had
mobilised about GH¢17.7 billion since
2020 to fight the pandemic. We have
subsequently reconciled the data and I
can report that as of end-May, 2022, we
have mobilised GH¢18.19 billion to
mitigate the effect of the pandemic”,
Mr. ofori-Atta pointed out.
“Again, when His Excellency the
vice President indicated on 7th April,
2022 at the national tESCon
Conference that government had spent
GH¢8.1 billion on Covid-19, it was
within the context of expenditures for
2020 as I have already indicated”, he
added.
During the CovID-19 pandemic, the
government received $1 billion from
the International Monetary Fund,
GH¢10 billion from the Bank of Ghana,
US$69.3 million from African
Development Bank and US$99.7 million
from the European Union (EU).
No imminent fuel shortage
• CBOD boss assures
tHE Chief Executive officer (CEo) of the
Ghana Chamber of Bulk oil Distributors
(CBoD), Senyo Hosi, has assuaged the
fears of Ghanaians of a possible fuel
shortage.
According to him, the country has
enough fuel stock to last a month amid
fuel shortage concerns, hence there was
no need to panic.
Mr. Hosi made the statement while
speaking on Citi Breakfast Show, which
was monitored by Business AnALYSt.
“We have enough stock to keep us
stable and actually buy us enough time
to fix the problem,” he said.
He added that some stakeholders
have been “engaging all the international
traders since yesterday when the
story broke to give them assurances that
things are being done.”
Aside from the above, Mr. Hosi said
there will be more supplies beyond the
one-month fuel stock in Ghana.
“It is a very resolvable situation. It is
not something that panics me at all. It
is something that we have been dealing
with, and we have clarity on how to resolve
it,” he said.
Mr. Hosi was responding to a report
from Bloomberg which claimed that
Ghana faces a looming fuel
shortage because the Bank
of Ghana is rationing dollars.
this follows a surge in
oil prices in the wake of
the russian invasion of
Ukraine.
Ghana’s monthly fuel
import bill stood at $450
million in May, up from
$250 million in January.
the cedi has also weakened
22 percent against the
dollar this year, making it
the worst performance
among African currencies
tracked by Bloomberg.
Ghana’s inflation rate
also jumped to 27.6 percent
in May, continuing the
record highs in the last 18
years.
the Bank of Ghana is
yet to respond to the report.
GJA Elections
Dwumfour to set up
insurance package
for journalists
Mr. Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, a Ghana
Journalist Association’s (GJA) Presidential
hopeful, says he will set up an insurance
scheme for journalists to protect them
against any misfortune if given the mandate
as the President of the Association.
He said the insurance scheme would
cover health, funerals, accidents and all
the basic things that confront journalists
as they must be protected and secured to
plan for a better future.
“We got three proposals from life insurance
companies and vehicle insurance
companies for consideration,” he said in
an interview with the Ghana news
Agency in tema.
Mr Dwumfour noted that the safety of
members could not be left in the hands of
media owners because there was no law
binding them and, therefore, the association
would facilitate the acquisition of vehicles
for individuals and media houses to
and from programmes to avoid rush with
its attendant consequences.
Speaking on the campaign to annex
the leadership of the GJA, he noted that,
”the Association must be able to capitalize
on its social network to draw revenue and
under his leadership, there would be appealing
programmes rolled out to woo
support from donor agencies and corporate
partners to generate revenue for the
Association”.
Mr Dwumfour promised that a one
million retiree Fund would be established
to cater for the welfare of retired journalists.
“So we are going to form a Committee
to compile a database for retirees or meet
the retirees and regularize the membership
of those who were not even members
of the Association,” he said.
Mr Dwumfour assured journalists of
his unwavering commitment to bring a
total transformation to the GJA and make
it more attractive and beneficial to all
journalists devoid of discrimination.
He said there would be professional
development programmes for journalists,
including a deliberate monthly or quarterly
training in specific areas to build
their capacities and specialization.
Credit: gbcghanaonline.com
“So we are going to form a
Committee to compile a
database for retirees or meet
the retirees and regularize
the membership of those who
were not even members of
the Association,” he said.