EDITION B24 | 27
MONDAY APRIL 6, 2020
THEBUSINESS24ONLINE.COM
Minority questions UNIPASS deal
Time to think about unemployment benefits in Ghana …Ofori-Atta
…says there is “no value for money” MORE ON PAGE 2
MORE ON PAGE 3
COVID-19 EFFECTS:
Cedi staggers in run against dollar “This resulted in sharp depreciation pressures over the period, cutting the cedi’s year-to-date gains on the interbank market to 1.33 percent at the close of last week,” he told Business24. Since the start of the year, the average weekly volume of bonds traded on the local bond market has stood at about GH¢1 billion. “However, unlike the start of the year when offshore investors were driving the buy side – that is, demanding to buy GHS-bonds – the situation is currently the reverse. Non-resident investors are currently driving the sell side with sell-offs. This has caused an increase in portfolio demand for FX, with a surge in domestic bond yields,” he added. The government’s 3-year bond issued in January at a rate of 20.75 percent was trading at 21.2 percent as at April 2, while the yield on the 20-year bond issued last August at 20.2 percent rose to 23.5 percent in the same period. Reserves under pressure
BY NII ANNERQUAYE ABBEY A renewed demand for dollars is threatening to release the local currency’s rare stranglehold over the US dollar since the start of the year. The heightened demand saw the cedi lose more than 2.7 percent of its value against the dollar in the interbank market last month alone, with further losses suffered since the beginning of April. In the first two months of the year, the cedi’s stellar performance – appreciating by 4.5 percent – drew commendations from Bloomberg as the bestperforming currency against the dollar in the world. Since then, the novel coronavirus, referred to as COVID-19, has scourged the globe, with economic activities at a standstill and crude oil prices crashing on the back of low global demand. According to Courage Martey, an analyst with investment firm Databank, following the collapse in oil prices in early March, offshore investors started reversing some of their positions in the local currency.
Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, who unveiled the government’s economic
MORE ON PAGE 2
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
GRA DEPLOYS NEW SINGLE WINDOW SYSTEM AT TAKORADI PORT MORE ON PAGE 03
PARLIAMENT APPROVES GH¢6.3BN SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATE MORE ON PAGE 05
INTERNATIONAL MARKET
*EXCHANGE RATE (INT. RATE)
USD$1 =GH¢5.6896*
EXCHANGE RATE (BANK RATE)
USD$1 =GH¢5900.*
*POLICY RATE
14%*
GHANA REFERENCE RATE
(YET TO BE SET)
OVERALL FISCAL DEFICIT
7.8%*
PROJECTED GDP GROWTH RATE PRIMARY BALANCE. AVERAGE PETROL & DIESEL PRICE:
BRENT CRUDE $/BARREL NATURAL GAS $/MILLION BTUS GOLD $/TROY OUNCE CORN $/BUSHEL COCOA $/METRIC TON
31.87 1.64 1,649 329.50 2,260
2.6
COFFEE $/POUND:
+5.70 ($108.30)
1.4% OF GDP
COPPER USD/T OZ.
220.15
GHc 5.13*
SILVER $/TROY OUNCE:
14.53