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MAY 2015 / ISSUE 048 GH¢10.00
MTN:
ECOWA @ 40: S Is Visi o realisan 2020 ble?
USA..........................................$5.00 UNITED KINGDOM.....................£3.00 EUROPE....................................€3.50 AUSTRALIA.............................AS5.00 CFA ZONE...........................CFA 2,000 OTHER AFRICAN COUNTRIES.US$4.00
the first accredited
Investor in People
THE FIRST BUSINESS READ IN GHANA
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CONTENTS ISSUE 048 / MAY 2015
24 Science & Technology
Nanotechnology has the potential to enhance Ghana’s environmental protection, medical treatment and general scientific research while boosting industrial competitiveness.
32 Cover
Amma Benneh Amponsah, MTN Human Resource Executive
6
Briefs
Summaries of business and financial news that occurred in Ghana, Africa and the rest of the world.
10 Economy
Investor confidence and macroeconomic gains from Ghana implementing the IMF’s austerity measures come at the cost of unemployment, job cuts and a freeze on public sector recruitment. Avoiding high indebtedness will help the economy.
14 Trade
The current sprouting up of shopping malls in Ghana means the middle class has the purchasing power to patronise their wares. But the nine shopping malls are in Accra only. What accounts for the malls revolution?
18 Agriculture
MTN Ghana’s achievements have been recognised with local and international awards. MTN received the prestigious Investors in People (IiP) standard accreditation last September, the first company in Ghana to be accredited. The IiP is motivating the telecoms market leader to do more.
36 Tourism
The establishment of a Culture Trust Fund as mooted in the Ghana Cultural Policy is indispensible for the promotion of tourism. The Trust Fund will be used to support the development of culture and the creative arts.
39 Industry
Twenty-five entrepreneurs in Ghana made a red carpet entry into the ground-breaking “Hall of Fame” in recognition of their contributions and services toward economic growth, and the development of the private sector.
40 Integration
After 40 years, ECOWAS is still struggling to achieve the main goals that its founding fathers set,
magazine did on the Ghana-Cote d’Ivoire oil boundary dispute, calling for an amicable resolution of the disagreement. That was before the recent ruling by the international tribunal.
44 Business & Management
Find out the five key reasons why entrepreneurs do business and relate them to why Ghanaian businesses are likely to die in the lifetime of their founders.
46 Automobile
It is advisable for everyone to analyse his/her standard of living before buying his /her dream car.
48 Outlook
Conflict-ridden urban sprawl is increasingly becoming a source of fragility that will shape future humanitarian response. A toxic mix of poverty, natural disaster, climate change and conflict is threatening the survival of the world’s most vulnerable people.
50 Perspectives
Gross domestic product (GDP) has been used as a measure of the economic wellbeing of countries for over a century. But the vision of discerning innovators is for the Social Progress Index, a new holistic framework of reference, to complement or replace GDP. Know where, when and how to attend conferences of your choice.
57 Stats & Indices
Figures speak louder than words for the economy.
22 Insurance
58 Commodities Agriculture: Page 18
Find us online at www.ghanabizfinance.com All information contained within this magazine is the property of Ghana Business & Finance and is not to be used without written authorisation from the publishers. Although every effort is made to ensure the correctness of information submitted for publication, the magazine may inadvertently contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Ghana Business & Finance assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in this publication or other documents that are referenced by or linked to this publication.
MAY 2015
43 GB&F recalls the analysis the
56 Events
The main debate over GMOs is whether or not they are farmer-friendly and safe for local consumption, and should therefore be allowed into Ghana’s market. As the SIC Insurance Company management case awaits determination in court, the verdict will have a big impact on good corporate governance.
albeit some achievements have been made.
Find the prices of agricultural produce in selected local markets, as researched and compiled by Esoko.
linkedin.com/GhanaBusiness&Finance facebook.com/GBandF @ghana_business
GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE
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General Manager Josiah Spio-Garbrah jspiogarbrah@ghanabizfinance.com +233 264 510 396 Editor Ayuureyisiya Kapini Atafori editor@ghanabizfinance.com Senior Staff Writer Kweku Darko Ankrah kdankrah@ghanabizfinance.com Columnist Jerry Halm Dr Nana Ama Browne Klutse Contributors Martin Luther C. King Oppong Baah Anthony Sedzro Kennedy Addai Kuffour Design & Production Manager Benjamin Tetteh btetteh@ghanabizfinance.com Circulation & Subscription Jeffrey Dapaah subscription@ghanabizfinance.com Editorial Committee Prof. Paul N. Buatsi Prof. Kwame Addo Ms Johanna Awotwi Mr Gaddy Laryea Mr Ray de Bono Mr Nana Robert Mensah Mr Frederick Alipui Ms Dede-Esi Amanor-Wilks Ms Nana Spio-Garbrah Office Location Ghana Business & Finance African Business Media House No. 7 Lamb Street (off Farrar Avenue) Adabraka, Accra, Ghana Mailing Address P. O. Box O 772, Osu, Accra, Ghana Tel: +233 302 240 786 Fax: +233 302 240 783 info@ghanabizfinance.com Brand Advisor Dmax Studios in Malta, EU. (www.dmax.tv) Credits
GNA myjoyonline Daily Graphic Bloomberg radioxyzonline.com citifmonline Mergermarket Group Corporate Council on Africa ghanabusinessnews.com
Ghana Business & Finance magazine is published by
“Efforts aimed at realising a truly workable union in the West African sub-region are still a matter of concern to governments and persons in the subregion. The Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) will be 40 on May 28, but a comprehensive execution of the ECOWAS treaty of 1975 and how that translates to better life for people is still work in progress, far from what it ought to be,” observes Alabi Williams, an assistant political editor of The Guardian, a Nigerian newspapers. This assessment of ECOWAS is not far from the truth. Though ECOWAS can boast of some achievements, the contemporary challenges it has to overcome seem intractable. The full political and economic integration of West African states will solve most of the myriad setbacks that dither ECOWAS. Regional integration has many advantages which have been articulated in the first part of an article on ECOWAS @ 40 published in Page 40 of GB&F. For decades, the concept of the state, which is sometimes synonymous with the ruling government, was accepted as de facto in Africa after decolonisation. The modern Westphalian-originated state, which controls all activities within a specified geographical area, appears to have crippled ECOWAS. The leaders of Member States, whether civilian or military, had always affected the direction of ECOWAS to suit their whims and caprices by virtue of them wielding political power. In ECOWAS of states, the leaders have their ways, while the people are unable to have their say. The state became an instrument which the leaders and their cohorts used to gratify themselves. A states-led ECOWAS could not deliver to the millions of peoples in the Community the goals that the organisation originally set out to achieve. Movement of ECOWAS citizens, though improving, has not been all that free; and the circulation of goods and services has similarly been restricted within the region. For almost four decades, ECOWAS has not achieved a common currency, free trade area, common market, community passport, common trade, industrial and agricultural policies and other objectives stated in the Treaty that set it up in Lagos, Nigeria. After operating a state-centric ECOWAS for decades without fully getting the goals set by the founding fathers, the concept of an ECOWAS led by the peoples of Member States was conceived. ECOWAS of states is supposed to be displaced by ECOWAS of peoples which is inscribed in the ECOWAS Vision 2020 whose overarching theme is: ‘Towards A Prosperous And Democratic Community.’ The group’s long-term development strategy aims “To create a borderless, peaceful, prosperous and cohesive region, built on good governance and where people have the capacity to access or harness resources through the creation of opportunities for sustainable development and environmental preservation.” The ECOWAS Commission is operationalising the five main themes of Vision 2020 to attain its major objective of faster and broader regional integration. The planks of Vision 2020 are regional resources development, peace and security, governance, economic and monetary integration and the private sector. Relying on Vision 2020, the Commission has been working with civil society and the private sector to make an ECOWAS of peoples materialise. The West African Civil Society Forum (WACSOF) is the official interface for the regional civil society with the ECOWAS Commission in promoting regional development through integration. The WACSOF’s purpose is to galvanise civil society and facilitate constructive partnership with state authorities, political parties and ECOWAS. The Commission is implementing a project in partnership with WACSOF and the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) to boost political renewal and deepen democracy. But studies conducted by WACSI in 2008 and 2014 identified some challenges that deter WACSOF from achieving its mandate to facilitate civil society in addressing regional development priorities and challenges. According to Vision 2020, the integration of the region depends on a vibrant regional oriented private sector, driven by a strong regional body (ECOWAS Business Council) which is created as an initiative of the business community. This Council has not been formed. The activities of the regional private sector have been constrained by non-implementation of the core areas of the Treaty, especially the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme and industrial policy. With a struggling regional civil society and a weak private sector, can ECOWAS of peoples do better than ECOWAS of states? Given the present state of ECOWAS, for the former to out-perform the latter may be far-fetched. And the year 2020 may come and go without the objectives of Vision 2020 being attained. By then, ECOWAS may have to produce another lofty strategy to fast-track effective economic and political integration. But before that, the peoples in the region must do all in their power to make ECOWAS what it ought to be: a holistically integrated borderless Community.
Ayuureyisiya Kapini Atafori Editor (+233 024 2385374)
MAY 2015
Letters to the Editor send your letters to the editor at
editor@ghanabizfinance.com GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE
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EDITOR’S SUITE
ECOWAS of states failed; what about ECOWAS of peoples?
TRADE
Shopping malls revolution rocks Ghana (I) BY KWEKU DARKO ANKRAH
Shopping centres have existed in some forms for over 1,000 years as ancient market squares, bazaars and seaport commercial districts. In the West, shopping malls started in the early 1915s. The modern shopping centre, which includes everything from small sub-urban strip centres to the million-square-foot super-regional mall, had its genesis in the 1920s. From then, some of the largest and most innovative retail-led regeneration projects have redrawn the developed countries’ hierarchy of major cities and towns. They multiplied in the West and swept across the rest of the world. They are now bigger, shinier and busier.
W
est Africa accounts for just 12 per cent of shopping centres in Africa, excluding South Africa, according to a Sagaci (market intelligence company) report. In West Africa, Ghana is leading in the business, with about seven shopping malls already constructed and operating while two are under construction. Freshly-opened West Hills Mall in Accra is the largest shopping mall in West Africa. Last month, SIC-Life, the largest and most reputable insurance company in Ghana, inaugurated its ultra-modern SIC-Life Mall in central Accra. The shopping edifice has 76 shops, seven offices, three banking halls, one restaurant, two open roof-top terraces, 11 basement storage areas, a CCTV room with 75 cameras and an underground car park. With the opening of shopping malls, jobs have been created; further investments have been triggered; new destinations have been established; and visitor numbers and local spending have been growing. But what are the long-term impacts of these shopping malls? Can they be sustained and compete with other emerging sales
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brands? With some of these shopping malls like Accra Mall heading towards a decade of operations, have they delivered the initial promise? What can their performance tell about their future? Globally, shopping malls have become an integral part of the economic and social fabric of communities in most countries. They have raked in huge sums of revenue and have made billionaires out of investors. According to an International Council of Shopping Centres (ICSC) 2014 report on the worldwide shopping centre industry, in 2013, shopping centre-inclined sales reached US$2.5 trillion, an increase of 2.6 per cent from the previous year. In 2012, tax revenues in state sales in the United States (US) from shopping centre-inclined sales totalled US$137.6 billion, up from the US$131.6 billion in 2011. In the US, malls posted their highest sales of US$575 per square foot in 2013. Consumers visited malls 3.4 times on average per month. Shopping centre-related employment accounted for 12,476,750 jobs in 2013, nearly 9.2 per cent of the US’s workforce. This figure represents an increase of 1.2 per cent in 2012. At year-end 2013,
GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE
there were 114,485 shopping centres, up from 114,258 the previous year, containing 7.49 billion square feet of gross leasable area in the US.
Investment management
On the global construction of retail properties and shopping malls, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), a Chicago-based international financial and professional services firm which specialises in commercial real estate services and investment management, made an interesting disclosure. In its 2012 research paper, ‘Redefining Retail Investment Global Real Estate Futures,’ JLL noted that based on current economic and shopping centre stock growth forecasts, annual investment volumes of retail property are expected to rise to between US$160 and US$180 billion by 2020, representing a 30 to 50 per cent uplift on current levels. JLL further found that cross-border activity
MAY 2015
AGRICULTURE
Can GMOs really ensure food security? BY OPPONG BAAH
“Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world.” - Henry Kissinger
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GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE
MAY 2015
INSURANCE
The SIC case poses corporate governance challenges BY ANTHONY SEDZRO
The SIC Insurance Company Limited has been in the news for the past few months for a number of reasons. In January, Mr Musa Abdulai, the Deputy Managing Director (Finance and Administration) of SIC Insurance, was interdicted on allegations of misuse of the company’s funds. The same month, Mrs Doris Awo Nkani, the Managing Director of SIC, was suspended and later sacked for alleged involvement in misapplication of funds.
T
he dismissal of Mrs Nkani was on the advice of the Board of Directors. The revelations of corporate and financial mismanagement in the media sent affairs in SIC to the nadir. The incident involved a credit guarantee bond transaction that led SIC to lose huge sums of money. Mrs Nkani was alleged to be responsible for overseeing two major scandals which bruised the image and financial status of SIC, a Ghana Stock Exchange-registered company. She was replaced by her junior, Kwei Mensah Ashidam, Deputy Managing Director (Technical), who is now in an acting capacity. The scandals in SIC, and a few others in the past involving
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Ghanaian firms, raise serious corporate governance issues. Business & Financial Times (B&FT) revealed that a private company - ITAL - a wholly-owned indigenous real estate company, secured a US$200 million government of Ghana contract to provide affordable housing for workers. According to the Accrabased newspaper, ITAL was chosen as the most price-competitive bidder to execute the project. ITAL, on securing the contract, contacted Ivory Finance, which in turn, asked for a credit guarantee bond from an insurance company before it would advance the credit facility to the developer. The real estate company then approached SIC for the credit guarantee bond, which was granted and issued on March 28, 2013 for six months.
GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE
The grant was issued in spite of the advice by the board of SIC, the biggest insurance company in the country, to Mrs Nkani not to issue guarantees for loans. She oversaw and underwrote the credit guarantee bond without the approval of the board, thus acting unilaterally. ITAL defaulted in the loan repayment to the creditor, Ivory Finance, and the latter called on SIC to redeem the guarantee. Ivory Finance went to court to secure a Garnishee order (a freeze on bank accounts) against SIC. The court directed SIC to pay GHC138 million to Ivory Finance as full settlement of the loan up to date. In company law, under normal circumstances a limited liability company (which SIC is) is an artificial person which is separate and distinct
MAY 2015
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Nanotechnology and its applications: A lesson for Ghana BY NANA AMA BROWNE KLUTSE (Ph.D) & CHARLES KOFI KLUTSE (Ph.D)
The field of nanotechnology is rapidly growing and taking a central role in modern research across all other science fields. This is because nanomaterials have been proven to be ideal and effective for a wide range of applications, including medicine, space science, manufacturing of consumer products and others. This article gives a brief general idea of nanotechnology, its evolution, applications and position in research in Ghana.
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GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE
MAY 2015
ADVERTORIAL
ABL expands to boost production Accra Brewery Limited (ABL), Ghana’s oldest and leading producer of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, has inaugurated the first phase of its ultra-modern expansion project. The US$100 million ground-breaking project is expected to double the company’s production capacity, ensure true satisfaction to its customers and consumers. The project also serves as a catalyst for growth and stimulates increased utilisation of key Ghanaian raw materials such as whole maize, maize grits, cassava, rice and sorghum.
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he expansion project will position ABL well to double its production capacity in a most environmentally friendly and energy efficient way by deploying production processes that set the benchmark in the use of locally-grown maize, cassava, rice and sorghum. The special, colourful inaugural ceremony, which took place
at the premises of ABL in Accra on February 27, 2015, saw an impressive attendance of top-notch public officials, important traditional rulers, high-ranking Members of Parliament, industry players and several other dignitaries. They included Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Minister for Trade and Industry, who stood in for President John Dramani Mahama, Mrs Mona
Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah and other dignitaries being led by Anthony Grendon, MD of ABL on a tour of ABL’s new plant
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GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE
Quartey, Deputy Minister for Finance, Mr Nii Djangmah Vanderpuye, Deputy Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Dodoo Nsaki II, Acting President of the Ga Traditional Council, Hon. Amadu Sorogho, Chair of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism, Hon. James Avedzi, Chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, and others.
President’s visit
The President, John Dramani Mahama, paid a familiarisation visit to ABL on March 20, 2015 to inspect the newly inaugurated plant. He expressed delight at the transformation that the brewery had undergone since his last visit to the brewery in 2012. President Mahama also commended ABL for using indigenous raw materials. The first phase of the ABL’s expansion project involves installation of two new state-of-the-art packaging lines; warehouse with hard-stand and loading bay; material storage areas; technical offices and laboratories; two MAY 2015
Resolve Ghana - Ivorian boundary dispute amicably Before the ruling on April 25 by the Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) that Ghana can continue developing the US$4.9 billion offshore Tweneboah, Enyenra and Ntomme (TEN) fields, the November 2014 edition of GB&F published an analysis of the border dispute between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire over oil. GB&F further run an editorial on the disputation over which of the two West African neighbours really owns the oil-rich location.
The ITLOS’ ruling came after Cote d’Ivoire in February asked the Tribunal to issue a freezer on exploration and exploitation of the disputed area while the case continued. The court is expected to give its final judgement in 2017. GB&F’s position was, and still is, that there cannot be any real winner in the matter before the Tribunal. “The worrying implication is how the loser in the ongoing dispute will handle the lost. In the fraternal fracas, however, there is no loser or winner,” the award-winning magazine reported. GB&F believes the dispute should be resolved amicably in the spirit of peaceful co-existence enshrined in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Treaty, which both countries are Member States. GB&F earlier rendered the genesis of the dispute thus: “The 2013 announcement by France’s Total that it had struck oil on a block off Cote d’Ivoire adjacent Ghana’s Jubilee field was the beginning of the present dispute between the two nations. “The Ivorians then claimed parts of the field. On 23 September, Ghanaian officials filed a suit at the UN Law MAY 2015
of the Sea tribunal after 10 bilateral meetings failed to resolve the issue. Ivorian authorities had sent threatening letters to the operators of the Jubilee field to stop drilling oil. “In 2010, Cote d’Ivoire petitioned the UN to complete the demarcation of the Ivorian maritime boundary with Ghana. This occurred just days after the American exploration firm Vanco discovered oil in the Dzata-1 deepwater well … The Ghanaian authorities responded by passing the Ghana Boundary Commission Bill, establishing a commission with the purpose of undertaking negotiations in order to determine the country’s land and maritime boundaries. The boundary commission ultimately held a meeting with an Ivorian delegation led by Désiré Tagro, the Interior Minister.” The reportage went on: “… the presidents of the two countries did meet at the Presidential Palace in Abidjan on 15 July 2010 and discussed the boundary dispute, amongst other bilateral issues … Both countries have, however, expressed a desire to peacefully solve the dispute. The neighboring countries had previously submitted routine documents to the
UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in April–May 2009. Both countries’ submissions mentioned that neither has signed any maritime boundary delimitation agreements with any of its neighbouring states. “Incidentally, the recurring border dispute between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire once more brings to the fore the growing insecurity at the common maritime boundary of a number of West African states and the need for more effective collaboration between affected states for mutuallybeneficial solutions that would be salutary to integration efforts in the subregion.” The article continued: “Interestingly, when an educated Nzema from Ghana who has employable skills and is proficient in French crosses the border, he is called an Appollonian. He/ she easily fits in as an Ivorian citizen. The same goes for an Ivorian Nzema who has skills and communicates effectively in English. He/she is also tagged Appollonian and mingles seamlessly. Yet the post-independence leaders of the two countries, Presidents Kwame Nkrumah and HouphouëtBoigny, were Cold War ideological rivals who supported dissidents of from their respective countries. “For Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, therefore, effective collaboration is the key to unknotting a thorny and recurring common maritime border problem. The final decisions of the international tribunals of arbitration which the two neighbors seek must be respected by both countries for peace and economic prosperity to prevail in the subregion.” In an editorial headlined ‘Resolve Ghana-Cote d’Ivoire oil border dispute with fraternal partnership,’ GB&F urged: “Presidents John Mahama and Alhassane Ouattara should apply mature diplomacy to resolve the dispute. The plea of the peoples of these ECOWAS neighbours to their leaders is that they should not allow narrow national interest considerations ruffle the warm relations existing between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.” GB&F proposed: “If coownership of the common boundary which contains oil and gas would help resolve the dispute, then the two countries should embrace it. After all, the destinies of both are intertwined. Thus, essentialistic humanism, not retributive legalism, should be the guiding principle of the countries.”
GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE
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INTEGRATION
Recalling GB&F November 2014 analysis:
AUTOMOBILE
What to do when buying a car BY ADNAN ADAMS MOHAMMED
Owning a car, to some extent, has its own weight of advantages and disadvantages which is very much dependent on the individual. Some prefer to own a car for prestigious reasons while others want it because of easy transportation to various destinations, and for comfort.
O
ther people see the ownership of an automobile to be an extra bag of cost they have to adjust to or get familiar with due to fuel and maintenance cost. Once you have acquired a driving licence, society has indirectly established a level playing ground that at some age in life, one is automatically expected to own a car. And we unconsciously abide by this expectation. Owning a car comes with its own privileges and detriments. It is advisable for every individual to check or analyse based on his/her standard of living before buying his/her first car. The following, in no particular order, are some important things to check as a first-time car buyer:
How much money you have
You have to be able to set a budget for the car you hope to buy. Having a wellplanned budget will guide you to spend a reasonable amount for your dream car and not over-spend. This can be achieved by knowing how much you
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are willing to spend on the car as well as the kind of car you can afford with the amount of money you have. To stress on this, the buyer should have his/her own budget to spend on his/her first car. That is to say that one should have a specific range or amount of money which he/ she is willing to pay for a car. This tip, therefore, defines the type or set of cars that can be made available to you by the seller. Based on what the buyer can afford, he/she is presented with a fleet of cars from which he/she is expected to choose from. Establishing a budget for your car does not just cover the initial car ownership price but also oversees its long-term welfare. This welfare has to do with fuel cost, insurance, mechanical maintenance cost (without warranty) and so on. These are issues or expenses that cannot be left unaddressed once a bold decision has been made to actually own a car. The buyer should determine his/her transportation needs. There is no point in buying what you do not
GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE
NEED just because you WANT it or just to show off. Let your standard of living define your needs. The cost of fuel and insurance policies alone will drain your monthly budget.
Consider the type of car
Buying the right car today could be a little bit tricky because there are so many factors you would have to consider. Cars are designed for various purposes and extraordinary circumstance. For instance, there is no way you will choose a Toyota Camry over a Toyota Sienna if you have a family of six. Another example will be buying a car which is not meant for long distance with the intention of using it for long trips.
Purpose of purchase
Knowing the reason why you want to buy a particular car is very important. Sometimes, people are carried away by the luxurious features that the car has like a good stereo which, for some reasons, should not be the sole purpose of wanting to purchase a car. A seller’s intention is to make you buy the car. Therefore, he/she will do everything necessary, like convince you how unique the alloy wheels are or how fast the car can run, to get you to buy the car. But you must keep a deep focus on what you really need. There is a big
MAY 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Social Progress Index:
Replacement for GDP measurement BY MARK ESPOSITO & TERENCE TSE
Measuring is part of mankind’s deepest need for knowledge. In ancient cultures measurements were taken of our solar system that have influenced our perception of time (Kisch, 1965), leaving us with advanced methods of interpretation of seasons, calendars, and time of the day, dictated by the movement of the earth around the sun.
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ore complex societies aspire to more complex instruments of measurement: for example, spatial measurements, which involved the establishment of common civic behavior (measurement of weight, length, size, width, distance, etc.,) led to measurements of aggregate nature. This has enabled us to do superior new things such as observing cause and effect over time, defining the size of the land, its value and the relationship to the owner of the property, all the way to commerce treaties, rules, and tariffs which have populated the literature on trade for the last couple of centuries. Constructivism and positivism, winning champions of social sciences through induction, emerge on the scientific platform as emblems of measurements through subjective agency (Cupchik, 2001). Coupled by the obsession of the numerically assessable, societies have also tried to come up with some sort of shared system, like an agreed convention, on what would have been the “norm” (Kisch, 1965). Every time we check the distance to the next exit on the freeway, we are using a unit of measure that dates back many centuries. It is our desire to operate within a
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common system of understanding, across cultures and generations, that determines why we want to measure and write about it. While common spatial and temporal systems were becoming the societal norm, it is within the foundations of economic thought that some of these insights become even clearer in their application and moved the idea of measurement to its next phase. For example, when we observe the 1920s in the United States (US), we are confronted with an increasingly significant presence of the economy as a big and influential protagonist. In 1919, America was trying to recover from the impact of the First World War, while defining a new international role for itself. It was still a relatively modest economy with an increasing manufacturing capacity and a growing working class, but most of its population was still concentrated outside of the big cities. Grounded around the node of the family, society was slowly converging into a new socioeconomic paradigm: urbanization (Davis, 2004). During the latter half of the 1920s, steel production, building construction, retail turnover, number of automobiles registered, even railway receipts advanced from record
GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE
to record. The combined net profits of 536 manufacturing and trading companies, for example, showed an increase of 36.6% in the first months of 1928 (Kendrick, 1961). Such figures set up a crescendo of stock-exchange speculation, which led hundreds of thousands of Americans to invest heavily in the market. A significant number of them were borrowing money to buy more stocks. By August 1929, brokers were routinely lending small investors more than two thirds
MAY 2015
COMMODITIES
Month ending April 2015
Wholesale Prices (GH¢)
Unit Weight Accra* Bawku Kumasi** Tamale Techiman Takoradi Dambai this month last month Avg% Change
Cassava(Fresh Tubers) Bag 91kg 45.00 N/A 27.00 80.00 36.00 70.00 33.00 48.50 48.88 -0.77 Cassava (Gari)
Bag 68kg 100.00 115.00 125.75 116.25 68.00 130.00 96.00 107.29 113.11 -5.15
Cowpea (White)
Bag 109kg 380.00 222.50 202.00 231.50 238.75 375.00 276.00 275.11 276.93
-0.66
Groundnut (shelled)
Bag 82kg 412.50 395.00 351.50 289.00 371.00 420.00 396.00 376.43 370.21
1.68
Maize (white, grain)
Bag
3.35
Millet (grain)
Bag 93kg 204.00 144.50 151.00 115.00 125.00 233.75 156.00 161.32 154.50
100kg 132.50 95.00
121.00 85.50
92.25
175.00 101.00 114.61
110.89
4.42
Rice (imported-unclesam) Bag 50kg 200.00 N/A 240.00 N/A 233.75 280.00 N/A 238.44 240.00 -0.65 Rice (local-white) Soya Beans Tomato (cooking) Wheat (Grain)
Bag 100kg 380.00 235.00 264.00 219.50 200.00 250.00 236.00 254.93 258.25
-1.29
Bag 109kg 330.00 152.00 179.50 143.00 194.50 350.00 196.00 220.71 220.46
0.11
Crate 72kg 377.00 117.50 179.50 260.00 314.00 404.50 185.00 262.50 292.61 -10.29 Bag 50kg 150.00 195.00 302.00 177.50 254.00 258.75 N/A 222.88 225.04 -0.96
Yam (pona-medium) 100 tubers 250kg 322.50 250.00 212.00 195.00 381.25 390.00 200.00 278.68 274.64
1.47
NB: * Accra market is Agbogbloshie * Kumasi is the Central market. To receive prices update and agric tips on your phone dial 1900 or visit www.esoko.com
Maize
The average price of 100kg bag of maize in the month of April 2015 continued its upward trend. It gained 3.35 percentage points to close at GH¢ 114.61 from a price of GH¢ 110.89 the previous month. The highest price was recorded at the Takoradi market with an amount of GH¢ 175.00 per bag and the lowest price of GH¢ 85.50 was recorded at Tamale. The surge in price was attributed to the fact that the commodity is seasonal and it is sold in the lean season.
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Rice (Local White)
Tomato
Averagely, the price of a 100kg bag of A crate of tomato on the average sold the local rice was sold for GH¢ 254.93 for GH¢ 262.50 in April from a value in the month of April from a previous of GH¢ 258.25, losing 10.29 per cent. price of GH¢ 258.25. Takoradi recorded the highest price of GH¢ 404.50 and Bawku recorded It lost 1.29 per cent in the month. The the lowest price of GH¢ 117.50. The highest price was GH¢ 380.00 which average price of the commodity had was recorded in Accra and the lowest dropped about 10 percentage points price of GH¢ 200.00 in Techiman. in the month because of the influx of the commodity in the market. Again consumers over the period have complained about the high prices of tomatoes which have also affected the consumption of it, coupled with the “dumsor” making it difficult for consumers to store large quantities of the produce.
GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE
MAY 2015