Business Analyst - July 28

BUSINESS MARKET RATES
US$ 1 – GH¢8.27
GHANA STOCK WED. 27 JULY. 2022
Indices and Market Cap Level Previous Level Change % Change
GSE Composite Index 2,810.01 2,798.27 +11.74 +0.42%
GSE Financial Index 2,073.63 2,073.63 0.00 0.00%
GSE Market Cap (GHS 'mn) 63,883.61 63,760.71 +122.90 +0.19%
COCOA: US$2,473.00 per tonne
CRUDE OIL: US$104.6 per barrel
GOLD: US$1,851.99 per ounce
Thursday, July 28, 2022. Vol. No. 177
GH¢2.50
• Minister for
Roads and
Highways,
Hon. Kwasi
Amoako-Attah
• Tourism
Minister, Dr.
Ibrahim
Mohammed
Awal
• Dr. Ernest
Addison,
Governor
of BoG
THE Bank of Ghana
(BoG) has denied
claims by the
Minority in
Parliament that the
Bank has printed an amount of
GHC 22.04 billion to fund the
government’s budget without
approval from Parliament.
Setting the records straight
in a statement released
yesterday, the Bank of Ghana
explained that the amount of

Thursday, July 28, 2022
Gas prices soar as Russia
cuts German supply
GaS prices have soared after
Russia further cut gas
supplies to Germany and
other central European
countries after threatening
to earlier this week.
European gas prices rose almost 2%,
trading close to the record high set after
Russia invaded Ukraine.
Critics accuse the Russian
government of using gas as a political
weapon.
Russia has been cutting flows
through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to
Germany, with it now operating at less
than a fifth of its normal capacity.
Before the Ukraine War, Germany
imported over half of its gas from Russia
and most of it came through Nord Stream
1 - with the rest coming from land-based
pipelines.
By the end of June, that had reduced
to just over a quarter.
Russian energy firm Gazprom has
sought to justify the latest cut by saying
it was needed to allow maintenance work
on a turbine.
The German government, however,
said there was no technical reason for it
to limit the supply.
Ukraine has accused Moscow of
waging a "gas war" against Europe and
cutting supplies to inflict "terror" on
people.
Meanwhile, Poland has said it will be
fully independent from Russian gas by
the end of the year.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki
said: "Even now, Russia is no longer able
to blackmail us in the way it blackmails
Germany for example."
The UK would not be directly
impacted by gas supply disruption, as it
imports less than 5% of its gas from
Russia. However, it would be affected by
prices rising in the global markets as
demand in Europe increases.
European wholesale gas prices closed
at €204.85 (£172.08) per megawatt hour -
the third highest price on record. The alltime
high was achieved on 8 March when
prices closed at €210.50 (£176.76) per
megawatt hour.
However, this time last year the
wholesale gas price in Europe was at just
above €37 (£31.08) per megawatt hour.
UK gas prices rose 7% on Wednesday
so the price is now more than six times
higher than a year ago. However, it is still
well below the peak seen in the aftermath
of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
UK energy bills increased by an
unprecedented £700 in april, and are
expected to rise again with one
management consultancy warning a
typical energy bill could hit £3,850 a year
by January, much higher than forecasts
earlier this month.
BFY said its forecast reflected the
increase in wholesale prices over the past
few weeks with the ongoing tensions
with Russia sparking concerns over
winter supplies.
The latest reduction in flows puts
pressure on EU countries to reduce their
dependence on Russian gas even further,
and will likely make it more difficult for
them to replenish their gas supplies
ahead of winter.
Since the invasion of Ukraine
European leaders have held talks over
how to reduce its dependence on Russian
fossil fuels.
Map showing the Nord Stream
pipelines from Russia
On Tuesday, the European Union
agreed to cut gas use in case Russia halts
supplies but some countries will have
exemptions to avoid rationing.
EU members have now agreed to
voluntarily reduce 15% of gas use between
august and March.
However, the deal was watered down
after previously not having exemptions.
The EU has said its aim from the deal
is to make savings and store gas ahead of
winter, warning that Russia is
"continuously using energy supplies as a
weapon".
The voluntary agreement would
become mandatory if supplies reach
crisis levels.
The EU agreed in May to ban all
Russian oil imports which come in by sea
by the end of this year, but a deal over gas
bans has taken longer.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in
February the price of wholesale gas has
already soared, with a knock-on impact
on consumer energy bills across the
globe.

Thursday, July 28, 2022
Alleged printing of GHC22bn new notes
BoG rubbishes claims
• Continued from front
GHC 22.04 billion represents net claims
on Government, and not new currency
printed to support the Government’s
budget.
The Central Bank further explained
that the net claims of GHC 22.04 billion
has four components.
“GoG Stocks and bonds sold by
commercial banks to Bank of Ghana
under repurchase agreements, by
which banks routinely manage their
liquidity positions.
“IMF SDR allocation disbursed to
Government through Bank of Ghana;
Draw-down of Government’s own
deposits held with Bank of Ghana;
Negative balance on Government’s
account with Bank of Ghana at a point
in time, and self-liquidated as new
Government deposits are credited to the
account,” the statement said.
“First, there is an amount of GHC1.6
billion which reflects GoG Stocks and
• But Minority accuses
Central Bank of cover-up
bonds sold by commercial banks to
Bank of Ghana under repurchase
agreements.
“These bonds, held by a commercial
bank since 2021 were purchased by
Bank of Ghana to provide liquidity to
the bank, under a repurchase
agreement that required the bank to
buy back these bonds at a later date,”
the Central Bank added.
However, in a swift rebuttal, the
Minority accused BoG of cover-up in
GH¢22bn printed cu
The Minority in Parliament has
described the Bank of Ghana’s response
to its allegations of the printing of new
currency as a cover-up adding that the
Bank of Ghana needed to “credit
Ghanaians with some intelligence.”
“We expect the BoG to do the
honourable thing by admitting to their
transgressions and asserting their
independence, as they are guaranteed
under Ghanaian law,” the Minority
said.
Below is the full statement of
the Minority
NDC CaUCUS IN PaRLIaMENT’S
RESPONSE TO BaNK OF GHaNa’S
STaTEMENT ON ITS ILLEGaL
GHS22BILLION ILLEGaL MONEY
PRINTING
The NDC Caucus in Parliament has
noted with dismay, a Bank of Ghana
(BoG) Press Release dated July 26, 2022,
which sought to respond to my
statement calling out the BoG for
engaging in illegal money printing.
It must be emphasised right from
the outset, and for the avoidance of any
doubt, that the NDC Caucus in
Parliament stands firmly by its original
assertions.
It is regrettable to observe that the
BoG in it’s response, merely resorts to
sophistry and less than candid ex post
facto rationalisation.
Instructively, information
contained at page 97, under appendix
2a totally and unambiguously
discredits the claims of the BoG.
Reference is made to the BoG claim
as captured in their July 26, 2022 press
release that GHS6.2billion out of the
GH22billion reflects on-lending of IMF
SDR resources. In stark contrast, the
Minister for Finance’s Mid Year Review
reports at the page in issue that there
was no such on-lending. Indeed, there
was zero on-lending contrary to the
projected GHS4.53billion.
The other dishonest claim by the
• Continued on page 8
Consider us for $10M
World Bank grant
Travel & Tour Industry appeals to govt
THE travel and tour sector has made a
passionate appeal to the government for
consideration in the disbursement of
the 10 million World Bank grant allocation
to the tourism sector.
Speaking to the media, the Managing
Director of adansi Travel and Tour,
Gideon asare, intimated that receiving a
portion of the fund would facilitate
businesses within the sector to re-engage
workers laid off at the peak of the
Covid.
“We believe that when there is a
package like that and we get a portion of
it that, it will also help us to boost the
numbers here and employ more.”
…We have started the process and we
are hoping that this time, perhaps, we
will be considered and supported,” he
noted.
The amount which is the 3rd phase
of the 40-million-dollar World Bank
grant programme is to be disbursed as
part of the Covid-19 response grants to
revive and improve the sector.
However, businesses in the travel
and tour space lament that they are yet
to receive any monies from the grant.
Mr. asare was speaking to the media
on the sidelines of the launch of a consumer
loan offer “Travel now pay later”
by his outfit in partnership with Societe
Generale Ghana in accra.
The product makes it possible for
Ghanaians who want to spread their
wings and see the world, to access an interest-free
loan from one of the country’s
most trusted banks.
“The amount which is
the 3rd phase of the 40-
million-dollar World
Bank grant programme
is to be disbursed as
part of the Covid-19
response grants to
revive and improve the
sector.
Reintroduction of road tolls…
Roads Ministry clears air
THE Ministry of Roads and Highways
has debunked statements to the effect
that the government has reintroduced
road tolls across the country.
In a statement, the ministry emphasised
that the statement by the Finance
Minister, Mr. Ken Ofori-atta, during his
presentation of the Mid-Year Review
Budget last Monday was limited to financing
arrangements for the accra-
Tema Motorway and Extension project.
It further clarified that the finance
minister’s reference to tolls in the
budget review was in respect of Public
Private Partnership Road projects only.
This whole reintroduction of road
tolls comes on the heels of hints by Mr.
Ofori-atta of the commencement of the
collection of road tolls on some roads in
accra while presenting the budget review
in Parliament.
However, transport operators in
accra have asked the government to
plug all revenue leakages with the collection
of tolls.
Their call to the government is
against the backdrop that leakages in
the collection of road tolls have not
helped the country raise the needed
revenue support for development projects.
The Chairman of the Committed
Drivers Union, Charles Danso, made it
clear that “we can’t pay money and
watch it go waste.”
“If indeed they want to bring tolls
back then there has to be a form of collection
that will compel every vehicle
user to PaY,” HE aDDED.

Thursday, July 28, 2022
CONSENSUS CRUCIAL IN
RESOLVING ECONOMIC
CHALLENGES
LAsT Monday, the Minister of Finance, Ken
Ofori-Atta, presented the mid-year budget
review to Parliament, during which he
promised the government's commitment to
a quicker turnaround in the fortunes of the
economy.
Mr Ofori-Atta told the Members of
Parliament (MPs) that the government was
in the process of implementing key
macroeconomic policies, including cuts to
revenue and expenditure targets, to help
consolidate the fiscal situation and regain
market confidence.
He announced that growth enhancing
programmes, social intervention initiatives
and policies to mitigate the impact of rising
prices on businesses and consumers would
also be implemented in the bid to continually
mitigate the impact of the crisis on the
citizenry.
On infrastructure, he said the
reconstructed Accra-Tema Motorway and
Extensions Project, which is set to take off in
september this year, would be tolled. The
project, at the procurement stage, will be
tolled to recover the whole life cost of the
completed infrastructure, as well as pay
lenders and provide a return for equity
investors in the public, private partnership
venture.
To rake in more revenue,the government
is also expected to introduce an upfront
payment of Value Added Tax (VAT) by
importers not registered for VAT, effective
October 1, this year.
Although a legal requirement, this midyear
review was significant for two main
reasons.
First, it came at a time when the country
is in preliminary discussions with the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an
economic support programme to stabilise
the economy and quicken the recovery.
second, it also came at a time when the
twin challenges, the COVID-19 pandemic and
the Russia-Ukraine war, have combined with
domestic factors to worsen key
macroeconomic indicators.
The two challenges have driven inflation
to a 19-year high. The cedi has also lost
about 20 per cent of its value to the Us dollar,
with the lack of market access for the
perennial Eurobond sales having starved the
Bank of Ghana of foreign exchange to shore
up reserves and booster the currency.
Hopefully, Mr Ofori-Atta has assured the
country that the government has a track
record of navigating its way around
challenges and called on the citizenry to have
faith in a quicker return to stability.
Agriculture deserves
more attention
By OSCAR UGOH
THERE is the urgent
need to take
concrete action to
support increased
productivity and
consequent production levels in
Ghana’s agricultural sector.
agriculture has always been
recognized as crucial to Ghana’s
economic wellbeing although
public spending on improving
productivity and output in the
sector has always been grossly
insufficient.
Increased agricultural
activity can generate direly
needed jobs all around the country
and especially in rural Ghana which
needs them the most. It can create
wealth and alleviate poverty
nationwide as well.
In addition to this is its crucial
roles, both in import substitution
which can drastically lower Ghana’s
inordinate food import bill, and in the
provision of industrial inputs for the
manufacturing sector.
agricultural output
Currently, though, increased
agricultural output is becoming even
more crucial than ever before for
several reasons.
Chief among them is that new
trade treaties with both the European
Union and the rest of africa – the
latter through the african Free Trade
agreement which is now
commencing – means that tariffs on
food imports will be lower than ever
before and if we are not careful, we
will replace much of the food we now
produce locally, with imported
substitutes, which would cost us
employment and foreign exchange,
both of which are already in direly
short supply.
another is that most of the over
200 manufacturing facilities being
developed under the government’s
one district, one factory flagship
initiative are agro processing facilities
and they will need huge amounts of
agricultural produce of various types
as industrial inputs.
Thus the need to modernize
Ghana’s agriculture using improved
seed, all year round irrigation fed
farming and technology for the
impartation of crucial information
and knowledge has become more
urgent than ever before.
But all of these require financing
but simply put, Ghana’s agricultural
sector is not getting its fair share.
Policy initiatives
Several public policy initiatives
are needed to change this situation.
One requires direct financing from
government itself. Past experience
however has shown us that
government’s direct financing of
“Government
is now
implementing
its industrial
subcontracting
exchange.
agriculture does not produce
commensurate results because loans
tend to be granted on basis of political
patronage rather than identified
capacity to use such financing
optimally.
Related to this, many borrowers
simply refuse to repay such loans
because they regard them as public
monies to which they have a right to
get a share.
To get around this government
should promote and facilitate
communal agricultural co-operatives,
comprising groups of farmers. This
way, the likelihood of political
patronage aimed at individuals would
be greatly reduced, since a cooperative
usually comprises
individuals from diverse backgrounds
and political affiliations.
Furthermore, experience has
shown us that individuals who are
part of a group loan tend to meet their
repayment obligations because of peer
pressure and a desire to remain part of
the group.
Government’s fiscal space is still
tight so most of the requisite
financing will have to be sourced from
the private sector.
attracting investors
To attract investors capital and
commercial lending, two things need
to be in place.
One is
identified
demand for the
farm produce.
anyone putting
money into the
production of
any goods, wants
to be confident
that the goods
will be sold. In
the case of
agriculture this
consideration is
more important
than ever
because the
produce is
largely
perishable and
there is a severe shortfall of storage
space.
Industrial demand for
agricultural produce can guarantee a
large enough proportion of sales to
assure financiers and investors.
an example is the production of
sorghum, primarily in northern
Ghana, for Guinness Ghana Breweries,
an arrangement which enables the
state owned Venture Capital Trust
Fund to finance the farmers involved
every year on a revolving basis.
We need to identify as many such
agricultural produce supply
arrangements as possible and sign
them up.
Government is now
implementing its industrial subcontracting
exchange. Facilitating
produce supply arrangements
between industry and farmers should
be made a key part of its mandate.
The other thing needed is a safety
net in case something goes wrong.
agriculture has a natural
disadvantage in that it is the most
exposed of all sectors to the vagaries of
nature. Financiers need to be sure that
crop failures and the likes ill not wipe
their investments away.
This is where agriculture
insurance is vital. It is already being
offered on a limited basis by a pool of
local insurance companies in
collaboration with the German
development assistance agency, GIZ.
Importantly, it is a major part of
the impending new Insurance Law
which will enable its availability
nationwide. Government needs to
make every effort to facilitate and
accelerate this process.
The running theme here is to
ensure that the agricultural sector can
play its central role in a value chain
that works efficiently for a wide
number of stakeholders. Only then
can it get the finance requisite to
support capacity that we know we
have with regards to agricultural
production.
Oscar Ugoh is a publisher and
public policy consultant

Thursday, July 28, 2022
Govt to intensify efforts to accelerate
provision of vital infrastructure
THE government says
it will continue to
intensify its efforts
to accelerate the provision
of vital infrastructure,
support the private
sector and promote entrepreneurship
as well as position
Ghana as a highly viable option
for both local and foreign investments.
again, it will improve upon
the delivery of security and social
protection services and restore
the country to the path of
inclusive economic growth and
prosperity.
according to the 2021 annual
Budget Performance Report,
the 2021 Budget Statement
and Economic Policy under the
theme “Economic Revitalisation
through Completion, Consolidation,
and Continuity” took
great treads to move the country
forward amidst the challenges
including the COVID-19
pandemic.
The policy document outlined
plans to accelerate recovery
and emerge stronger by
pressing on with economic
transformation, strengthening
the social compact and building
a sustainable future to create
prosperity and equal opportunity
for all.
However, despite the
progress made, the Russian-
Ukraine war also complicated
issues.
But government said it was
committed among other things
to return to the path of fiscal
consolidation and sustained
growth; prioritize support to
the private sector and entrepreneurship
to create jobs and improve
incomes; speed up the
indrustialization and transformation
of the economy; and
consolidate and continue with
the flagship programmes.
additionally, the
GhanaCaRES programe was implemented
through well-structured
delivery units to improve
the health and wellbeing of
Ghanaians.
Government also continued
with the implementation of its
priority programmes including
the Infrastructure Development,
Industrialisation &
Poverty Eradication Programmes,
and agriculture Modernisation
& Food Import
Substitution Programmes
aimed at ensuring value addition,
increased exports and job
creation.
In addition, government aggressively
and efficiently implemented
the GhanaCaRES
“Obaatan Pa” Programme to
mitigate the impact of the pandemic
on both individuals and
businesses as “we hasten onto
the trajectory of full economic
recovery”.
“Developing the country’s
human capital remained relevant
to government’s growth
and transformation agenda. Enrollment
in 2021 into the Free
SHS Programme increased with
the enrollment of first-year students
for the 2021 academic
year”, the government said.
ECG to go after power
thieves from August 1
He noted that, ever since the company
began the installation of prepaid
meters, it has started reflecting positively
in revenue mobilization.
Source: Citinewsroom
ELECTRICITY consumers across the
country must brace themselves in the
coming weeks for Electricity Company
of Ghana’s intended meter audit operations
that will begin on august 1, 2022.
addressing the press after over a
month’s moratorium, the Managing
Director of ECG, Samuel Dubik Mahama
noted that the company will deploy
a team of task forces to visit
homes and audit all meters and ensure
all faulty, tampered meters and illegal
connections are fished out of the system.
He added that, anyone caught during
the process will be prosecuted by
the utilities court for stealing.
He said, “the power court which is
also called the utilities court is ready
and will from next week start active
prosecution of cases”.
“anybody, and I repeat, anybody
caught stealing power will be charged
with stealing and will be made to pay a
hefty fine or a prison sentence,” he
added.
He stated that over 100,000 customers
took advantage of the moratorium
and reported their issues.
Out of the reports, the MD mentioned
that about 12,000 faulty meters
were reported and will soon be fixed by
the company.
according to him, the taskforce has
been clothed with the power and discretion
to enter into homes that are
locked to assess the meters.
He added that, the team will move
in the company of police personnel
who will ensure the operation is executed
without any incidents of attacks.
On recent happenings in the Krobo
enclave, and its adjoining communities,
the ECG Managing Director said
they have consumed electricity to the
tune of about GH¢168 million for eight
years without payment.
according to Mr. Dubik Mahama,
their decision not to pay bills can’t continue
to overburden the company and
the rest of the population.
according to the ECG, ongoing prepaid
meter installations are the only
option for the company to recover cost
and reduce losses.
“The only reason anyone will refuse
the pre-paid meter installation is that
the person doesn’t want to pay bills. I
can’t pay that bill for them and I know
other citizens are also not ready,” he
added.
“He added that, the
team will move in the
company of police
personnel who will
ensure the operation
is executed without
any incidents of
attacks.
On recent happenings
in the Krobo enclave,
and its adjoining
communities, the ECG
Managing Director
said they have
consumed electricity
to the tune of about
GH¢168 million for
eight years without
payment.

Thursday, July 28, 2022
Ghana’s social
enterprise sector
A recent study authored by
Emily Darko and Kweku
Koranteng and facilitated by the
British Council examines the
landscape for social enterprise in
Ghana – its current state,
challenges and prospects. We
present hereunder an edited
version of some of the most
salient issues addressed.
Overview of the social
enterprise space in Ghana
THERE are two elements that
have aided the emergence of
social enterprise in Ghana –
increased focus on the role
of the private sector and
continuing gaps in social service and
infrastructure provision by the state.
World Bank and IMF-sponsored
structural adjustment economic
reforms initiated in 1983 were intended
to promote the private sector, to create
incentive frameworks to ‘enhance
efficiency, encourage savings and
investment, create an enabling
environment to facilitate private-sector
development, and improve the
efficiency of public sector resource
management.
The private-sector development
agenda primarily addresses economic
growth, but as Ghana grows, there are
numerous social and environmental
issues that cannot be addressed by
mainstream private-sector
development alone. Social protection
programmes for the poorest and most
vulnerable sections of society have
been expanded, notably the Livelihood
Empowerment against Poverty
programme for cash transfer and the
National Health Insurance Scheme.
The donor community in Ghana is
deeply embedded within policy-making
and delivery of government
programmes. Many of the main donor
agencies operating in Ghana have
increased their focus on youth
employment (initially under a national
security banner), job creation and skills
development, with attention given to
private-sector development more
widely – as well as components such as
SME development, improving the
business enabling environment and
focusing on improving the role of
corporates and the efficacy of public
private partnerships, as well as hard
infrastructure investment.
Donor agendas are typically driven by a
core focus on poverty reduction (with
economic growth as a means to this end),
and as such include a range of programmes
addressing social-service provision,
governance and empowerment.
Social enterprise has a role across all of
these areas; however, there is virtually no
mention of the term social enterprise by
donors. Recognition that the private sector
can and should do more to promote inclusive
and sustainable development has been an
important driver of inclusive business
practice, although arguably the most
important driver is the recognition within
businesses that socially and
environmentally friendly supply chains and
business approaches are also beneficial to
their commercial bottom lines. Large-scale
manufacturing, telecommunications and
mining companies have been important in
the development of corporate social
responsibility (CSR) activity in Ghana.
International consumer groups like
Consumer Unity and the Trust Society
operate in Ghana and there is increasing
domestic consumer pressure on companies.
However, it is focused on the service delivery,
quality, cost and value for money, and little
attention has so far been given to
environmental and social factors.
Co-operatives form part of the social
enterprise landscape. One of the best-known
social enterprises is the Kuapa Kokoo cocoa
farmers’ co-operative, which owns 45 per
cent of the Divine Chocolate Company (a UK
company set up in 1997, formerly called the
Day Chocolate Company). Set up in 1993,
Kuapa Kokoo uses its Fairtrade premium to
pay bonuses to members and invest in social
projects. Co-operatives continue to receive
support from the government and private
donors, with particular focus on rural
development and agriculture, and often
targeting women and using forms of
microfinance. Political and economic
stability in Ghana in recent years has
facilitated the return of Ghanaians living in
the diaspora. Returnees
and the diaspora are
particularly significant to
social enterprise
development in Ghana
because much of the
social enterprise activity
has diaspora
involvement.
Market
opportunities for
social enterprise
Market-demand
assessment for social
enterprise considers not
only the potential for
distribution of goods and
services, but social,
economic and
environmental needs.
a key concern for social
impact investment is the
lack of viable pipeline.
Youth unemployment has received
particular focus from donor and government
agencies in recent years. a high proportion of
tertiary education graduates fail to secure
formal-sector employment upon graduation;
many government and donor
entrepreneurship programmes target to
students and graduates.
Graduates typically need two to three
years’ experience to access formal-sector
jobs and gaining this experience is a
challenge. On top of this, the quality of
education received at many institutions
means that even tertiary graduates are
poorly equipped to join the workforce. Social
enterprises not only offer job creation
potential, but many social enterprises seek to
recruit tertiary-education graduates to train
and ‘upskill’ them, increasing their potential
engagement in the workforce more widely.
Social enterprise as a term is not well
known in Ghana. CSR is a much more
familiar concept, as are public-private
partnerships and NGO engagement with
corporates, and with small-scale
entrepreneurs and support to supply or value
chain development. However, assumptions
about the term social enterprise tend to
associate it with charity, and with NGOs –
not business models.
There is a vibrant business start-up
culture in Ghana, and many businesses,
including micro and small-scale enterprises
that do not select a social enterprise label but
do think about the social impact of their
business models. Enterprise cannot provide
employment for everyone. Entrepreneurship
is seen as a risky livelihood choice; there is
also a certain snobbery, particularly among
tertiary-education graduates, that
uneducated people go into business and
entrepreneurial activity is only accepted
when it is a side business and the person has
full-time formal sector wage employment.
Social enterprise is seen as more risky and
less acceptable still. There is also a lack of
philanthropic culture outside family and
kinship groups, meaning a lot of seed and
early-stage investment into family-linked
businesses is not necessarily financially
viable.
Equally, there is a lack of angel (or early
stage equity) investment in Ghana and a lack
of volunteering culture. People struggle to
understand why social entrepreneurs are
prepared to compromise their personal
wealth to support people outside their
extended family. People find it difficult to
understand why you don’t want to make
profit. Why are you doing it for free,
especially when it is not directly to help your
family or your tribe.
However several of the social
entrepreneurs think people in Ghana are
waking up to the idea of business and social
together. There is a growing interest among
young Ghanaian professionals to do
something meaningful
a significant driving force of social
enterprise activity seems to come from the
returned diaspora community, including
Ghanaians who studied abroad.
In a context where resources to support
all forms of both business and social venture
are constrained, there is some resistance to
perceived prominence being given to social
enterprise. However, none of the social
entrepreneurs advocated for social
enterprise-specific concessions or tax breaks.
Several interviewees felt strongly that for the
social enterprise scene to be viable, social
enterprises should be commercially driven
and as profit or revenue oriented as they are
socially oriented if they are to achieve their
social goals at scale.
The government is promoting Made in
Ghana products, and even this is a difficult
sell in a context where consumers want
quality and value for money due to their
limited budgets and are not willing to pay a
premium or take a risk on a product for
social, ethical or even patriotic reasons alone.
Social enterprise goods and services, as with
all Made in Ghana goods and services, need
to be quality and price competitive to
achieve scale. There is particular interest
from the returnee community in bespoke
african products for africa
as consumer purchasing power
increases, it is plausible that demand for
quality african product will increase.
Importantly, there is also a viable export
market within the wider region and with the
diaspora. Other potentially significant
clients for social enterprise are government
and other businesses. Public procurement is
a significant source of social enterprise
custom in the UK,
recently backed up
in law by the
Social Value act,
2013, which
requires public
bodies to consider
choosing
providers based on
the social value
created in an area
and not on cost
alone. The
Ghanaian Public
Procurement act,
20034, makes no
provision for
social enterprise.
There is
general consensus
– even from
within Ghana’s
nascent social

Thursday, July 28, 2022
enterprise bubble – that social enterprise
is in its formative stages; government and
many stakeholders are not familiar with
what it is, nor are the wider public. Many
of the social entrepreneurs and support
organisations spoken to suggested that
social enterprise needs to achieve a degree
of success to gain status and to be
recognised more widely: One thing
needed is a big break, for one social
enterprise to succeed nationally – once
that happens you’ll see a lot of people
moving into the space.
Social Enterprise
Landscape in Ghana
The Ghanaian government faces a
range of constraints to delivering effective
support to social enterprise – many
generic to developing countries, and some
to governments globally. There is
perceived to be little consistency in how
the government applies the rule of law
and lack of co-ordination between public
institutions, making it hard for
entrepreneurs to know who they need to
speak to for clarification.
a complex array of government and
donor initiatives exist that offer potential
support to social enterprise including
programmes and legislation covering
enterprise development, employment,
infrastructure and education. There is a
widespread lack of knowledge of the range
of opportunities available to enterprise in
general, and more so for social enterprise
relevant support. Certain agencies face
specific issues. For instance high fees were
seen as a barrier for SMEs to using NBSSI
services, as was the location of the
business in relation to service provision,
particularly for businesses located in
geographically remote areas and where
transport infrastructure is limited. In the
case of NBSSI, which had experienced
inadequate logistics and human-resource
problems in the past (aryetey and ahene
2004), reputational issues might have
affected its capacity to attract new users,
despite its relatively wide geographic
coverage.
Political interference in the activities
of the public support agencies could also
influence the level of use of external
support services: Sometimes the
politicians use political platforms to
announce government initiatives for
small businesses and this makes some of
the owner-managers reluctant to contact
them for support. The problem of
overpoliticisation and corruption is rife.
Consensus across organisations is that
engaging with government is not easy,
and many social enterprises and support
organisations say they prefer to keep their
relationships with government to a
minimum.
Several social enterprises and support
organisations are trying to engage
relevant ministries with the work they are
doing, often to limited degrees of success.
Engagement with the government seems
to be most effective when it is targeted to
very specific areas of potential mutual
benefit. Some actors, for example, identify
the value of building relationships at local
government level and addressing
constraints to the enabling environment
at a district or regional level, recognising
that grassroots-level activity does not
easily translate into national policy
change. a further complication is that
resource constraints are a factor for
government agencies and departments, as
they are for social enterprises and support
organisations – often government are
‘fighting for donor money as much as
those in the non-governmental and
private-sector space’.
Even though the legal framework for
business in Ghana does not contain
explicit provisions that constrain
women’s economic potential, there exists
a number of culture practices – e.g.
regarding land, property ownership,
inheritance, as well as institutional factors
– taxation and access to finance – that
constrain women entrepreneurs (IFC,
2007). although literacy rates for women
aged 15–24 are now above 95 per cent,
overall female education levels nationally
are lower than those of men, a problem
that is particularly acute in rural northern
areas of the country (IFC, 2007). Some
communities face particular issues for the
equal involvement of women. Many girls
marry early because their bride price is
deemed more important than their
education. Economic empowerment can
help change this, but it needs to happen
gradually, with engagement with local
community and religious leaders.
Gender issues offer opportunities for
social enterprise, but can also act as
constraints, to operations, and to female
social entrepreneurs. another
disadvantaged group is physically and
mentally disabled people.
Ghana faces a range of environmental
challenges including land degradation,
deforestation, biodiversity loss, water
pollution, marine and coastal degradation,
mining and industrial development,
“Graduates typically
need two to three
years’ experience
to access formalsector
jobs and
gaining this
experience is a
challenge. On top
of this, the quality
of education
received at many
institutions means
that even tertiary
graduates are
poorly equipped to
join the workforce.
urbanisation, many of which may have
causes associated to lifestyle changes,
population growth and weak enforcement
of environmental legislation. Northern
Ghana is more vulnerable to the volatile
weather patterns caused by climate
change than the rest of the country
because it is poorer, drier and more heavily
dependent on subsistence agriculture.
Problems affecting development
include land use and tenure problems, as
arable and fertile land areas decline;
erratic weather patterns cause problems
for farmer crop cycles and irrigation, as
well as natural disasters such as drought
and flooding. Opportunities to make
Ghana’s economic development more
sustainable also exist – building in clean
energy and sustainable construction
procedures, for example, as well as
promoting methods of agriculture that
benefit the climate, natural resource
management and farmer livelihoods.
Finance and social investment Ghana has
a well-developed financial services sector
by african standards and a wide array of
financial institutions operate in the
country
There are growing numbers of funds
investing in start-up and social-impact
activities in Ghana. Some banks have
created philanthropic arms through
which they can provide finance, such as
the Ecobank Foundation . SMEs have time
and time again been marketed as the
engine for economic growth in developing
nations. For this reason, some banks have
set up SME desks to handle these specific
transactions and to address the peculiar
needs of SMEs. The Ghanaian banking
industry still needs to enhance its support
for SMEs in terms of trade financing
options. SMEs in Ghana still quote access
to capital as their number-one challenge
and banks that have made strides in the
sector rarely provide long-term financing
options.
In terms of microfinance, non-bank
financial institutions and informal credit,
a shift from a regulated financial-sector
regime to a more liberalised regime in
1986 led to the emergence of other
financial institutions, consolidated by a
1991 law allowing different categories of
financial institutions including savings
and loans companies, financial nongovernmental
organisations and credit
union associations, providing a diverse
range of financial services to micro and
SMEs.
Investment in general faces many
constraints, not least that government
bond interest rates make investors
unwilling to lend to enterprise. This
means there is little cheap finance for
enterprises raising funds within Ghana.
There is a risk-free return on government
bonds in Ghana of up to 20 per cent, so
investors require at least 32 per cent
returns on risk-free private sector
investments, and social enterprises would
represent a fairly high risk – e.g. up to 64
per cent returns required for
microfinance. Social impact investing is
important for social enterprise – it refers
to investments seeking joint impact and
financial returns, and such investments
require vehicles able to deliver (and
quantify delivery of) social and
environmental impact.
africapitalism (a term coined by
Nigerian entrepreneur and venture
philanthropist Tony Elumelu) builds on
indigenous entrepreneurs’ desire to give
something back – it is a form of socialimpact
investing reliant on african
entrepreneurs’ capital
There is a lack of viable pipeline for
impact investing in Ghana, as in much of
africa, and problems with deal flow and
limited exit options where investments
are made. Impact investing is still very
commercially driven; non-profit
businesses don’t offer the returns that
such investors seek, so they must rely on
foundation and donor money.
For social enterprises, general
concerns about equity are conflated with a
desire to attract investors who share the
social vision for the business and can
support a non-profit maximising
approach .
Ghana faces a range of hard
infrastructural constraints. The poor
quality of roads, particularly outside urban
areas, constrains all social and economic
activity – but also offers opportunities for
hybrid business models to find niches
where they can develop markets by not
seeking fully commercial returns. In
terms of soft infrastructure, the rule of law
can be fairly weak in Ghana. Legislation in
most areas is comprehensive; however,
adherence is less so. Examples of problems
identified in the study include the fact
that NGO law provides for NGOs not to pay
tax, yet there is a lack of understanding of
how revenue-generating activities by nonprofit
social enterprises should be treated
in terms of fiscal policy..
There are two options for social
enterprises registering their enterprise in
Ghana: they can register as a for-profit
(sole proprietorship, partnership or
limited liability) or as a non-profit (cooperative
or company limited by
guarantee). In the absence of likely
commercial capital or equity financing
opportunities, the non-profit model allows
the social enterprise access to a range of
funding opportunities not available to forprofits
and also has positive taxation
implications. However, registering a social
enterprise as a non-profit has risks – some
social enterprises have opted for for profit
registration because they want to be
explicit about the commercial intention
of their venture, and to ensure that they
can access debt and equity capital.
The private sector in general, suggest
that private firms usually know much
better than foreign advisors the kind of
business environment they need to
compete on world markets – and that
strong donor presence has crowded out
the private sector with respect to reforms.
They urge local ownership in addressing
governance issues, while the private sector
needs to reach a critical size (and
structure) to be able to do this, which has
not yet been the case in Ghana.
as a subset of business, social
enterprises in Ghana do not have the
capacity for such influence at the
moment, but being included as part of the
business community could facilitate the
specific needs of their business models
being incorporated.

Thursday, July 28, 2022
BoG rubbishes claims
• Continued from Page 9
BoG relates to the assertion that
some GHS2.8billion out of the
infamous GHS22billion was a
draw down from government’s
own deposit for GETFund, DaCF
and NHIF. This cannot be
factual considering that
appendix 2C at page 99 of the
Finance Minister’s Mid Year
Review reports that all those
statutory payments had long
been released by the Ministry of
Finance and spent by GETFund,
DaCF and NHIF.
How can the BoG claim to be
lending money that has already
been spent to government? The
BoG must desist from its voodoo
cover up and credit Ghanaians
with some intelligence.
We expect the BoG to do the
honourable thing by admiting
to their transgressions and
asserting their independence as
they are guaranteed under
Ghanaian law.
Let’s be clear, this is highpowered
money being injected
through illegal printing into the
economy, hence the 33.8%
growth in BoG’s balance sheet
as at June 2022 and this should
be extremely troubling to all
well-meaning Ghanaians.
The BoG may be minded to
respond to the following critical
questions:
1. If a bank is holding
Government stocks or bonds
and wishes to discount them,
the Ghana Fixed Income
Market is where such banks can
engage in secondary trading for
liquidity purposes. Why has it
become BoG’s primary duty?
2. Why has BoG over the last
many months curtailed lending
to banks but is busy lending to
Government at the same time?
3. How is BoG implementing
monetary policy currently,
given the truncation in its
monetary operations?
4. What are the measures
being implemented to fight
inflation and anchor inflation
expectations currently,
particularly when the policy
rate has been muted and also,
given the fact that BoG’s gold
purchase programme is itself
inflationary?
5. Why is BoG ignoring the
adverse impact of fiscal
dominance on the effectiveness
of its monetary policy?
6. Is BoG taking cognizance
of the adverse impact of
monetary financing and illegal
printing of money in the midst
of a major economic crisis
where inflation approaches an
unprecedented 30% and is
expected to rise further?
The NDC Parliamentary
Caucus wishes to remind the
BoG that under Section 3(1) of
the Bank of Ghana
(amendment) act, 2016 (act 918).
BoG is given every power to
resist instructions from
Government or any other
authority. Therefore,
notwithstanding Section 30(7)
of the Bank of Ghana
(amendment) act, 2016 (act
918), the Bank of Ghana has full
powers in the face of excessive
monetary growth, to limit BoG
financing of government.
Our constitutional mandate
is to hold the government in
check and we expect BoG to do
same and ensure that its
support to government is not
unlawful and excessive. This is a
sacred mandate to the
Ghanaian people.
Finally, we urge the Ministry
of Finance and the Bank of
Ghana to come clean, and seek
parliamentary ratification in
accordance with the Bank of
Ghana (amendment) act, 2016
(act 918).
Signed,
Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson
(MP, Ajumako Enyian
Assiem Constituency and
Ranking Member, Finance
Committee)
FDI Inflows: Ghana is second
highest recipient in West Africa
FDI flows to Ghana increased by 39% to
$2.6 billion for the year 2021.
according to the World Investment
Report 2022, this placed Ghana second
in West africa, and seventh in africa, in
terms of FDI attraction.
The rise in Ghana’s FDI flows was
attributed to major projects in its extractive
industries, which included; the
construction of an $850 million gold
mining facility by Newmont Corp, and
the construction of a cement factory by
Ciment d’afrique (CIMaF) for $436 million.
The increase in FDI flows reflects
the findings of the Deloitte 2022 africa
Investment attractiveness Index,
which placed Ghana as the second
most appealing destination for investments
in africa based on the comments
of nearly 200 CEOs.
“Ghana has a great global reputation,
and as the host of the african Continental
Free Trade area, it provides
considerable opportunities for businesses
to trade in the enormous
african market.
Furthermore, with our democratic
stability and smart business policies in
place, such as the 10-Point Industrialization
agenda, Ghana most appeals to
investors seeking stability and vibrancy
to prosper and grow their firms.
So, despite the current economic difficulties,
investors continue to see Ghana
as a desirable destination to invest”,
said Yofi Grant CEO of the GIPC.
In recent years, the government
through the GIPC has made FDI attraction
a priority by improving investment
attraction strategy to a more
proactive one. It has also spurred private
sector investment through the
Ghana Covid 19 alleviation and Revitalization
of Enterprises (CaRES) program
– a 100bn Ghana Cedis economic response
program, aimed at supporting
the private sector in targeted sectors, to
accelerate growth and stabilize the
Ghanaian economy.
In addition to encouraging private
sector investments, the government
has been working to eliminate regulatory
discrepancies among several state
agencies that create unnecessary barriers
to doing business.
The GIPC for instance has digitized
its registration procedure, making it
considerably quicker and more flexible
for investors to register and apply for
exemptions under the GIPC act (act
865).
“It is essential to note that Foreign
Direct Investment in an economy like
ours is crucial for creating jobs, gaining
access to new technologies, increasing
output, expanding trade, and forming
valuable relationships between local
enterprises and multinational corporations.”
as such the GIPC will not relent in
promoting Ghana as a choice destination
for investment and assiduously
engaging with global partners”, noted
Mr Grant.
Overall, the World Investment Report
indicated that FDI flows to africa
reached $83 billion, a record high, up
from $39 billion in 2020, representing
5.2% of global FDI. Meanwhile, FDI into
the West african Subregion increased
by 48% to $14 billion.
Neighbouring Nigeria was the highest
beneficiary with FDI flows doubling
to $4.8 billion, mainly because of the
resurgence in oil investment and expansion
in gas.
For the rest of 2022, the World Investment
Report predicts that FDI
flows to developing economies are expected
to be strongly affected by the
war in Ukraine and its wider ramifications.

Thursday, Tuesday, July March 28, 2022 1, 2022
Ghanaian businesses use
e-commerce to penetrate
Africa’s single market
anumber Ghanaian
companies looking to
develop export markets
by leveraging on the
african Continental
Free Trade agreement will now have
the opportunity to explore the
african marketplace effectively
following the operationalization of a
tool that provides business data and
The new tool is the first ever to offer
online africa-wide analysis of business-toconsumer
(B2C) marketplaces, detailing the
characteristics of more than 630 e-
commerce marketplaces across the
continent.
The online market tool dubbed: africa
Market Explorer, has been developed by the
International Trade Centre (ITC) and the
amsterdam University of applied
Sciences to explore the e-commerce
marketplace ecosystem in africa and as
such, addresses the lack of comprehensive
information about marketplaces on the
continent.
There is an increasing need and demand
for markets to be developed and product
orders to be made online through e-
commerce channels as a result of the
analyses of e-commerce
marketplaces all around the
continent.
This is coming at a most
opportune time as Ghanaian
businesses have seen their plans for
customer market expansion across
the continent through afCFTa
threatened by COVID 19 related
travel restrictions.
Coronavirus pandemic which is making it
difficult for people to transact business
physically.
Many businesses in Ghana and beyond
are therefore using online commerce to
remain in business and this is expected to
deliver comprehensive benefits to both
counterparties in commerce transactions.
However, the greater challenge facing
african e-commerce firms has always been
getting adequate information to enable such
firms explore the various market
opportunities that abound.
Since data and analyses on local
marketplaces are hard to come by or in some
instances are highly incomplete, the ITC
insists that with the operationalization of
the market explorer, african entrepreneurs
in the e-commerce sector will have better
“Many businesses in
Ghana and beyond
are therefore using
online commerce
to remain in
business and this is
expected to deliver
comprehensive
benefits to both
counterparties in
commerce
transactions.
information on how to sell goods online in
regional markets and neighbouring
countries where effective demand exist.
although e-commerce is growing in
africa, information for entrepreneurs
remains inadequate. according to the ITC,
the tool aims to build the world’s largest
community of e-commerce entrepreneurs
engaged in the sustainable development of
small businesses online by facilitating
shared learning, innovative solutions,
collaboration and partnerships.
“This comprehensive set of data provides
an important contribution for
understanding how the development of e-
commerce can be supported in africa”, ITC’s
acting Executive Director, Dorothy Tembo
noted during the launch of the new tool.
The tool reveals that just one per cent of
africa’s e-commerce marketplaces are
responsible for 60 per cent of the
marketplace traffic on the whole continent.
Only 11 per cent of the marketplaces
websites actually enable financial
transactions which limits the possibilities of
selling internationally.
The african Union Commission has
incorporated an Electronic Commerce (ecommerce)
protocol into the pan african
trade agreement. It is now scheduled to be
addressed under the third phase of the
agreement’s rollout.
The acceptance of the e-commerce
protocol came about during the 33rd aU
Ordinary Session held early this year in
Ethiopia. Phase III protocol is expected to
kick-in immediately after conclusion of
Phase II negotiations, which include
competition policy, intellectual property
rights and investment protocol.
Importantly, the Executive Council of
the aU has directed the aU Commission to
embark on preparations for the upcoming
negotiations and mobilise resources for
capacity building for african trade
negotiators to be involved in the
negotiations of e-commerce legal
instruments for afCFTa.
“Member States must critically review
approaches that are being made to them by
bilateral partners to enter into bilateral e-
commerce legal instruments with them in
order to ensure that africa is able to
negotiate and implement an afCFTa
protocol on e-commerce such as data and
products being traded under e-commerce.
“This will promote the emergence of
african owned e-commerce platforms at
national, regional and continental levels”,
says an aU report
Initially, the e-commerce was not added
to the protocols for negotiations. But
following a summit convened by the World
Economic Forum (WEF) and the
International Trade Centre (ITC) last year,
steps were initiated to have e-commerce
protocol incorporated into the agreement.
This follows a release of the african E-
Commerce agenda – an eight step action
plan - put forward by the WEF and ITC as
they unveiled a roadmap on e-commerce for
african governments to realize its vast
economic potential benefits for the
continent.

Thursday, July 28, 2022
Payment transparency disclosure
although Ghana is still considered
a "new" oil producer, oil sold by its
national oil company the Ghana
National Petroleum Corporation
(GNPC) already generates a
significant proportion of Ghana’s government
revenue (9 percent in 2019). Ghana, a member
of the Extractive Industries Transparency
Initiative (EITI), has released data on every
cargo sold by GNPC since production started in
2011, making it one of the most transparent
countries in reporting on its commodity sales
activities, and the only country to disclose to
this level of detail.
This was demonstrated in NRGI’s recent
report Ghana’s Oil Sales: Using Commodity
Trading Data for accountability. Why does this
matter?
Ghana shows how data disclosure can
improve understanding in this often opaque
and economically significant sector.
Disclosure helps oversight actors, such as
civil society groups, demand improved
accountability, and highlights the role of
overseas jurisdictions from which commodity
traders operate.
Heavy hitters: Switzerland and the U.K.
GNPC is responsible for all oil marketing
activities on behalf of the Ghanaian state.
GNPC’s disclosures show that from 2015 to 2019,
it sold 44 cargos to seven different buyers. Of
these 44 cargos, 42 were purchased by traders or
companies with trading subsidiaries registered
or listed in Switzerland (17) and the U.K. (25),
with the remaining two cargos being
purchased by Ghanaian producer Springfield
Group. The cargos sold by GNPC during this
period were worth USD 2.6 billion, with 94%
($2.4 billion) paid by commodity trading firms
or their parent companies registered or listed
in the U.K. or Switzerland.
GNPC sold the vast majority of cargos
during this period through two long-term
contracts. One contract is with Litasco, the
Switzerland-based marketing and trading arm
of Russian international oil company Lukoil.
Lukoil is regulated through its listing on the
London Stock Exchange. The second contract is
with Unipec asia, a subsidiary of Chineseowned
Sinopec, also listed on the London Stock
Exchange. Both of these agreements are
connected to resource-backed borrowing.
GNPC’s 2017 contract with Litasco, which
entitles the trader to purchase four cargos per
year of oil from the Ghana’s offshore TEN field,
was tied to $279 million in bank guarantees.
The second agreement, signed in 2012, obliges
the state oil company to sell five cargos per year
to Chinese state-owned Unipec asia, forming
part of the Ghanaian government’s $3 billion
loan from China Development Bank.
During this period GNPC also sold seven
cargos through one-off spot sales to four other
Swiss traders: Gemcorp Commodities Trading
(three cargos), Glencore (two cargoes), Trafigura
(one cargo) and Vitol (one cargo).
© NRGI
Purchasers of GNPC cargos by company
reporting jurisdiction (2015-2019).
Disclosure is not just the seller’s
responsibility
Oil sales disclosure is crucial, and Ghana
should not remain the exception in this regard.
While a number of other oil-producing
countries, such as the Republic of Congo and
Cameroon, and their national oil companies
(NOCs) have taken steps to improve disclosure,
full openness of oil sales by NOCs may not
come about in the near term. Traders therefore
...Ghana’s national oil company shows the U.K.
and Switzerland how transparency should work
have a critical role to play in providing
transparency on their purchases. Indeed all
trading companies buying oil, gas and
minerals from governments should disclose
their purchases from governments and NOCs
in line with the 2019 EITI Standard and
granular application of the EITI’s new
reporting standards for buying companies.
The need for transparency is reinforced
both by the current coronavirus crisis and the
ever-present corruption risks in the
commodity trading sector:
Debt sustainability. The coronavirus crisis
has created massive new governmental
spending needs, with many countries
including Ghana facing rising levels of debt.
Thus, the importance of disclosure is further
reinforced when traders purchase
commodities from resource-rich countries in
the form of resource-backed loans. Because
countries entering these arrangements with
traders typically receive loans in exchange for
the future provision of their oil or other natural
resources, such loans carry increased debt
sustainability risks for producer countries.
Considering the fragile fiscal position of many
countries as well as the fall in oil prices,
disclosures are required to enable public
scrutiny and debate by citizens on their
governments resourcebacked
borrowing
activities.
Commodity trader
corruption risks. Last year
closed with a raft of
corruption indictments
against commodity trading
firms (including the VITOL
deferred US agreement). In
December 2020, Vitol agreed
to pay over $160 million to
settle charges including
those of bribery and
corruption to regulators
worldwide. The bribery
scheme in Ecuador and
Mexico was ongoing as
recently as July 2020. at the
end of November 2020, the Brazilian Federal
Ministry announced an investigation of
Trafigura (and former Trafigura executives) for
suspicious transactions as part of the Lava Jato
case. These cases show all too clearly that
corrupt and opaque practices are not relegated
to the past.
The need for improved disclosure of
commodity purchases is clear. authorities in
countries where traders are based, including
the Federal Council in Switzerland and
Treasury and Department for Business Energy
and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in the U.K.,
should require disclosure by these companies.
This would help entrench transparency and
accountability in the world of commodity
trading, in turn benefitting resource-rich
countries and ensuring their citizens can hold
their government and companies accountable.
Mandatory payment transparency
disclosure: what are Switzerland and the U.K.
waiting for?
Currently only three companies - Trafigura,
Glencore and Gunvor - voluntarily disclose
their payments to governments for the
purchase of commodities in EITI
implementing countries. While these
disclosures are a positive development, their
refusal to disclose payments made to
governments of non-EITI
countries results in a limited
picture: 94% of Trafigura
Glencore and Gunvor’s combined
payments to governments for oil
and gas were paid to non-EITI
countries in 2019, and were
therefore undisclosed beyond
global aggregate figures.
Many large U.K. or
Switzerland-based oil traders
such as Vitol and the trading
divisions of international oil
companies like BP and Shell are
yet to disclose any information of
this type, at all. Legislators should
compel them to do so.
Governments of trading hub
countries should require trading
companies buying oil, gas and
minerals from governments to
publicly report these sizeable
payments. Such legislation in key
trading hubs such as Switzerland
and the U.K. would also ensure
that companies disclose
payments to all jurisdictions and in a detailed
manner, and not just those related to EITI
countries. Other hubs such as the Netherlands,
Singapore and the United States should act too.
Switzerland passed a law last year which
would entitle the Federal Council to include
commodity trading-related payments in the
legal disclosure requirements now in place for
conventional extractive firms in Switzerland.
But this provision is only triggered
if authorities in other international hubs
choose a similar path.
In 2019, the UK government committed to
“establish and implement a common global
reporting standard” in this area, noting that
“the largest payment stream missing from
mandatory disclosure is payments to
governments for the sale of publicly owned oil,
gas and minerals (commodity trading), an area
where corruption risk is acute.” But as yet, that
intention remains unlegislated. Mandatory
disclosure laws in Canada, EU, Norway and UK
require conventional extractive companies to
disclose their payments to governments for
their extractive activities, where possible
disaggregated to the project-level.
In the words of the OECD Development
Centre, the U.K. and Switzerland as main
trading hubs have “an
opportunity (…) to
demonstrate
leadership by playing a
larger role in
countering corruption
and enhancing
transparency in
commodity trading”.
One wonders then:
as countries like
Ghana are showing
the value of
information about
commodity purchases
by traders, what are
the Swiss and the Brits
waiting for?

Thursday, July 28, 2022 PAGE 11
Five questions to ask your
Data Storage Vendor
BY FRANKLIN ASARE
IT is important to transform
and enhance your business
with a comprehensive
storage solution that
integrates and refreshes
your existing IT infrastructure,
while reducing costs. Data is fast
becoming an increasingly strategic
resource that can differentiate your
company from your competition. as
a result, data availability
requirements are on the rise.
approaching the task of
choosing a data storage vendor
however can be a difficult one. From
supported platforms to connectivity,
company viability to disaster
recovery, there are countless
variables involved in deciding which
company fits your business’ needs.
Enterprises handle massive
amounts of business-critical data, so
storage systems that are highly
scalable, offer unlimited
connectivity, and support multiple
platforms would benefit them the
most.
The importance of data storage is
underlined by the exponential generation
of new data and the proliferation of
Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Today’s
storage systems need capabilities that
allow enterprises to apply machine
learning-enabled artificial intelligence to
capture, analyze, and extract value from
massive amounts of data.
Customers should be looking not at
features and functionality alone, but
beyond them to the business outcomes
those features can deliver.
Below are a few questions to get you
started on the journey to choosing the
perfect data storage vendor.
1. What are my
capacity needs?
Understanding the amount of storage,
you are currently using, as well as how
much you estimate that you will need
going forward, as to avoid hitting a space
threshold soon after your purchase, is
crucial. additionally, it would behoove you
to consider your organization’s data
efficiency needs to determine if a
platform based on faster, flash-based
storage would be better suited to your
needs than traditional spinning disk
drives, for example. Capabilities to look
out for in a solution would be
compression and deduplication, which
can provide significant storage savings if
your data set supports it.
2. What does my current IT
infrastructure look like?
Consider how old your current servers
are. If they are relatively new, you might
only need to upgrade storage on your
current hosts. However, if your servers are
closer to five years old, looking at a
hyperconverged environment might be a
better option to refresh your
infrastructure. additionally, take your IT
personnel into account. Larger companies
sometimes have teams of IT specialists
with deep, area-specific knowledge, but
SMB IT admins often must be a jack-ofall-trades.
In this case, a hyperconverged
solution may be a better fit, as they
combine server, storage, and networking
into one footprint.
3. How will I handle
backups?
a standard backup strategy would
include snapshots running on your
storage, a local backup of the file level and
image level on a separate storage device,
and an offsite backup of both files and
image. Keep in mind that to support
offsite backups, you need an Internet or
WaN connection that will support your
backup traffic. a good rule of thumb is
that you want to have enough bandwidth
to complete a full backup of your data
within 24 hours. It is also important to
name ideal recovery points and recovery
“TechGulf offers the
services you need,
from relocation to
decommissioning,
and everything in
between. In these
unprecedented
times of COVID-19,
we have become
even more reliant
on digital
technologies.
times for your business, which requires
that you know what your organization
can tolerate in terms of data loss.
• A data storage centre
4. How scalable does my
solution need to be?
Think about how many devices you
will be connecting. While most
implementations start on a smaller scale,
it is important to have
realistic expectations for
how your organization and
its data will grow in the
coming years. Some low
cost, high-performance
databases can be well-suited
to your needs initially, but
they will not necessarily
scale beyond a certain
capacity. For this reason,
looking into a solution’s
capacity for scalability will
be a big help in making
your decision.
5. Can the storage
infrastructure be
resilient to cyberattacks?
IT organizations require
a systematic approach to
security to meet the
challenges posed by today’s
pervasive cyber threats.
Having a strong framework
is critical for assessing and
implementing cyber resilience strategies
against such threats. It is crucial to
decide which storage functions your
business needs to address the latest
threats. Learning the role of storage
infrastructure in cyber resilience and the
key capabilities that deliver across block,
file, object, tape, software-defined storage
is essential to a successful business.
Choosing a data center vendor can be
a difficult process but TechGulf will be a
perfect choice. TechGulf is a Technology
company based in San Francisco, USa.
and accra Ghana. TechGulf has as its core
mandate the provision of stable and
secure data storage hardware and
services for the african continent, to grow
abilities, capabilities, and business
opportunities for businesses of all sizes.
We have partnered Overland Tandberg in
a strategic partnership covering the
african Continent to leverage their
competence in top class data and
infrastructure solutions.
TechGulf offers the services you need,
from relocation to decommissioning, and
everything in between. In these
unprecedented times of COVID-19, we
have become even more reliant on digital
technologies. In that regard, and in all
else, this pandemic is a striking reminder
of an increasing need for digital storage
and security in africa, and an urgent call
to bridge the existing gaps of
technological inequalities in emerging
economies on our continent.
The Author, Franklin Asare is the Chief
Executive Officer TechGulf

BACK
PAGE
Thursday, July 28, 2022
MTN in talks to buy Telkom
TELECOM giant,
MTN, is in talks to
buy South africa’s
incumbent operator,
Telkom.
as the country’s secondand
third-largest mobile operators,
if approved the deal would
alter the competitive dynamics
of the market substantially and
would effectively create a duopoly
in a market that currently
benefits from a healthy
level of rivalry between operators.
In the mobile segment,
MTN’s position would improve
dramatically.
Using the latest data (Quarter
1, 2022) available from the
operators, Fitch Solutions estimates
that MTN’s market share
would increase to 48.4% with
the acquisition of Telkom’s
16.94 million subscribers it reported
for the year ending
March 2022. This would transform
MTN into South africa’s
dominant operator, usurping
the position of current market
leader Vodacom.
“We estimate its market
share currently sits at around
36.8%. as a result, South africa’s
mobile market would effectively
approach duopoly status,
with smallest MNO Cell C and
the MVNOs unable to engage
in meaningful competition
with the primary players”, it
added.
Demand for Telkom’s mobile
services have shown consistent
growth since the telco
re-entered the mobile segment
in 2010, and it was the only operator
not to have recorded
subscriber losses during the
Covid-19 pandemic.
Telkom’s aggressive pricing
strategy has served its growth
accordingly and allowed it to
secure subscribers at the expense
of the other market players.
Exposure to Telkom’s
growth trajectory could reverse
the volatile trend of customer
acquisition and retention that
MTN has faced over recent
years.
MTN would also gain access
to Telkom's spectrum holdings,
the primary appeal here being
the latter's 22MHz of spectrum
in the 3.5GHz band that it acquired
during the long-awaited
5G spectrum auction that occurred
in March 2022.
Spectrum in the 3.5GHz
band is critical for deploying
5G, Fitch Solutions said, and is
therefore key to generating additional
value in mobile operations,
particularly at a time
when robust competition has
been driving down aRPUs.
Moreover, collecting
Telkom's spectrum would also
give MTN superiority in terms
Eximbank commits $10 million to sustain
Ghana’s largest yam exporter position
THE Ghana EximBank is set to commit
10 million dollars to the sector to sustain
Ghana’s position as the world’s largest
exporter of yam.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines
of a stakeholder forum on yam exports,
Chief Executive Officer of the
Ghana EximBank, Lawrence agyinsam,
stated that the amount his outfit is committing
to the industry will help players
along the value chain boost their outputs.
He stated that “the exporters need to
maintain that leadership of number one
in the world and to do that EximBank is
prepared to be by their side by supporting
them with an amount of $10 million to
help them with their pre-shipment,
working capital etc”
Data from the Ghana Export Promotion
authority (GEPa) revealed that the
country’s exports of yam tubers reached
a record high of US$48million for 2021.
Ghana now controls 24 per cent of the
US$200million global export market,
growing its export value from
US$38.5million in 2018 to US$48.2million
in 2021.
Jamaica is Ghana’s closest competitor,
ranking second in the export of yam.
Its total exports were valued at
US$39million in 2021.
Participant of the stakeholder forum,
Kwabena Taylor who is the Executive
Secretary of the Ghana Root Crops and
Tubers Exporters Union, was confident
that the proposed investment will help
establish Ghana’s global position in yam
exports.
“Data from the Ghana
Export Promotion
Authority (GEPA)
revealed that the
country’s exports of
yam tubers reached a
record high of
Us$48million for 2021.