Business Analyst - July 5

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Tuesday, July 5, 2022. Vol. No. 170
GH¢2.50
• Dr. Ernest
Addison,
Governor
of BoG
• Razak
Opoku
AMId the continuous
backlash following
the Akufo-Addo
administration’s
resolve to seek
bailout from the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), the
Minister of Information, Kojo
Oppong Nkrumah, has justified
his government’s move to fall on
the Bretton Woods institution for
help.
He underpinned that the
government’s ‘primary reason’ for
returning to the IMF was the
COVId-19 pandemic and the
• Kojo Opong
Nkrumah

Tuesday, July 5, 2022
Illinois shooting: Six dead in 4
July parade shooting near Chicago
POLICE are still searching for a
gunman who shot dead six
people at a Fourth of July
Independence day parade near
the US city of Chicago, officials
say.
The event in the city of Highland Park
was suddenly halted shortly after 10:00
local (15:00 GMT), when several shots were
heard.
Residents have been urged to stay at
home and contact their loved ones to
make sure they are safe.
City authorities said 24 people had also
been hospitalised.
"We are aggressively looking for the
individual responsible for this shooting,"
Lake County Major Crime Task Force
spokesman Christopher Covelli told
reporters.
Police have described the suspect as a
white man, aged 18-20, who is "armed and
dangerous" and appeared to have targeted
the parade's attendees at random.
Law enforcement officers have secured
a perimeter around Highland Park's
downtown area and recovered "evidence of
a firearm," a statement from city officials
said.
Nearby suburbs have also gone on
lockdown, with beaches evacuated and
local parades and fireworks shows
cancelled.
The suspected shooter opened fire at
the parade at around 10:15 local time (15:15
GMT), just a few minutes after it began.
The event was scheduled to include floats,
marching bands, and community
entertainment as part of the city's
Independence day celebrations.
But what should have been one of the
happiest days of the year quickly turned to
panic, with pushchairs, purses and lawn
chairs left discarded on the street as
crowds fled from the scene.
The suspect is believed to have fired at
members of the public from the rooftop of
a nearby shop using what police described
as a high-powered rifle.
"On a day that we came together to
celebrate community and freedom, we're
instead mourning the tragic loss of life,"
said city mayor Nancy Rotering.
Witnesses at the scene described the
terrifying moment they heard multiple
shots fired in quick succession.
Anand, who said he was less than
100m (328ft) from the shooter, told the BBC
he initially thought he had heard a car
backfiring before he saw others running
and realised what was unfolding.
It was "the type of gun where it
releases a lot of bullets in a very short
amount of time. Incredibly loud. Then
there's complete silence," he said.
Gun violence is very rare in this
suburban area, he added: "I felt so safe
here and this is very surreal. We're hiding
in a shelter now keeping safe, there's
people crying. It's not a good feeling, at
all."
Another witness, Noel Hara, described
how he was having breakfast at Starbucks
after dropping off his son at the parade,
when the chaos unfolded.
"About 30 people suddenly came
rushing in screaming and we were locked
into the Starbucks bathroom," Mr Hara
told the BBC.
"Moments later, they evacuated us
from the Starbucks because they thought
the shooter was trying to get in the back
door."
Mr Hara was eventually able to reunite
with his son after following his
movements on a location tracking app.
Gun violence in Chicago tends to rise
over holiday weekends as the hot weather
sends people outdoors. In 2021, more than
100 people were shot and 17 killed over the
Fourth of July weekend in the city of
Chicago.
The shooting comes just a month after
the deadly shootings in Uvalde, Texas and
Buffalo, New York - and a week after the US
Congress passed bipartisan legislation on
gun control in America.
A third priest kidnapped
in three days in Nigeria
THE Catholic church in the northwestern
Nigerian state of Kaduna says
a priest has been kidnapped, amid a
spate of similar incidents
Colleagues of Father Emmanuel
Silas realised he had been abducted
after he didn't show up for mass on
Monday morning and was nowhere to
be seen in his living quarters,
according to Father John Mark who
spoke to the BBC.
On Saturday two Catholic priests
were abducted in the southern state of
Edo, and last week a priest was taken
from his home near the city of Auchi in
the same region and later found dead.
The security services in Nigeria are
struggling to combat an upsurge in
criminal killings and kidnappings for
ransom across the country.

Tuesday, July 5, 2022
IMF bailout…
Govt justifies decision
• Continued from front
ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
“COVId-19 is the primary reason. It was a
global challenge…the twin crisis [also
affected us], and it’s a matter that is a wellknown
problem”.
He said until these two global crises, the
government was working assiduously to put
the ailing Ghanaian economy back on track
after it assumed office.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah gave the
• Insists Covid and Russia-Ukraine
war are primary reasons
justification while speaking on the Citi
Breakfast Show yesterday which was
monitored by Business ANALYST
Ghana’s economy, he said, was
performing comparatively better but was
plagued by some major macroeconomic
distortions, thereby throwing the economic
buffers created off gear.
He further attributed the current
situation to the recent economic downgrade
by international rating agencies.
“Beyond the twin crisis, our domestic
program which was what will ordinarily
help us respond, so we do not go for a balance
of payment support, has also been
challenged. One of the major things that
have affected us is our downgrade [by
international rating agencies], therefore our
inability to get access to the international
market,” he noted.
It would be recalled that The Ministry of
Information on Friday, July 1, 2022,
announced that President Nana Addo
dankwa Akufo-Addo had given approval for
Ghana to begin engagements with the IMF
for a bailout.
According to Mr. Oppong Nkrumah, the
Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, will be
leading the negotiations with the IMF in the
coming days. That news has since been
received with mixed feelings.
This will be the 17th time Ghana was
going to the IMF for help. The 16th time was
under the John Mahama administration in
2015 and ended in 2019.
“The Fund is not a single bullet to
answer all the questions that we have but if
they can come to support the program that
we have on the table. The President has
made that decision and we have started
putting in place the mechanisms,” Mr.
Oppong Nkrumah added.
NPP group calls for
immediate reshuffle
over IMF bailout
Loyal patriots, a youth group in the New
Patriotic Party (NPP) is calling for a
reshuffle in the NPP administration.
A statement co-signed by the Chairman
and the secretary for the group,
Bernard Okyere Opoku and Maxwell
Agyei-Nyanor, noted that it has become
a known and accepted fact that the current
general economic situation in the
world is hurting and Ghana is also experiencing
its worst of the economy.
According to the group, there are
both internal and external factors responsible
for the economic difficulties
we find ourselves in as a nation which
has necessitated the country seeking to
subscribe to the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) for a bailout.
They added that “These factors include
but not limited to non-linkages of
government programmes, unstable currency,
domination of our productive sectors
by foreigners, and our people's
penchant desire for foreign-made goods
which are not being regulated or tackled
by the government and most importantly,
non-performance of some government
appointees.
The group says Akufo-Addo has not
caused any major reshuffle since NPP
assumed office and that it will be appropriate
if he makes some changes immediately.
” It is a common observation that
some appointees of the government are
sleeping on the job and it has become
the concern of most political watchers
and even the ordinary man on the
street. Most of these appointees by their
actions and inactions believe that they
are untouchable.
“Their reasons, one cannot easily put
a finger at but obviously points to the
fact of close association with people
who wield a lot more powers in the corridors
of power in the government.
“What should be done and must be
done by the President is to cause reshuffle
in his government and go a step further
ahead to relieve some appointees of
their portfolios but he hasn't done that,”
a statement from the group said.
Ghana has significant role to
play In financial integration in
West Africa – BoG Governor
THE Governor of the Bank of Ghana, dr.
Ernest Addison, says Ghana has a significant
role to play in the integration of the financial
system of ECOWAS.
This process includes capital market
integration, regional currency convertibility/quoting
and trading national currencies,
harmonisation of the legal and
regulatory frameworks of the banking sector,
harmonisation of legislation; and
cross-border payments system integration.
Speaking with the business and finance
committee, the Governor said the
implementation of these reforms would
ensure the development of a robust financial
sector in Ghana to participate in funding
trade transactions presented through
the African Continental Free Trade Agreement
(AfCFTA) platform.
“Ghana’s financial sector can play a
pivotal role in leveraging AfCFTA to boost
the country’s socio-economic development.
This can be achieved through investments
in infrastructure and financial
technology to support regional trade transactions.
These favourable conditions
and Ghana’s position as the gateway
to West Africa, among other factors,
earned Ghana the rights to host the
AfCFTA Secretariat”, he mentioned.
He said that Ghana’s banking
sector is currently well capitalised,
with adequate liquidity to support
transactions generated through increased
trade.
The Central Bank has also put in
place robust regulatory and supervisory
frameworks to support in-country
and cross-border trade
transactions.
There are also policies and safeguards
to reduce Anti-Money Laundering
and Combating the
Financing of Terrorism (AML-CFT)
activities and create a robust and
sound financial system to support
regional trade. Ghana’s financial
sector can therefore be instrumental
in meeting the funding needs of businesses
in the country to trade under the
AfCFTA umbrella.
In response to the opportunities that
the AFFTCA presents, the Governor said
commercial banks are required to
strengthen all risk management systems
and scale-up capacity in trade finance to
support the private sector.
Additionally, banks and non-bank financial
institutions are encouraged to increase
investments in digitisation
platforms as well as cyber-security systems
to facilitate safe and secure trade transactions
through AfCFTA. These institutional
developments should complement the
PAPSS and MANSA platforms through
which Afreximbank will work with local
businesses and financial institutions to
help facilitate intra-Africa trade.
dr. Addison concluded, urging, all financial
institutions to collaborate and take
advantage of the opportunities offered
through AfCFTA to boost the country’s
trade efforts.

Tuesday, July 5, 2022
BOOST LOCAL CAPACITIES TO
ACHIEVE AFCFTA POTENTIAL
ThE African Continental Free Trade Area
(AfCFTA) agreement is seen by many as an
excellent strategy to develop Africa’s
economy through its manufacturing sector,
after many years of discussions about
creating a common market.
The AfCFTA will boost the continent’s
manufacturing sector by facilitating access
to new markets for small and medium
enterprises (SMEs), increasing economies of
scale and facilitating export diversification.
It is also expected to boost intra-African
trade, promote industrialisation, create jobs
and improve the competitiveness of African
industries on the global stage.
That is why a vibrant manufacturing
sector is crucial to transforming economies
on the continent in order to achieve
sustained growth, create more jobs and
achieve prosperity for all.
African nations currently trade more
internationally than with one another.
Intra-African trade accounted for 17 per
cent of African exports, which is low,
compared to 59 per cent for Asia and 68 per
cent for Europe, according to the World
Economic Forum.
But AfCFTA wants to do more than just
boost trade in goods — its scope includes
services, investment, intellectual property
rights and competition policy, although
some of these aspects are still under
negotiation.
Since Africa officially started trading
under AfCFTA in January 2021, the practical
impact of the agreement has been minimal,
while disruptions of global supply chains
due to COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 have
limited AfCFTA's potential.
The insignificant share of Africa in global
trade and the relatively low level of intra-
African trade can be attributed, to a large
extent, to the inadequacy of productive
capacity, especially in the dynamic sectors
of global trade.
For us, one of the challenges that can
hinder the realisation of a common market
for the continent is the lack of capacity to
add value to the continent’s raw materials.
In short, we simply export our products
in raw form, thereby thwarting the growth
of a common market.
This is because if other countries on the
continent cannot access finished goods of
African produce to import, they will be
compelled to buy them from outside the
continent.
The global chocolate industry is worth
over $150 billion. While West Africa supplies
70 per cent of the cocoa beans, most of the
value in a chocolate bar is generated in
Europe and North America.
When the public
ratifies your business
BY MAXWELL
AMPONG
There are many
definitions of
“success” when it
comes to owning a
business.
Good marketing begets
business. So does targeted
lobbying. So does nepotism.
The list can be long. But
customer recommendation
and good reviews are cheap
and effective ways that can
get your business to be the
preferred choice in your field.
BRANd FAMILIARITY:
Familiarity is a very powerful
tool.
In the 1960s, a research
psychologist named Robert
Zajonc discovered that when
people are repeatedly
exposed to a certain stimulus,
they start to react favourably
to it.
He called it the Mere Exposure
Effect, and it works. It works really
well.
When MTN started out in
Ghana, it was really literally
everywhere you go in every sense of
the word. I literally couldn’t drive for
30 minutes without seeing
somewhere and somehow that
bright yellow box with the MTN
initials in it. That consistency I
believe played a vital role in them
being so ahead of the other telecom
companies in many respects. We
engage the brands that we trust. We
trust the brands that we’re familiar
with. We’re familiar with
what we see every day.
EXTRAORdINARY
CUSTOMER SERVICE:
Human emotion is a very
important factor in what
we buy.
Even when emotion
comes second, there will
be many others that will
give you the efficacy you
seek and at that point,
emotion jumps in again.
People like people they
like; it’s that simple.
People gravitate to those
that make them feel
warm. There’s a saying
that people will forget
what you did but never
forget how you made
them feel. That’s what
customer service is all
about.
Aim to build a
reputation for so good a
customer service that people will
want to pass by just to feel that
warmth. Build a reputation for being
the one guaranteed nice experience
in someone’s day. Adulthood is very
hard for the majority of people. They
end up projecting their frustrations
onto the people they deal with, and
that person can be you or your staff.
If you manage to not get sucked into
that air of negativity, you might
retain that client because guess
what: who else will deal with all of
their craziness. YOU! The answer
must be YOU!
CONCENTRATE ON IMPROVING –
RIGHT YOUR WRONGS: Perfection
is a journey, not a state.
Clients are human beings. They
do not like to feel played and
chances are you are not going to do
everything right every time. The
most important thing is that you
keep working at it.
Believe in mistakes. Believe in
avoiding them by learning about
and from other’s mistakes. But more
importantly, believe in working on
not making them twice.
Chances are that a majority of
clients will remain with your brand
if they know that you can steer your
boat right when it gets off its course.
A mistake only irritates in the
beginning. An unresolved mistake is
what breeds harsh sentiment and
bad reviews. Bad reviews spread
faster by the way because people like
to avoid loss and bad experiences. So,
whether the mistakes are your fault
or that of the customer, it’s your
fault that you couldn’t curate a
smooth experience for your
customer; think of it like that.
When we started, I was
notorious for apportioning blame
during a pitch, and for good reason. I
spoke to the team about it and they
fell in line with it perfectly. My
reasoning was, if the buck stops
with me, and I am wrong, then we
are all wrong. Better to demonstrate
a clear path to solving the problem
in order to salvage whatever trust is
left from the client.
One time, many many years ago,
we gave this disastrous first pitch
and when I say “we”, I mean I.
Whenever the prospective client
exclaimed at some misguided point,
one team member would apologise
for not doing enough research or
something like that and then
another will apologise for mixing
our facts and so on and so forth. If
we lost that business, it would have
been understandable. But after the
pitch, I gave the client a firm
assurance that I was going to handle
his account personally henceforth, I
apologised for the errors of my staff
(go figure!), took his advice on how
to run my team better (they always
do that), and then I totally aced the
next pitch alone (to demonstrate a
change).
I have expanded on 3 how’s.
Build brand familiarity, give
extraordinary customer care, and
work on accepting and improving
mistakes. There are others. Offer a
guarantee one way or the other and
do not fail to deliver on that
guarantee. Build home support
wherever your business is, for people
like to support their own, arguably.
Have Loyalty Schemes. Execute good
pricing strategies. Partner with
popular people to increase your
approachability. Utilise Social Media.
Provide Free WiFi (it’s a people
magnet in 2020). Create scarcity.
There are many other how’s.
Here is where all that should be
headed: people should walk into
your office without question. Your
name should be the first they
mention instinctively when they
need the services you can provide.
You should have people come to you
for value, and for reliability.

Tuesday, July 5, 2022
Mahama went to IMF over misuse
of resources — Razak Kojo Opoku
POLICY Analyst, Razak
Kojo Opoku, has hit
hard at former President
John Mahama,
claiming that the latter
resorted to the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) after misusing
public resources.
His comments follow criticisms
against the Akufo-Addo
gov’t for opting for an IMF
bailout as the country’s economic
crisis deepens.
In a statement, Razak Opoku
said former President John Mahama
actually went to the IMF
because of “Fiscal indiscipline
anchored on pure incompetence
and not because of lack of resources.
Below is the full
statement:
Mahama Went to the IMF because
of Misuse or Waste of Resources
And Not because of Lack
of Resources: Razak Kojo Opoku
Writes to NdC
The fact and data always support
the narrative that former
President John Mahama actually
went to the IMF because of Fiscal
Indiscipline anchored on Pure
Incompetence and Not because
of a lack of resources.
According to the International
Monetary Fund, the NdC
government under John Mahama
came to the IMF for an
economic bailout because of:
1. Fiscal Indiscipline due to
the mismanagement of the economy.
2. domestic economic crisis
caused by dUMSOR.
3. Lack of Investor Confidence
due to poor economic indicators
and conditions.
4. Misuses and Waste of Public
funds influenced by create,
loot and share scheme.
Before considering going to
the IMF in 2014/2015, John Mahama
himself in his State of the
Nation address to Parliament on
Thursday, February 21, 2013, declared
to Ghanaians that, and I
quote, ".... Mr. Speaker, the meat is
now down to the bones and it is
time for serious rethinking..."
Interestingly, Mr. John Mahama
on July 24, 2021, publicly
opined that "Prof. Mills' legacy in
Ghana's economic history is unmatched".
He went on to state
that, "although the Presidency of
the late Prof. Mills was a short
one, the level of socio-economic
development chalked under his
tenure cannot be overstated".
Mr. John Mahama inherited
economic growth of 14% from
Prof. Mills and before John Mahama
left office in december
2016, the economic growth of
Ghana was 3.37%.
The economic growth under
the 4year mandate of John Mahama
WITHOUT global economic
crisis such as COVId-19
and the Russia-Ukraine War were
as follows:
2013---- 7.31%
2014---- 2.86%
2015----- 2.12%
2016----- 3.37%
Akufo-Addo's Government inherited
3.37% economic growth
from John Mahama and quickly
increased it to 8.13% in 2017.
John Mahama inherited a
single-digit Inflation rate of 8.8%
from Prof. Mills and before John
Mahama left in december 2016,
the inflation rate of Ghana was
15.4%.
At the end of the first 4year
mandate of Akufo-Addo's Government,
an Inflation rate of 15.4%
inherited from John Mahama
was reduced to 10.4% in december
2020.
John Mahama inherited massive
resources from Prof. Mills
coupled with good economic indicators
according to the words
of John Mahama himself but
sadly and unfortunately these resources
were misused or wasted
on the:
1. Payment of judgement
debts.
2. Woyome Scandal
3. Isofoton Scandal
4. Gyeeda Scandal
5. NSS Scandal
6. Brazil World Cup Scandal
7. SAdA Scandal
8. Bus Branding Scandal
9. Airbus Scandal
10. Slay Queens Scandal
Indeed, John Mahama's administration
chopped all the
bones and meat of the national
economy of Ghana before leaving
office on January 6th, 2017.
It is therefore out of ignorance,
mischief and historical illiteracy
for the National
Communication Officer of the
NdC to state that Mahama went
to the IMF because he didn't have
the resources Akufo-Addo has.
This is clearly myopic thinking.
One may ask, what resources
did John Mahama pass on to
Akufo-Addo to work with in January
2017? Is it the economic
bone resources?
For the avoidance of doubt,
Akufo-Addo's Government is
seeking IMF support because of
the adverse impact of global
COVId-19 and the Russia-
Ukraine War.
On the other hand, John Mahama
went to the IMF after
chopping all the meat and bones
of the economy inherited from
Prof. John Evans Atta-Mills.
Banks move away from over-counter
transactions into digital banking
MANY banks are moving away from
over-the-counter transactions to termination
of funds into mobile money
wallets, bank accounts of customers
and non-customers, the Bank of Ghana
has disclosed.
The year 2021 also saw the Bank of
Ghana granting authorisation to four
banks to partner Money Transfer Organisations
to terminate inward remittances
into bank accounts, mobile
money wallets, or cash pick-up overthe-counter.
According to the Payment Systems
Oversight Annual Report, 2021, some financial
institutions upgraded and enhanced
their payment delivery
channels (digital banking services and
USSd banking service), while others
introduced new mobile banking services.
The Central Bank also approved
mobile banking services for six financial
institutions in 2021, as compared
to seven in 2020.
BoG approves 26 products for financial
institutions in 2021
The Bank of Ghana approved 26
products and services for financial institutions
in 2021, compared to 32 in
2020.
The approved products and services
were mainly in-bound remittances,
mobile banking services, card issuance,
and digital micro loans.
Others included agency banking,
POS and ATM acquiring services, remote
account opening,
WhatsApp/chat banking, and Quick
Response (QR) code.
The Central Bank also granted approval
to three financial institutions to
issue Visa and domestic EMV Gh-
LinkTM branded cards. One of the financial
institutions was granted
approval to issue United States dollar
(USd) prepaid cards for only international
transactions.
digital loans
Four financial institutions received
authorisation to offer digital micro
loans that can be accessed through the
usage of USSd code or mobile application
channel.
Agency banking
The Central Bank granted authorisation
to two banks to engage subagents
for money transfer services,
Agency banking is banking activities
where banks engaged various retailers
as agents to extend banking
services to the general public expanded
during the year under review.

Tuesday, July 5, 2022
Excess gas capacity vs adequate
feedstock for industrialization
New projects by both GNPC
and Ghana Gas are creating
fears that the country may
soon face a problem of excess
gas supply capacity and
accompanying unnecessary
costs. But with Ghana Gas
in particular devising a road
map to support
industrialization far beyond
straight forward electrical
power generation, sharply
increased gas supply holds
the key to Ghana’s
accelerated economic growth
TOMA IMIRHE examines
the issues.
STANdING on the
shoreline of the Western
Region, close to the FPSOs
that are dotted several
kilometers away in
Ghana’s territorial waters, an
observer may see what looks like a
giant candlelight rising out of the
ocean. This is Ghana’s natural gas
being flared, in direct contradiction
to the promise of government, a
decade ago, that this would not be
allowed to happen.
Meanwhile some hundreds of
kilometres to the east of Ghana’s
new oil and gas fields, just off the
shore of Tema, Ghana’s industrial
hub, lies recently installed
infrastructure that has
the international media buzzing,
being that it is the very first LNG
reception facility in sub Saharan
Africa.
This apparently incongruous
situation has generated fierce debates in
Ghana’s oil and gas industry; even as
Ghana is flaring its own gas, it is now
about to start importing gas from abroad
to add to the large amounts it already
imports from neighbouring Nigeria
through the West African Gas Pipeline.
But the situation is far more
complicated than it looks. Ghana is
flaring its own gas because it lacks
sufficient processing capacity to convert
all the wet gas being produced from the
oldest two oilfields – the Jubilee and TEN
fields operated by Tullow Oil on behalf of
its partners - into dry gas usable for
power generation. However what is being
produced locally is supplemented from
the gas generated from the third and
latest field, the Sankofa Gyename oil and
gas field operated by ENI which has its
own processing capacity.
To rectify this the Ghana National Gas
Corporation, more widely known simply
as Ghana Gas, is planning to establish as
second processing plant near the first
one, which is located at Atuabo in the
Western Region. But the upstream oil
industry counterpart of Ghana Gas the
older and bigger Ghana National
Petroleum Corporation has not waited for
this; rather it has gone ahead to acquire
and install the floating regasification
plant at Tema to receive gas imports even
as Ghana Gas considers the options for
securing financing for its second
processing plant to exploit the locally
generated gas that is currently being
flared.
This has inevitably raised issues of
priorities with industry analysts
questioning why GNPC has made such a
large investment in a plant that will
receive gas imports while investment is
needed to use the locally produced gas.
These questions became amplified by the
fact that the gas currently being flared is
being given to the country virtually free
of charge by the Jubilee and TEN fields
partners and so flaring it for want of
sufficient processing capacity amounts
to a colossal waste. Worse still Ghana will
only get this free local gas for a certain
period of time after which it will have to
start paying for it. Thus there are worries
that Ghana is missing an opportunity
that will sooner than later no longer be
available.
Ghana Gas is now looking to have its
second plant up and running as quickly
as possible, possibly as
early as 2024. dr Ben Kd
Asante, Chief Executive
Officer (CEO), Ghana
Gas, says the
second Gas
Processing Plant to
increase the capacity
from 150 to 240mscfd
(Million standard cubic
feet per day). The new
facility which would be
cited north of the
current Plant at Atuabo
in the Western Region
would eliminate the
need to flare part of the
gas currently being
released by oil
production from the
Jubilee and TEN fields.
Currently Ghana
has the capacity to produce 365 mscfd of
gas from the Jubilee and the TEN cluster
which produce wet gas. However, the
Atuabo gas processing plant’s capacity is
less than half of this, at 150 mscfd. This
has restricted actual wet gas throughput
to 130 mscfd, which is almost the full
installed gas processing capacity Ghana
currently has.
A new processing plant would
eliminate Ghana’s retained dependence
on sometimes irregular gas imports from
Nigeria through the West African Gas
Pipeline and even more importantly
would enable the country to substitute
even more of the imported diesel oil still
used as feedstock for power generation
with gas which is a cleaner, cheaper,
locally sourced form of energy. But most
importantly of all it would enable Ghana
to energize crucial projects and activities
that it cannot yet because of inadequate
gas delivery.
The planned new processing plant’s
construction and commencement of
operations can be executed much faster
than the first one because this time
around a lot of the requisite
infrastructure, such as pipelines, utilities,
roads and the likes are already in place,
put there to operationalize the Atuabo
plant nearly a decade ago.
The impending new gas processing
plant vividly illustrates just how
successful Ghana’s upstream gas
industry is proving to be with regards to
both the demand it is generating and the
sheer potentials it offers going forward.
Thus, while Ghana could arrange a
similar financing structure for its
construction as the one used for the first
one – with loan financing from China
being the primary mode, utilizing the
technical skill of that country’s Sinopec –
government is rather looking to leverage
on the local content and participation dr
Ben Asante, the current CEO of Ghana
Gas, has masterminded for the industry.
To this end the new plant will involve
a private partner which will finance and
construct the plant, which will
subsequently be co-managed by the
private partner and Ghana Gas itself,
before ultimately it is fully transferred to
the State. To be sure, Ghana now has the
capacity; since becoming CEO of Ghana
Gas dr Asante has successfully replaced
the 56 Chinese technical experts –
primarily engineers – with Ghanaians
and the company and its activities are
now run entirely by indigenes.
Instructively, since this move in 2017,
there has been no accident or operational
failure under this new crop of young
Ghanaian engineers, drawn
predominantly from institutions in the
oil and gas industry such as TOR and
BOST and trained in upstream gas
operations under the expert supervision
of dr Asante himself.
The Atuabo plant itself is the result of
a US$1 billion investment made through
the then newly established Ghana Gas
and it has changed a fundamental aspect
of the structure of the country’s economy
which has subsequently improved its
performance tremendously. That
investment – funded by a US$850 million
loan from the Chinese development
Bank and US$150 million in counterpart
funding by the Government of Ghana
itself – created a gas processing plant at
Atuabo in the Western Region and the
requisite infrastructure to transport the
gas by offshore and onshore pipelines
from the country’s offshore oilfields to
the plant and from there to power
generation facilities in that part of the
country where natural gas has since
replaced heavy diesel oil as their primary
feedstock.

Tuesday, July 5, 2022
The infrastructure
comprises : Offshore gas
export pipeline, which
consists of a 12 inch diameter
58km long subsea pipeline,
transporting dense-phase gas
from the Jubilee FPSO to the
Gas Plant; the Gas Processing
Plant (GPP) itself at Atuabo in
the Western Region; Onshore
gas pipeline, which consists of
a 20 inch diameter 110 km
pipeline, transporting sales gas
from the GPP to an existing
Thermal Power Plant at
Aboadze; and a LPG truckloading
gantry located
approximately 2.5km from the
GPP near Anokye.
Ultimately this has cut
Ghana’s import bill for diesel
oil drastically enabling the
country to turn its erstwhile
trade deficits in trade
surpluses since the end of 2016
without having to engineer a
huge increase in export
revenues; which in turn has
served as a pivotal contributor
to the cedi dollar exchange
rate stability which the
country enjoys till today.
The achievements thrown
up by the Atuabo plant and the
identified potentials of the
planned second one has
inevitably put GNPC on the
defensive, more so since there
are worries about impending
excess capacity.
Those worries are increased
by the fact that the gas
produced from the Sankofa
field is being taken by Ghana
on a take or pay basis which is
causing Ghana considerable
financial stress.
In 2016, the government
agreed with the oil company
ENI to buy gas from the
Sankofa offshore field on a
“take-or-pay” basis, as is
common in gas supply
contracts Take-or-pay means
that if a country cannot use all
the gas it agrees to buy, it still
has to pay the agreed amount
to the company.
To ensure that it took all
the gas that it had agreed to
buy, Ghana needed to develop
pipes and cables to transmit
the gas from the southwest of
the country, where the gas lays
offshore, to the east, where
most people and businesses
are. Unfortunately, heavy
spending on the power crisis
by the state power companies
saddled them with
debt. Partly, this prevented the
state companies building
enough infrastructure in time,
and so failed to take much of
the gas as agreed. Meanwhile,
they struggled to pay for what
they did actually use. By 2019,
the government said this
“pose[d] grave financial risks
to the whole economy […] We
are in a state of emergency and
must therefore respond with
urgency and boldness.”
Ghana first negotiated with
ENI to reduce the price it paid
for gas and then allowed ENI
to pay less in taxes. Yet, the
penalties continued to mount.
By 2020, government estimated
the country would be paying
up to $850 million annually in
take-or-pay penalties, or 7
percent of the entire
government budget.
This shows that excess
capacity could be dangerous if
it is contracted on take or pay
basis. However GNPC points
out that this is not the case
with its Floating
Regasification Plant (FRP) at
Tema.
The Floating Regasification
Unit (FRU) of the terminal
arrived in the country on the
January 7 2021, the first of its
kind in sub-Saharan Africa,
has, however, been met with
criticism by industry experts
and CSOs along the energy
sector for having the potential
to increase the menace of
unutilised gas and negatively
affect development of local gas
resources.
But GNPC’s CEO, dr. Kofi K.
Sarpong, justifying the
investment in the new facility,
insists it offers an opportunity
to secure the country’s future
energy needs by increasing the
energy mix for power
generation and industrial use,
as well as fuel for vehicles.
“The new LNG is cheaper
than Sankofa and it is cheaper
than the gas coming from
Nigeria although prices can
change anytime but as I speak,
the formulation is cheaper
than the one coming from
Sankofa. The only ones which
are cheaper are Jubilee and
TEN but they cannot give you
the volumes you need because
of production constraints and
challenges from the Ghana Gas
plants,” he asserts.
Buttressing his point, he
explains that gas demand has
gone up significantly in the
past two years, from about 211
mscfd in 2019 to 296 million
mscfd in 2020 and is expected
to exceed 300 million mscfd in
2021.
This level of growth, GNPC
insists, cannot be matched by
local production alone. “People
make the mistake that we are
producing so much gas
domestically and therefore,
there is no need for LNG. What
GNPC is doing is highly
competitive and in four years,
Ghana has the
capacity to produce 365
mscfd of gas from the
Jubilee and the TEN
“Currently
cluster which produce
wet gas. however, the
Atuabo gas processing
plant’s capacity is less
than half of this, at 150
mscfd. This has
restricted actual wet gas
throughput to 130
mscfd, which is almost
the full installed gas
processing capacity
Ghana currently has.
demand should outstrip the
current supply” asserts dr
Sarpong.
GNPC also argues that the
new LNG facility will expand
the energy mix for power
generation, pointing out that
there can be unexpected
technical challenges that
curtail local gas production, a
situation which indeed has
happened in the past.
dr Sarpong points out that
“in Tema where we have
installed the LNG plant, the
demand for gas is 250 million
mscfd, which explains why we
still take from Nigeria and
from the western Ghana to add
up to gas requirements in
Accra.
“There are power plants
with installed capacity of
about 1500MW and that will
need about 260 mscfd. We
cannot get that alone from the
West, we have to even
transport some along the West
Africa Gas Pipeline which
costs us more money and it is a
major issue in terms of cost.
When you add that to the
Sankofa gas, it is way too
expensive,” he indicated.
Explaining further, dr.
Sarpong explains that the
argument that Jubilee gas is
cheap will soon expire because
when the field’s foundation
volumes, which are free to the
country, are finished, in about
two years from now, Ghana
will have to start paying for it.
A number of CSOs
including the Institute for
Energy Security (IES), have also
expressed concerns that the
Tema LNG Terminal could
worsen the unutilised gas
menace, which the country
pays about US$700 million for.
“If you bring in gas on pay-ortake
basis, it will definitely
increase the burden on
government but ours is not
like that,” dr. Sarpong assures.
“We have carefully agreed
with the suppliers to start
from a lower level of about
75million cubic feet. In the
second year, we will move to
125million cubic feet when we
must have identified enough
users to absorb that volume.
In the third year we will
move up to 150 million and in
the fourth we will go to 170
million and by the fifth year,
we will be doing about 200
million. So, we are using a
more cascading kind of
approach where you start from
a lower level and then build up
as demand increases,” he
noted
The facility has potential to
be scaled up to process 600
million standard cubic feet of
gas a day but the actual
contracted capacity to the
country is 250million cubic
feet of gas, according to GNPC.
The gas will be supplied by
Shell which controls about 30
percent of the global LNG
market.
The first shipments are
now being expected already.
Some industry analysts
however assert that GNPC’s
new facility is simply a
manifestation of a its desire to
win turf from Ghana Gas with
regards to gas supply in Ghana.
They point back to a
decision during the last
decade by government to bring
Ghana Gas under GNPC to
strengthen the latter’s balance
sheet thereby improving the
latter’s capacity to attract
commercial financing on
favourable terms. The decision
proved highly controversial
and eventually was rescinded,
releasing Ghana Gas from
under it.
But there is a school of
thought that GNPC having
tasted the feel of being in
charge of gas production and
distribution is unwilling to let
go entirely. Their fear is that
this could result in
competition rather than
cooperation between two state
owned corporations that each
have critical roles to play in
providing feedstock for energy
generation. In turn, they argue,
this is a recipe for excess gas
supply.
Actually, Ghana’s power
generators and industries
• Continued on Page 10

Tuesday, July 5, 2022
ENTERPRENUERSHIP
Dear enterprise leader,
make purpose your guide
WE are in the month of
March. This month
means a lot to
Ghana. In a couple of
days, Ghana will be
celebrating its Independence
Anniversary. I believe it means a lot to
you too as a leader and a citizen of this
land. As leaders, we play a great role in
the realization of Independence for our
people. I will encourage you to make this
month a month of Purpose.
Last Saturday, I held a session with a
group of CEOs on the CEO Accelerator
Program to discuss Leadership Purpose.
Without purpose and purposeful
leadership, we spend our days in a
quagmire being battered by the events of
the day and on some occasions, we
comfort ourselves with the shallow
victories we achieve. Several research
studies points to the positive impact of
purposeful leadership on financial
performance of organisations. Research
by development dimensions
International Inc. indicates that
“purposeful organisations outperform
their market by 42%”
On the call, we discussed Leadership
Purpose as a:
Compass – providing direction on the
journey;
Lighthouse – a beacon of hope and a
resource, helps individuals to find their
way when they get lost;
Anchor – what keeps you grounded in
spite of circumstances and situations,
and your reason for being; and
Star – the aspiration and future that
the leader sees and people yearn for.
As you go through the month of
March, I will encourage you to give
yourself the meaningful gift of Mission
Clarity. This is one of the tenets of the
CEO Accelerator Program. I believe every
enterprise leader must achieve Mission
Clarity in every moment.
You must make your purpose plain
and share it with your stakeholders. That
is the beginning of being purposeful as a
leader. Sharing your inspired purpose will
enable you to rally support to achieve the
big aspirations you have set for your
organisation. This is because there are
stakeholders who are waiting to be
stirred on by a purpose they also share
but need a leader to articulate it for them.
That’s what Nkrumah, Maya Angelou,
Martin Luther King, Yaa Asantewa,
Mandela, Rosa Parks, etc. did for us.
“For this end Africa needs a new type
of citizen, a dedicated, modest, honest
and informed man. A man who
“I will strive to
exceed our
expectations by
building a team
that will be
attractive to
the market and
also
empowered to
step out their
comfort zones,
challenging the
status quo.”
submerges self in service to the nation
and mankind. A new type of man whose
humility is his strength and whose
integrity is his greatness” ― Kwame
Nkrumah,
This month, do not continue on your
daily grind without a clearly articulated
leadership purpose. Attempt to answer
the question of leadership purpose
properly before Independence day. Every
leader has a purpose that needs to be
identified and acted upon. When I speak
of leadership purpose, I am not referring
to the exercise of “finding one’s life
purpose”. This exercise tends to cripple
many because one is encouraged to find
that one path or thing that makes all life
complete. Also, leadership purpose is not
being in a position to advance your career
or to achieve a financial target.
I believe leadership purpose is what
you are inspired to achieve and the value
you bring to your stakeholders given your
context. And this may change as your
context changes. You can use the
following reflection prompts as a guide.
You define your leadership purpose when
you answer these two questions.
—Given your context what leadership
is required; what specific outcome are
needed?
—What enduring value will you
deliver to your stakeholders through your
leadership?
As you craft your purpose avoid
vague, flowery language and overused
phrases as used in this example: “I will
strive to exceed our expectations by
building a team that will be attractive to
the market and also empowered to step
out their comfort zones, challenging the
status quo.” This lacks clarity as several
phrases are open to different
interpretations. Choose words and
phrases that reflect your own story and
context. Use your own language to define
your agenda. Below is an example of a
leadership purpose statement I
supported a CEO to craft:
I am at peace with the work I do. It
utilizes my skills. My ambition is to build
a….(redacted)
Currently, I need to make sure there is
support for the work each other does,
there is open communication, and we all
clearly understand the new strategy.
This purpose is simple and yet
powerful. It reflects the challenges of the
moment, the unique context of the leader
and his team, and what needs to be
achieved. As an enterprise leader, your
purpose and the purpose of the
organisation you lead means more for the
prosperity of our communities and our
ultimate independence. Hence any effort
your put into this process of clarifying
your leadership purpose advances our
communal prosperity.
I trust that you will make time to
reflect and write your leadership purpose
before Independence day. You will
achieve a lot more when you align your
daily activities to your purpose. You will
find more energy and fulfilment as you
lead purposefully.
Hopefully, you will share your
leadership purpose with your
stakeholders on Independence day. Above
all, let us choose to lead purposefully each
day by aligning our daily decisions with
our values and aspirations.
“To live is to choose. But to choose
well, you must know who you are and
what you stand for, where you want to go
and why you want to get there.” – Kofi
Annan, Former UN Secretary General
Happy Independence day!
Robert Bennin, is a trusted advisor
and an executive coach to Boards, CEOs,
senior-level executives in several African
countries. Robert’s global perspective and
intimate understanding of the changes
and trends taking place across several
industries, in emerging markets have
made him an invaluable resource to
leaders and organizations as they seek to
resolve the challenge of building
enduring and highly competitive
enterprises.
He has also led the design and
delivery of over 750 executive learning
and coaching programs in strategy,
leadership, organizational
transformation and board effectiveness.
As the Convener of the CEO Accelerator
Program,(ceoacceleratorprogram.org)
Robert facilitates a peer learning and
coaching program for elite business
leaders across Africa.
He is also the Founder and Chief
Learning Strategist at TEMPLE Advisory, a
leading strategy consulting, leadership
development and an executive coaching
firm. Robert is a Leadership Subject
Matter Expert and Leadership Coach on
the Leadership MBA Program at the
African Leadership University in
Rwanda.
He can be reached at
ceoprogram@thelearningtemple.com

Tuesday, July March 5, 2022 1, 2022
Our finances, cash & cashflow
YEARS ago, Akwasi, a relative of
mine lived with us. He had
just graduated from Legon
and had begun working with a
state organization. He was as
soft-spoken then as he is now, and a very
agreeable fellow.
One evening, Akwasi fell ill. I can’t
remember what the cause was but he had
a very acute stomach ache. My dad
immediately thought about taking him to
Korle-Bu for diagnosis and treatment. It
was about 6:30 pm when we left home and
already dark when we arrived there. We
were told to go to the Polyclinic instead. At
the Polyclinic, a stretcher was brought to
send him in.
A nurse then enquired what the
problem was. My father explained that my
cousin (Akwasi) had a very bad stomach
ache which had begun earlier that day. The
nurse retorted, “And you chose to stay in
that pain for all this while?” It was
amazing how she concluded that someone
would be in pain and choose to bear the
pain for such a lot time instead of doing
something to get a remedy.
Truth is, we had gone through a lot
before we appeared before her. The
commute to Korle-Bu from home had
been quite long and we had initially gone
to the teaching hospital before being asked
to go to the polyclinic instead.
What I learnt
There are lessons I glean from what I
call ‘the Akwasi episode’. Indeed, lessons
with connection to our finances, cash and
cashflow. Many times, it is a wonder why
we seem to hold on to expenses without
doing something about them. Why do we
have expenses sometimes piling up? Is it
an intentional indulgence in
procrastination? On every day bills that
can even be envisaged: why do we
sometimes find ourselves allowing bills to
build up without paying them off when
they fall due? Is it that we really ALLOW
them to pile up?
Certainly, in most cases, we don’t. No
one in their right senses would want
expenses which have to be dealt with
grow and eat away all efforts to create
wealth. Of course, in business, it is useful
to finance your operations with finances
and activities of others, where interest
costs are not considered. It is all about
cash and cash flow.
We prefer to purchase on credit and
stagger payments yet we would rather
receive cash when we sell goods and
services. We wait till close to the middle of
the month to settle statutory payments
like Tiers I and II pension payments and
taxes. Years ago, as a young employee, I
was tasked to supervise construction
workers.
I hired a concrete vibrator machine
for them and when they were done, I
requested for cash from the accounts
section to return and pay for the
machine’s use immediately. Strangely, I
was told I appeared to be too much in a
hurry to pay my creditors and that it was
“Back to the build-up
of expenses. When
expenses are paid for,
credibility is built for
goods and services to
move round in the
immediate future,
psychological relief is
achieved and cash
can move to get
things done to keep
everyone happy.
Therefore, we all
would usually want
to pay for expenses
early enough.
not appreciated! Nothing made sense at
the time, of course, until I was introduced
to the time-value of money and the
importance of cash and cashflow.
Cash, the king
The assertion, ‘cash is king’ is very true
for our personal finances and investments.
The worth of money is much more evident
when it is in motion than when it sits.
Cash on the move accomplishes many
things. In physics, cash is like kinetic
energy, wealth is like potential energy.
Kinetic energy produces work.
Potential energy stores work. Let’s look at
this, for instance. Saap receives contract
payment for a consulting task she
submitted. Great! Time to visit the Grand
Oyeeman and drive away with the Range.
She makes payment and the keys are
handed over to her. As she rolls out, dark
Ray Bans on, sun-roof opened, she reflects:
she had built wealth through her
consulting work.
Potential energy. She got paid (cash
transferred to her bank account) and she
also transferred it to the dealership.
Kinetic energy. The dealership then pays
the shipping company, Maersk, for
delivery of Land Rover and Jaguar cars,
parts and accessories. The shipping
company purchases marine heavy fuel oil
(HFO) from AI. The energy company, in
turn, pays its tanker drivers and other field
operations workers.
The money keeps moving around
getting more and more things done as it
moves, and Auntie Akweley the banku
seller will get hers for all the banku and
hot pepper she had sold to the workers
that month.
Back to the build-up of expenses.
When expenses are paid for, credibility is
built for goods and services to move round
in the immediate future, psychological
relief is achieved and cash can move to get
things done to keep everyone happy.
Therefore, we all would usually want to pay
for expenses early enough.
The problem is, cash does not move to
us soon enough, often enough or in
adequate quantities. Cash flow is never
enough. Cash flow is non-uniform.
Additionally, cash flow may not be easily
predictable. Invariably, expenses become
due and get unpaid. They accumulate until
a significant inflow arrives to care of it.
Cashflows and Controls
For regular workers, the cash inflow
(wages, salaries) is usually predictable.
There may be other sources of income, not
predictable or not regular. What about the
cash outflows?
It is advisable to have our outflows as
predictable as possible and as manageable
as possible. Watch ‘commitment’ expenses
which are difficult to break from: school
fees, personal loan repayments, mortgage
repayments, hire purchase payments for
consumer goods, rent, utilities, etc.
These are expenses which need
controlling. Before we sign up for any, it is
helpful if we ensure that each one does not
constantly over-stretch us. A good
examination of the inflows should advise
us. It would be tough enrolling our
children in a twelve thousand cedis per
term school if our inflow each month is
just three thousand cedis.
It would be ill-advised to take a
personal loan to purchase a consumer
item when the loan repayment amount is
prohibitive. Without careful consideration,
all these costs, when they are committed
to, can give us stress. Additionally, they can
take away all probability of us retaining a
positive net cash flow which would enable
us to invest.
Very tough decisions have to be made
by each of us from time to time. As we
aspire for and actively seek financial
independence, we should make the
attempt to match our cash inflows with
our cash outflows. We can better our cash
inflows but it may not be easy and it may
be out of our control for a period.
doing extra jobs for multiple and
larger aggregate income is the way go,
usually. It is the outflows that we can
determine how large and frequent they
would be. That is where we can exercise
greater control and careful consideration.
Inflows can then target expenses for
adequately prompt payment.
For instance, ‘side relations’ can be
very expensive and can rob us of the
chance to set aside money in investment.
For men especially, the costs of
‘maintenance’ for the side-chick (and any
children in the ‘side relation’), ensuring
stealth like a CIA operative, and
‘reparation’ to their spouses when their
covers are blown may make the often-time
‘high-risk, high return’ venture of a side
relationship not worth it and at variance
with wealth building.
About the Author
For the love of wealth creation and
financial freedom for his readers, he writes.
Through his writings Kwadwo has
discovered his love and knack to simplify
complex theories spicing them with
everyday life experiences for the benefit of
all. He was recently the resource person of
Metro TV’s business show Bottomline,
where he shared thoughts on Goal Setting
for 2022 from the perspective of financial
planning.
The Head of OctaneDC Research,
Kwadwo Acheampong, has over years
garnered experience in fund management
and administration, portfolio management,
management consulting, operations
management and process improvement.
Feel free to send him your feedback on his
article.
Kwadwo at
kwadwo.acheampong@octanedc.com or
call him on +233 244 563 530

Tuesday, July 5, 2022
Excess gas capacity vs adequate
feedstock for industrialization
• Continued from Page 7
consumed just 255 MMSCFd in
2019. But this is expected to
grow to 448 MMSCFd by 2023
and with the new
industrialization policies and
additional projects from
Amandi, Early Power, and
Cenpower, demand can be
expected to grow even faster.
And here lies the justification
for rapid expansion of gas
supply.
“Gas is cheaper and cleaner
than solid fossil fuel and so it
represents the best way forward
for Ghana” asserts dr Asante.
“With Ghana’s industrialization
growing rapidly, through
initiatives such as one district
one factory, and market
opportunities for Ghana’s
manufactured goods expanding
rapidly too, through the African
Continental Free Trade Area, the
use of gas for power generation
holds the best potential for
adequate power at
internationally competitive cost
for industry.”
Indeed while Ghana has
been counting on gas to fuel
electricity production from the
national grid, gas holds the key
to industrialization of a large
scale.
Instructively Ghana Gas is
looking to use local bulk gas
buying and distribution
companies to supply gas directly
to industry. Already three such
gas intermediaries are being
established in the Tema area
where industrial demand for
power is highest. Ghana Gas will
be able to take advantage of the
reverse West African gas
pipeline, which goes from
western Ghana to eastern
Ghana to deliver gas from
Atuabo and from the planned
new plant when it comes on
line.
Prudently though, Ghana
Gas is looking to remove the
country’s reliance on the WAGP.
dr Asante says the company is
looking at installing a 278km
gas pipeline onshore between
Takoradi and Tema and that,
“Takoradi and Tema were the
two critical load centres in
terms of gas demands and it
didn’t make sense to rely on one
pipeline operated by a third
party.”
Interestingly though it is
that demand in the eastern part
that persuaded GNPC to site its
new gas plant there too.
Industrialists though see
sharply increasing gas supply in
that area as a good thing rather
than as a potential financial
albatross; some industry
analysts predict that
competition between Ghana Gas
and GNPC is brewing and this
will drive prices downward, thus
lowering power generation costs
to the ultimate benefit of
industry and households alike.
Actually though Ghana Gas
is way ahead of the rest of the
gas industry – and indeed the
country as a whole – in its plans
to put the country’s local gas to
good use by making certain
strategic industries viable in
Ghana for the first time. Indeed,
Ghana Gas has already enabled
the emergence of a local
ceramics industry, providing the
requisite huge energy
requirements for heating at
economically viable cost.
Now it is working with the
Ministry of Food and
Agriculture to use the nation’s
indigenous gas to produce
fertilizer, with the plant to be
located at domunli to produce
400,000 tonnes of Urea and
Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium
(NPK) fertilizers which would
save Ghana over US$500 million
in fertilizer import costs every
year.
It is also looking to use
Ghana’s gas to facilitate the
growth and development of the
country’s iron and steel
“We have
carefully agreed
with the suppliers
to start from a
lower level of
about 75million
cubic feet. In the
second year, we
will move to
125million cubic
feet when we
must have
identified enough
users to absorb
that volume.
industry as this will be key in
enabling industrial production,
from the automobile industry to
machine parts.
But perhaps an even more
potentially pivotal strategy over
the shorter term is the plan to
use Ghana Gas to support the
country’s extractive industry.
Gold mining for instance,
Ghana’s biggest export revenue
earner is highly capital
intensive and for long the
industry has complained about
inordinate energy costs that
slim its margins, creating the
potential to render Ghana
uncompetitive as an
international mining
investment destination. By
lowering its energy costs,
intends to make Ghana more,
rather than less competitive in
this regard.
But an even more crucial
intention is to use Ghana Gas to
ensure that government’s
ambitions of creating an
integrated aluminum value
chain is realized. It is
instructive that Ghana lost the
strategic advantages created by
VALCO because of higher power
costs which made production
economically unviable.
“Government’s ongoing
efforts towards creating a full
scale value chain from bauxite
mining to the manufacture of
aluminum products are
predicated on competitively
priced energy and Ghana Gas
aims to make sure that energy is
made available all along the
supply chain” he assures.
Then there is the third use of
gas, as envisaged by dr Asante,
one which he is personally
invested in because of its
potential benefits to the
economy and the citizenry: the
powering of the vehicular sector
with gas to bring down
transport costs. Here he
envisions the use of locally
sourced, clean and relatively
cheap compressed natural gas to
replace diesel oil to run a wide
range of transport modes from
the railway system now under
development to tricycles which
are becoming increasingly
popular to as light freight
carriers and which have the
potential to replace
controversial motorcycles as an
efficient mode of passenger
transport too.
Even as GNPC looks to move
in on well identified demand in
Tema, Ghana Gas is already
looking further afield. There are
plans afoot to make Kumasi
another hub for power
generation and there is a
Mainline Compressor Station at
Atuabo-a third unit-coming on
board to increase the gas supply
capacity.
Furthermore the Prestea-
Kumasi Gas Pipeline Project,
which is 60 per cent complete,
would enable Ghana Gas to
supply lean gas to Nyinahin and
Kumasi for mineral processing
and power generation.
Another initiative involves
the Company siting a Liquefied
Petroleum Gas (LPG) Bottling
Plant in Axim. To this end six
licenses have been released by
the National Petroleum
Authority (NPA) towards the
execution of that project.
The LPG Bottling Plant
would provide safe LPG bottles
and bottling plants to improve
LPG handling safety.
The Prestea-Kumasi Gas
Pipeline Project, which is 60 per
cent complete, dr Asante said
the project when completed
would enable them to supply
lean gas to Nyinahin and
Kumasi for mineral processing
and power generation.
As well as all this Ghana Gas
is partnering the Ministry of
Railways development to
produce compressed natural gas,
which could be used to drive
train engines, saying
compressed natural gas was
cleaner and much cheaper than
other liquid fuels.
development economists are
pointing out that if the viable
initiatives for the use of gas –
whether locally sourced or
imported, are pursued – there
will be plenty of critical uses for
all the gas Ghana has, and the
even more in is about to get.
Ghana now stands on the
cusp of accelerated
industrialization. Gas is the key
to making it happen not a
resource to fret over about
excess supply capacity.

Tuesday, July 5, 2022 PAGE 11
Sub-Saharan Africa: One Planet,
Two Worlds, Three Stories
This is a press release from
the International Monetary
Fund following its recent joint
annual general meetings with
the World Bank and the release,
last week of its latest Regional
Economic Outlook on Sub Saharan
Africa, both done in Washington
DC
Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to
grow by 3.7 percent in 2021 and
3.8 percent in 2022 – a welcome
but relatively modest recovery,
suggesting that divergence with
the rest of the world will persist over the
medium term.
• The crisis has highlighted key
disparities in resilience between countries
in sub-Saharan Africa and has also
exacerbated preexisting vulnerabilities
and inequality within each country.
Moreover, food price inflation threatens to
jeopardize previous gains in food security
and exacerbate social and political
instability.
• As the pandemic continues,
authorities face an increasingly difficult
policy environment, with rising needs,
limited resources, and difficult tradeoffs.
Saving lives remains the top priority, but
there is also an urgent need for spending
prioritization, revenue mobilization,
enhanced credibility, and an improved
business environment.
• International solidarity
and cooperation remain vital,
not only on vaccination but also
on addressing other critical
global issues, such as climate
change.
Washington, dC: Sub-
Saharan Africa’s economy is set
to recover in 2021 – a marked
improvement over the
extraordinary contraction of
2020. This rebound is most
welcome and primarily results
from a favorable external
environment, including a sharp
improvement in trade and
commodity prices. In addition,
improved harvests have lifted
agricultural production. Yet, the
outlook remains highly
uncertain as the recovery
depends on the progress in the
fight against COVId-19 and is
vulnerable to disruptions in
global activity and financial
markets, the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) said in its
latest Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-
Saharan Africa.
“As sub-Saharan Africa navigates
through a persistent pandemic with
repeated waves of infection, a return to
normal will be far from easy,” stressed
Abebe Aemro Selassie, director of the
IMF’s African department. “In the absence
of vaccines, lockdowns and other
containment measures have been the only
option for containing the virus.
“At 3.7 percent this year, the recovery in
sub-Saharan Africa will be the slowest in
the world—as advanced markets grow by
more than 5 percent, while other emerging
markets and developing countries grow by
more than 6 percent. This mismatch
reflects sub-Saharan Africa’s slow vaccine
rollout and stark differences in policy
space.
“Real per capita income is expected to
remain close to 5½ percent below precrisis
trends, with permanent real output losses
ranging between -21 percent and -2
percent. The non-resource-intensive
countries are growing at a much faster
rate than resource-rich countries—a
pattern that precedes the crisis and has
been amplified by recent events,
highlighting fundamental differences in
resilience. Non-resource-intensive
countries have a more diverse economic
structure, which helps them adjust and
recover faster. Commodity price increases
have also helped some countries, but these
windfall gains are often volatile and
cannot substitute more enduring sources
of growth. Furthermore, differences in
fiscal space also help to explain crosscountry
differences in the current pace of
recovery.
“Widening gaps between countries
“
“As sub-Saharan
Africa navigates
through a
persistent
pandemic with
repeated waves of
infection, a return
to normal will be
far from easy,”
stressed Abebe
Aemro Selassie,
Director of the
IMF’s African
Department.
have been accompanied by growing
divergence within countries, as the
pandemic has had a particularly harsh
impact on the region’s most vulnerable.
With about 30 million people thrown into
extreme poverty, the crisis has worsened
inequality not only across income groups,
but also across subnational geographic
regions, which may add to the risk of
social tension and political instability. In
this context, rising food price inflation,
combined with reduced incomes, is
threatening past gains in poverty
reduction, health, and food security.
“Furthermore, increasing debt
vulnerabilities remain a source of concern,
and many governments will have to
undertake fiscal consolidation. Overall,
public debt is predicted to decline slightly
in 2021 to 56.6 percent of GdP but remains
high compared to a pre-pandemic level of
50.4 percent of GdP. Half of sub-Saharan
Africa’s low-income countries are either in
or at high risk of debt distress. And more
countries may find themselves under
future pressure as debt-service payments
account for an increasing share of
government resources.
Against this backdrop, Mr. Selassie
pointed to a number of policy priorities.
“The difficult policy environment that
authorities faced before the crisis has been
made more demanding by the crisis.
Policymakers face three key fiscal
challenges: 1) to tackle the region’s
pressing development spending needs; 2)
to contain public debt; and finally, 3) to
mobilize tax revenues in circumstances
where additional measures are generally
unpopular. Meeting these goals has never
been easy and entails a difficult balancing
act. For most countries, urgent policy
priorities include spending prioritization,
revenue mobilization, enhanced
credibility, and an improved business
climate.
“The recent SdR allocation has boosted
the region’s reserves, easing some of the
burden of authorities as they guide their
countries’ recovery. And rechanneling
SdRs from countries with strong external
positions to countries with weaker
fundamentals could help to bolster the
region’s resilience.
“On COVId-19, international
cooperation on vaccination is
critical to address the threat of
repeated waves. This would help
prevent the divergent recovery
paths of sub-Saharan Africa and
the rest of the world from
hardening and becoming
permanent fault lines, which
would jeopardize decades of hardwon
social and economic progress.
“Looking further ahead, the
region’s vast potential remains
undiminished. But the threat of
climate change—and the global
process of energy transition—
suggest that sub-Saharan Africa
may need to adopt a more
innovative and greener growth
model. This presents both
challenges and opportunities, and
it underscores the need for bold
transformative reforms and
continued external funding. Such
measures may not be easy, but
they are key prerequisites of the
long-promised African century.

BACK
PAGE
Tuesday, July 5, 2022
IMF team arrives
tomorrow
• To begin Ghana’s bailout talks
IT has now been confirmed
that International
Monetary Fund
(IMF) officials will arrive
in the country tomorrow
(Wednesday, July 6,
2022) to start negotiations with
the government on the bailout
being sought for by the Akufo-
Addo government.
The IMF team will consist of
senior officials from the Fund
as well as local staff based here
in Ghana.
According to the Ministry of
Information, the IMF team will
be in Ghana for a week. And
upon arrival, they will meet officials
of the Finance Ministry,
the Economic Management
Team, and the Presidency during
their one-week stay.
Also, details of the bailout
programme and its conditionalities
will all be announced after
the meeting.
On Friday, July 1, 2022, the
Ministry of Information announced
that President Nana
Addo dankwa Akufo-Addo had
given approval for Ghana to
begin engagements with the
IMF for a bailout.
The ministry said the Minister
for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta,
will be leading the negotiations
with the IMF in the coming
days.
The news has been received
with mixed feelings, as it comes
as a major U-turn by the government
after it vowed never to
go under an IMF programme.
Meanwhile analysts have
“According to the
Ministry of
Information, the
IMF team will be in
Ghana for a week.
And upon arrival,
they will meet
officials of the
Finance Ministry,
the Economic
Management
Team, and the
Presidency during
their one-week
stay.
We did no wrong in sale of 260 metric
tonnes of slop oil – TOR
MANAGEMENT of the Tema Oil Refinery
(TOR) has refuted claims of
wrongdoing in a recent sale of about
260,000 tonnes of slop oil.
This follows a recent publication
that suggested that TOR was involved
in a shady deal with some unlicensed
companies.
The report revealed what it described
as a shady transaction between
state-owned Tema Oil Refinery
and two entities that do not have the
required license to operate in the
downstream petroleum industry.
The report added that documents
available showed that on 4th May
2022, TOR sold a total of 260 metric
Tonnes (260,000) of slop oil in their
storage tank to K-Moy Ghana Limited
and Petro XP Ghana Limited on a cash
and carry basis, where each received
130 metric tonnes.
But a response sighted by Citi
Business News management of TOR
debunked the claims, stating that the
slop oil was disposed of and sold to
Petro XP Ghana Limited and not k-
Moy Ghana limited, and that the
transaction followed due process.
It added that slop oil was a mixture
of petroleum product water and
solid, therefore, rendering it a waste
product.
Also, it stressed that TOR had been
doing this business since its inception
with many companies including
Petro XP and has always been transparent
with the entire process.
This comes at a time when the
government recently announced
plans to get the refinery back on
stream after being redundant for a
while now.