Auction of GH¢6bn Energy Sector Bond Starts Today

The auction of the GH¢6 billion cedi-denominated energy sector bond is set to begin today as the government seeks funds to refinance the huge energy sector debt which seems to be crippling the banking sector.

Local and offshore investors, made up of local pension fund managers, were yesterday briefed on the nature and structure of the bond, which has been described as a better alternative to government papers (treasury bills) on the market because of its size and risk profile.

The bond, to be issued in two tranches of GH¢2.4 billion and GH¢3.6 billion, will have a seven-year and a 10-year tenure, respectively.

The Ghana cedi-denominated bond will be listed and traded on the Fixed Income Market of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) under conditions yet to be announced.

Addressing a news conference in Accra shortly after meeting the investors, the fund managers, Fidelity Bank Ghana Limited and Standard Chartered Bank Ghana Limited, said the enthusiasm shown by the investors was high and, therefore, they expected to raise the targeted amount for its intended purpose.

Coupon rate

The Country Head of Global Banking of the Standard Chartered Bank Ghana Limited, Mr Xorse Godzi, said the coupon rate for the bond would be determined after the close of the process on Thursday.

“There are a lot of commitments from local investors who came yesterday and we hope they will respond favourably when the auction formally opens.

“We had over 200 investors who participated in the roadshow yesterday and the enthusiasm from all of them was remarkable. The bond is open to both local and offshore investors.

“The offshore entities which have already set up in Ghana to hold such instruments will be able to come through and buy, likewise the local ones,” Mr Godzi added.

Public debt

In response to concerns raised in various quarters that the money being raised would worsen the country’s public debt status, he said: “The bonds that are being raised will not affect government debt servicing capacity in any way because the source of repayment for the coupon and the bond itself is a levy which is already being collected.”

“The bonds do not place additional responsibility on the ability of the government to repay its debt, so that is the fundamental thing. There is a history of collection and the history is from last year January to July and based on the amount that has been collected — that amount can support an issue of GH¢6 billion,” he explained.

Mr Godzi said over the last 18 months, the collection of the energy sector levy had been consistent. “The collection is, on the average, from GH¢110 to GH¢120 million a month and that is what will be used,” he said.

According to him, the money would flow from the oil marketing companies (OMCs) to collection banks and “then to the Bank of Ghana and will return to the banks which have been mandated to keep and use it to pay the coupon which will be paid every six months, and that will eventually be used to pay off the actual bond amount”.

Bond structure

On the structure of the bond, the Director of Treasury and Markets at the Fidelity Bank, Mr Sam Aidoo, said: “The structure of the bond is a semi unsecure instrument and backed by the Energy Sector Levy Act (ESLA) flows which is an Act of Parliament which came into being in December 2015.

“To be honest, what we are able to do today is what the levies allow us to do, which is the GH¢6 billion, so if we need to give it some time and see how the levies accrue, and if there is enough to be able to issue a second tranche, then we will issue for the remaining GH¢4 billion.

“We have KPMG, Ernst and Young and Deloitte all being part of this structure and so that brings a lot of accounting and measuring to the levy flow,” he said.

According to Mr Aidoo, the issuance would bring stability to the energy and the banking sectors, while making the GSE more active. He said the bond would also help improve liquidity on the market, while non-performing loans (NPLs) would also reduce drastically.

Source: www.graphic.com.gh

Ghana showcased at US$2.2trn Toronto Stock Exchange

A high-powered business delegation representing Ghana – led by the High Commissioner to Canada, E. Ayikoi Otoo, and CEO of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, Yofi Grant – rang the closing bell on the US$2.2trillion Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) on Tuesday, October 17, 2017.

Other members of the delegation included President of the Canada Ghana Chamber of Commerce Frederick Attakumah, and senior officials of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority, Ghana Free Zones Board, National Communications Authority, as well as leading Ghanaian business leaders.

The TSX, which raises nearly 60% of total global capital investment in the mining, energy and natural resources sector of over US$5trillion, invited leading Ghanaian companies to consider cross-listing on the exchange.

Officials of the Exchange expressed support for Ghana’s industrialisation efforts and the ‘One District – One Factory’ initiative, as well as the move to a Free Secondary School system to provide the necessary human capital base to industrialise Ghana.

The Ghana reception at the Toronto Stock Exchange, and a week-long investment promotion visit to Canada, was ably organised by the Accra-based Canada Ghana Chamber of Commerce (CanCham), which has almost 100 corporate members.

It was in collaboration with the very influential Toronto-based Canada-Africa Chamber of Business, which has as its members some of the largest global companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and leading captains of industry in Canada.

Commenting on the investment promotion effort, Mr. Attakumah stated that other than mining sector investments in Ghana, Canada remains a largely untapped source of capital for developing other sectors of the Ghanaian economy – including renewable energy, an integrated aluminium industry and agrobusiness.

In view of this, he stated that the Canada Ghana Chamber of Commerce was committed to working with the private sectors of both countries in attracting the needed investments to Ghana.

Assisting Mr. Otoo, Mr. Grant and Mr. Attakumah to ring the closing bell were other council members of the Canada Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Mr. Sebastian Spio-Garbrah, Managing Director of the Toronto headquartered global risk advisory boutique DaMina Advisors, who is also a director of the Canada-Africa Chamber of Business.

Both Chambers have agreed to jointly facilitate Ghana-Canada Trade and Investment promotion in the years ahead. Over a dozen companies from Ghana seeking investors from Canada attended the TSX event.

Source: thebftonline.com

President Akufo-Addo Leaps Ghana Into Digital Age

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Wednesday took Ghana higher into the digital age, with the launch of an advanced National Digital Property Addressing System that would accelerate the development and formalisation of the country’s economy, at the Accra International Conference Centre. The innovative system, dubbed “ghanapostGPS”, which is poles ahead of similar systems deployed in the sub-region, is a location based system that would provide the most effective means of identifying every property and location in Ghana, as well as boost emergency services delivery across the country.

At a short ceremony, President Akufo-Addo noted that the informal nature of Ghana’s economy had been a major constraint to her development, saying that, the employment of the ‘ghanapostGPS’ was a “move ever closer to realizing our vision of formalising the Ghanaian economy.” He said the era where Ghanaians used landmarks as the means of giving directions of the location of a property was over, as the new system would revolutionalize the way things are done in the country.

“The ‘blue kiosk’, the ‘waakye’ seller, the ‘Kofi brokeman’ seller, and ‘that big tree at the junction’ have become reference points for giving out locations. Today marks the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. We are launching a solution to our location and addressing problems, and this will, ultimately, change the way we do things,” he said. The President said the ‘ghanapostGPS’ would address the informal nature of the economy, and help broaden the tax base, deepen and widen financial inclusion and deliver services to those most in need.

He said his government has begun 3 initiatives – the launch of the “Ghana Card”, the country’s new National ID; the National Digital Property Addressing System; and next month, the launch of the Interoperable Electronic Platform for the payment of goods and services and electronic transfers across the country. The project, which would also enable government to execute its policies and plans, as well as provide Ghana with a trustworthy database of addresses, is a partnership between the Ministry of Communications and Ghana Post Company Limited. Vokacom, a Ghanaian Information technology firm designed the system.

Health, Fire and Ambulance services can effectively identify property locations to save lives at a faster rate. Noting that his government has stayed true to its promise of providing the country with an addressing system, President Akufo-Addo said “we have stayed true to this commitment, and reaffirmed it in this year’s Asempa Budget.

“From today, every land or property will be assigned a unique identifier. This will facilitate improved ownership data and unique identification of properties and persons. A proper addressing of properties will ensure efficient delivery of services for economic development.” “With this new system, every property in Ghana will have an address and can be accounted for, including the location of the blue kiosk, the ‘waakye’ seller or the ‘koko’ seller. “The Property Addressing System also means that the ‘koko’ seller can now open a bank account, as he or she will be able to meet the basic requirement to access loan facilities from a bank. The ‘koko’ seller, like many other small businesses, can also grow his or her business,” he said

President Akufo-Addo said the system would enable government to strengthen the health and safety of the public, and assist the law enforcement agencies to deal with crime effectively. He said the registering of all properties in Ghana would lead to the lowering of the cost of doing business, because “once your address can be located, the risk premium charged by banks will be lower. Businesses can now produce at lower costs, and will have enough funds for reinvestments.”

“We should soon enjoy the advantages of having all security and emergency services responding to situations in efficient and timely manner, to provide critical security and first aid.” The President pointed out that one cannot obtain the “Ghana Card” without an address, saying, “With the registration for the “Ghana Card” commencing in November, it is my expectation that all individuals and properties will be able to obtain their own unique addresses, as we strive to build a credible national address register.

“The national address database creates an avenue for new businesses and industry. I urge all stakeholders – Ministries, Security Agencies, Health Authorities, Education, Lands Commission, Financial Institutions, Private Sector Operators – to liaise with the Ministry of Communications and Ghana Post, who are the custodians and administrators of the system, to leverage on this technology to enhance their operations,” he added. The Ghana Water Company Limited, the Electricity Company of Ghana and Local Governments can now plan and collect revenues in a more systematic manner, which makes their business models sustainable as each customer will now be traceable, the President said.

Source: ghananewsagency.org

Let’s Refocus on Agriculture – Yofi Grant

The Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Investment Promotion Centre’s (GIPC), Yofi Grant has underscored the need for Ghana to refocus on agriculture saying, it will shape the fortunes of the country. Speaking at the USAID FinGap Agric and Agribusiness Investment Forum on how to create opportunities along the agricultural value chain, Tuesday, Mr Grant noted that refocusing on agriculture will ensure food security, alleviate poverty and also improve the growth of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

He expressed worry on Ghana’s performance in agriculture over the years, indicating it is not befitting of a country which was known for its exploits in the sector. “I read somewhere that a nation that cannot feed itself is a nation at risk. As we stand here, indeed, we do not feed ourselves. Many years ago, agriculture was the headline of our economy. 60 years after independence, although we claim to be agricultural nation, agriculture’s growth to GPD has been trending downwards year after year. Agricultural growth has virtually gone in the negative; yet, last year, we imported food to the tune of 2.2 billion dollars. That can never be a satisfactory position especially when we have 8 million hectors of arable land lying fallow in the northern parts of Ghana.

“We import over 600 million dollars of rice, not to mention sugar when we have all the necessary inputs that can make us self-sufficient. Almost every bit of research on Africa has stated that for the continent to make it, agriculture must lead the way. So we need to refocus,” he noted. Highlighting what ought to be done to improve productivity, Grant said there was the need to invest and mechanise agriculture, boost irrigation, help farmers to adopt more scientific, reliable ways of farming as well as implementing policies which affect the sector.


He indicated that the government is putting in place a national addressing system “that relies on digital mapping through searchlight such that every square meter in this country has a digital address. That will enable proper mapping and proper use of lands and try and separate ownership from usage.” Grant however expressed happiness over the level of investment, as he asserted that it will boost the confidence of farmers.

“Many finance people think agriculture is the most difficult place to finance. Yes, it is. If there are no necessary interventions to make it scientific and therefore predictable, then it’s difficult. But if you can do the other inputs, then financing agriculture is not as difficult as it should be,” he said.

Source: ghanaweb.com

Government to Mobilise to Close Infrastructure Gap – Veep

Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has said government would mobilise domestic and regional resources to close the infrastructure gap and other national needs in view of the dwindling overseas development aid to Ghana. He said sourcing international aid had become volatile because taxpayers of development partners had become apprehensive to continuing providing aid to the country and other African countries. Vice President Bawumia said this in a keynote address delivered at the “Ghana beyond Aid” Conference organised by the Embassies of Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway, in partnership with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ghana Investment Promotion Centre in Accra.

He therefore urged Ghana and other African countries to instead pursue trade and partnerships as well as leveraging the resources of the private sector to accelerate economic growth. Ghana beyond aid, the Vice President explained meant mobilising and leveraging domestic resources and revenues and transparently expanding financial inclusion, public services and private financing through local markets and currencies for development.

“It means investing in people and building the capacity of the next generation including access to quality education, training and jobs and building their overall capacity for innovation and knowledge, encouraging entrepreneurship, businesses, investing in infrastructure as basis for future productivity and public-private partnerships as well as building connectivity for data to share information,” he said. The forum is aimed at leveraging the private sector and entrepreneurship as the main engines for economic growth.

It also aims at assessing the commitment of the government and other development partners, to move from “aid to trade”, examine lessons learnt from private sector partnerships and future steps that should be taken towards moving Ghana beyond aid and thus, make the country the most business-friendly nation in Africa. Vice President Bawumia said government, this year, had rolled out policy interventions to enhance financial inclusion of the national economy, improved macroeconomic stability and fiscal discipline and debt sustainability in view of the lack of fiscal space for borrowing.

He noted that government was investing in physical and digital infrastructure such as the National Digital Addressing System, National Identification System and Interoperability of the payment system, as well as ensuring electronic procurement and paperless port processes. This, he said, would ensure reliable data for both government and private institutions, improve public service delivery and enhance government’s revenue mobilisation drive.

The Vice President said, under the “Planting for Food and Jobs” initiative, the government would enhance the country’s agricultural production capacity with quality seedling, fertilizers and mechanised infrastructure for the country to reduce its food importation estimated at two billion dollars a year. Touching on the country’s industrialisation drive, Vice President Bawumia said, it was time the country added value to its agricultural produce through agro-processing and indicated that, Ghana was collaborating with La Cote d’Ivoire, the two largest producers of the world’s cocoa beans, in order to maximise profit.

He said government would set up a Bauxite Development Authority that would facilitate the establishment of an Aluminium Refinery to process about 900 million metric tonnes of its bauxite reserves, adding that, Ghana stood the chance of raking-in about $450 billion dollars from it. For the industrialisation agenda to succeed, he said, there was the need for available and affordable energy and gave the assurance that government was on course in achieving that objective.

On corruption, Dr Bawumia said the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo led government was determined to improving transparency in public procurement processes and all the ministries, department and agencies as well as metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies were being enrolled onto an electronic platform, in order to avoid waste of public funds. The system, he said would also ensure value for money in implementing government projects. He noted that the Free Senior High School Policy was one of the objectives of government to build the human resource capacity and urged all stakeholders to support the government initiatives to accelerate national development.

The Denmark Ambassador to Ghana, Ms. Tove Degnbol, who presented a document containing the 25 years of bilateral co-operation with Ghana to the Vice President, assured her country’s commitment to support Ghana’s efforts towards industrialisation, exploring investment opportunities and poverty alleviation.

 Source: ghananewsagency.org

President Courts Caribbean Investors

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Tuesday, assured the business community of the security of their investments in Ghana, and asked the private sector to harness the opportunities inherent in the business climate. He said with his Administration’s policies geared towards facilitating business and industrial growth, and positioning Ghana as the most business and people-friendly economy on the continent, a formidable public-private partnership was the most viable way of building a competitive economy.

This transformed economy, he said, would drive sustained growth and prosperity for Ghanaians. Addressing a Caribbean Trade Mission, which called on him at the Flagstaff House, in Accra, he said: “We are trying to build a strong economy with a strong emphasis on the private sector that can help us deliver a divinities standard of living for the mass of our people. The Trade Mission is in Ghana to participate in the three-day Trade Summit that runs from September 26 to September 28, 2017.

The Summit, aimed at facilitating and deepening trade links between Ghana and the Caribbean, is under the theme: “Promoting Trade and Investment- Ghana and the Caribbean”. President Akufo-Addo said his Government was focused on creating a stable and competitive fiscal regime to make Ghanaian businesses competitive, strengthening the private sector to ensure it played a major role in the rapid development of Ghana and instituting the required policy framework to facilitate the structural transformation of the country.

“And in this scenario we think that there are two things that are critical. Firstly, strengthening[G1]  the private sector by creating a micro economy that is stable with low interest rates, low rate of inflation, stable currency and a competitive fiscal regime that will enable Ghanaian enterprises and those operating from here to be competitive within Ghana, competitive within West Africa and within the world,” he added. “And then secondly putting in place a policy framework that will enable us to facilitate a structural transformation of our economy,” he stated.

President Akufo-Addo expressed his resolve to ensure that Ghana obtained optimum benefits from its rich natural through value-addition, saying that Ghana had no future continuing the export of raw materials. He said that resolving the country’s infrastructural deficit and achieving the long-term development plan of the country called for value addition and an increase in the literacy rate in Ghana. The implementation of the Free Senior High School by his Government, he said, would afford every Ghanaian the opportunity to attain at least high school education fully funded by the state.

“We are making a bold attempt to make sure that everybody in Ghana can have access to education at least to the level of secondary school.” President Akufo-Addo also stated that his Government’s commitment to clearing the outstanding debts of the National Health Insurance Scheme [G2] to enable that critical social intervention to function effectively. The Government, he said, had settled about GH¢560 million out of the total GH¢1.2 billion debt it owed the scheme, assuring that within the next twelve months, the outstanding balance would be cleared to make way for the smooth operation of the scheme.

Mr Anthony Jordan, the Acting Managing Director of HFC Bank, who led the delegation, commended the President for his commitment to ensuring a friendly business environment. He said the Trade Mission was committed to the Government’s agenda for rapid development of the Ghana. “Our main objective is to support your agenda of a private sector driven economy by using our presence both in the Caribbean and in Ghana to facilitate long-term trade and investments,” he said, noting that the business summit in Ghana offered a unique opportunity to expose investment avenues for Caribbean business people.

 Source: ghananewsagency.org

Ghana to Benefit from US$60 Billion Chinese Fund for Africa… Signs New Agreement with China

Ghana and China have signed a new agreement under the Joint Commission on Economic, Trade and Technical Cooperation to enable Ghana benefit from a US$60 billion Chinese support for Africa. Per the agreement, Ghana will receive financial support for the development of sectors including power, transport, telecommunications, education and municipal construction.

It will also pave way for Chinese enterprises to invest deeply in government’s industrialization process including the implementation of the “One District One Factory policy”. The Joint Commission on Economic, Trade and Technical Cooperation is a medium term Development Assistance Agreement, expected to be signed every four years between the two countries to ensure economic cooperation.

The two countries, represented by Ghana’s Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta and the Vice Minister of Commerce of the Republic of China, Mr. Qian Keming signed the Minutes of the Fourth Session of the Joint Commission in Accra, for their respective countries, after discussing the modalities. The discussions was mainly centred on bilateral trade, investment, financing, and development assistance cooperation with regards to grants and concessional loan financing, regional aviation cooperation, and human resource training.


Ofori Atta expressed satisfaction after signing the agreement saying that, “infrastructure and industrialization are very critical to us and they are sectors we can collaborate in very well. And therefore we are looking at a new paradigm where we can encourage private sector Chinese companies to come in here and collaborate.” Qiang also reiterated his government’s commitment to supporting African economies, particularly Ghana. Ghanaian delegations have been invited to China to participate in an international Import Exposition in 2018.

The delegations will also partake in other trade promotion activities, to advertise Ghanaian products such as Cocoa, Cashew, Starch, and Shea-butter on the Chinese market to encourage further imports from Ghana by Chinese enterprises.

 Source: goldstreetbusiness.com

Tax Exemptions Policy Reversed – Huge Relief For Businesses

The Ministry of Finance has reversed the tax exemption policy that required exempted companies to pay import duties and later request a refund. This action follows persistent backlash from members of the business community who described the earlier action of the ministry as disturbing.The ministry had explained that the policy, which was introduced in April 2017, was to help check abuses in the tax exemption system and sanitise it.

However, five months after its introduction, the ministry has reversed it after concerns of its illegality and the strains that it put on the working capital of the exempted companies. The Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Kwaku Kwarteng, at a press conference in Accra said the ministry was conscious of the fact that many genuine exemption holders had very legitimate concerns about being asked to provisionally pay import duties and taxes for which they are exempted as it posed avoidable cash flow burdens on their finances.

“In our recent consultations with stakeholders, we have better understood the weaknesses in our exemptions regime, and we are in a better position to deal with the shortcomings in ways that pose less cost to genuine businesses and exemption holders,” he stated. “As such, government has decided to discontinue the requirement for exemption holders to provisionally pay the import duty and taxes upfront and apply for a refund later,” he added.

Per the status quo, he said the following documentation should be attached to the application for the exemption: The basis for the exemption (that is by which law, or by which parliamentary resolution?), recommendation letter from the relevant sector ministry or agency, Customs Classification and Valuation Report (CCVR) or Customs. Declaration Form, Import Declaration Form/eMDA, Tax Clearance Certificate (bearing the Tax Identification Number) and Bill of Lading or Airway Bills.

Others include commercial invoices, packing list, tax exemption assessment report (where required) and other supporting documents for special cases.

Increased revenue

Despite the reversal of the policy, Mr Kwaku Kwarteng said the policy had yielded positive results, with revenue from import duties rising steadily. Reports from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) said for instance that GH¢7.22 million was received as import duty in the first eight months of the year, an increase over the GH¢5.95 million recorded during the same period in 2016.

Total tax exemption recorded in the first eight months of 2017 also amounted to GH¢1.22 million, representing 11 per cent of the total import duty collected within the period.

New measures

The deputy minister, however, pointed out that the government now appreciated the weaknesses in the tax exemption regime and had introduced new measures that would better deal with the shortcomings.He said exemption status would now not be transferrable and under no circumstance should any person or business be exempted from the payment of any import duty or import tax by virtue of its association or relationship with an exemption holder.

He added that no imported goods would also be exempted from the payment of import duties and taxes unless the original importer of the goods, as stated on the bill of lading or customs declaration, was an exemption holder or the goods were generally exempted from import duties and taxes by law. He stated that “these and many other measures that are all geared towards strengthening the country’s tax exemption regime will take effect from October 1, this year.”

Background

In the 2017 Budget Statement And Economic Policy, the government committed to a comprehensive review and reform of the import duty exemptions regime and tax reliefs, with a view to eliminating abuses and improving efficiency in the application of those incentives.

As an interim arrangement, and to facilitate the reforms, the Ministry of Finance instituted an administrative measure that required exemption holders to pay in advance all applicable import duties and taxes and apply for a refund with supporting evidence. This administrative measure took effect from April 1, 2017. However, some tax experts and industry players raised concerns about the illegality of the policy as they said it was an affront to Article 174 of the 1992 constitution and also posed cash flow challenges to exempted companies.

Source: graphic.com.gh

Mexico, Ghana Strengthen Bilateral Relations – Ambassador Arriola Aguiire

The Mexican Embassy in Accra is celebrating 207 years of the beginning of the independence of Mexico today, with an assurance that bilateral relationship with Ghana is strengthening.In just 29 months, since the re-opening of the embassy in Ghana, 10 business missions, made up of six from Mexico to Ghana and four from Ghana to Mexico, have taken place.

Bilateral trade started expanding to include new goods, while Mexican companies have shown interest in investing in Ghana, the Mexican Ambassador to Ghana, Mrs María De Los Ángeles Arriola Aguirre, said that in an exclusive interview on the celebrations with the Daily Graphic, at her office in Accra yesterday. She was happy to announce that the Ghana-Mexico Business and Cultural Chamber had been formally launched and attributed that to the keen vision and efforts of both Mexico and Ghana to deepen their economic relations.

From Friday, September 15 till Sunday, September 17, the ambassador announced that the Labadi Beach Hotel would host the Second Mexican Food Festival with the presence of the young and successful Chef Diego Isunza, and the performance by Mariachi Sol de America.She said, “As you all know, Mexican cuisine and mariachi music have been declared an intangible heritage to humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

During the last week of this month, she said, the embassy would host the Third Mexican Film festival at the Goethe Institute.
Mexico, she disclosed, had also been declared by the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), as the eighth world main tourist destination in 2016, for receiving 35 million visitors from all over the world.

“Thanks to effective policies to promote tourism together with our rich diversity, characterised by the variety of climates, natural resources, beaches, historic, anthropologic and colonial cities, wonderful music, excellent food and our warm and friendly people, which all combined makes Mexico a great and unique destination,” she stated. ‘We hope that soon, more people living in Ghana will feel attracted to visit our country and enjoy the magic of Mexico,” she added.

Mrs Arriola Aguirre pointed out that another step forward was the South-South bilateral cooperation in the educational field.She expressed the hope that as a result of the visit to Mexico by the University of Ghana, educational cooperation in areas of common interest such as academic exchanges, scholarships, research and technical collaboration will soon be established.

Every year, she noted, Ghanaian diplomats benefit from the academic programs offered by the Diplomatic School of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as members of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Bank of Ghana (BoG) from capacity building courses offered by the Mexican Ministry of Finance. She said Ghanaian students could also benefit from the 2018 and subsequent editions of Mexico’s Scholarship Program and said she hoped to personally have the opportunity to sign their visas.

Mexico Business Summit

Ambassador Arriola Aguirre announced that Ghana’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Alan Kyerematen, would be heading a Ghanaian business delegation to participate in the 15th Edition of the Mexico Business Summit, the top-rated business forum in Latin America, which comes off next month.Under the theme “Defining Mexico’s Options” the summit will analyse the priorities for Mexico in the current international arena.

The annual summit will bring together leading business executives and investors from North America, Latin America, Asia and Europe. “This prestigious private sector summit,” the ambassador noted, “is strongly supported by the Mexican government.” In preparation for the Mexico Business Summit, the embassy yesterday organised a forum in Accra, which provided the opportunity for interested business executives/ investors in different areas to have some interaction with the Mexican Ambassador and Mr Kyerematen.

The business encounter provided the platform to explain the procedures involved in participating in the summit from the registration level through travel arrangements and the summit itself.

207th Independence Day

Ambassador Aguirre explained: “Mexico’s Independence Day (Día de la Independencia) is a Mexican holiday to celebrate the “Cry of Independence” that took place in September 1810, which started a revolt against the Spaniards.”

She said this followed the day of the Cry of Dolores (El Grito de Dolores).The day itself, she noted, which emphasises the unity of the Mexican people, would, therefore, celebrate the day Miguel Hidalgo was believed to have made the Cry of Independence/ the Cry of Dolores (El Grito de la Independencia) in the town of Dolores, in the north-central part of the Mexican state of Guanajuato.Hidalgo was one of the nation’s leaders during the War of Independence in Mexico.

There is no scholarly agreement on exactly what was said by Hidalgo, but his speech, also known as El Grito de Dolores, was made on September 16, 1810 to motivate people to revolt against the Spanish regime.Hidalgo’s army fought against the Spanish soldiers in the fight for independence, but he was captured and executed on July 30, 1811.This year’s celebration, which as usual will demonstrate Mexican food and music worldwide, will also include fireworks, parties (fiestas) and dance.Flags, flowers and decorations in the colours of the Mexican flag red, white and green, will be seen in public areas in cities and towns in Mexico.

Whistles and horns are expected to be blown and confetti thrown to celebrate the festive occasion. “Viva Mexico” or “Viva la independencia” will be shouted amid the crowds during the celebration.

Source: graphic.com.gh

GIPC Signs MoU With Oxford Business Group

The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Oxford Business Group (OBG) for its forthcoming publication dubbed: “The Report: Ghana 2018”. Under the MoU, GIPC, a longstanding partner of OBG, would contribute to the Group’s research for the publication.

A statement from OBG and copied to the Ghana News Agency said the forthcoming report would chart Ghana’s efforts at enhancing its investment environment through a raft of incentives and reforms.

The statement noted that the publication would explore the Government’s bid to promote industrialisation, especially in the manufacturing sector, where a drive to boost capacity is under way.

Mr Yofi Grant, the Chief Executive Officer of GIPC, said the Centre was working to improve Ghana’s competitiveness and business climate, both independently and within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), by benchmarking it against international best practices.

In addition to pursuing macroeconomic stability, he said Ghana was also repositioning to be an economic hub for West Africa.

“One of Ghana’s primary goals in attracting investment is stimulating value addition in multiple sectors which, in turn, will produce a number of benefits, ranging from increased employment to capital accumulation.

“I look forward to exploring these and other developments that are helping to drive Ghana’s economy forward and once again sharing our findings with Oxford Business Group’s team,” Mr Grant added.

Ms Shadeh Van Esch, OBG’s Country Director, said she was confident that GIPC’s input would give investors a valuable understanding of emerging opportunities across all sectors, and improve the country’s business climate.

“Ghana’s efforts to facilitate investment are beginning to yield results, with the country ranking top among the West African nations for doing business, according to the 2017 Ease of Doing Business Report,” she said.

“GIPC plays a pivotal part in encouraging, promoting and facilitating inflows into the country, working to create an attractive incentive framework for businesses.

I am delighted that our team will once again benefit from the centre’s insight as we begin work on this important report,” Ms Van Esch noted.       

Other issues to be analysed include Ghana’s plans to leverage new technology and bolster connectivity as a means of heightening business activity.

OBG is a global research and consultancy company with a presence in over 35 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas.

Source: ghananewsagency.org