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FRIDAY MARCH 12, 2021
BUSINESS24.COM.GH
NO. B24 / 170 | NEWS FOR BUSINESS LEADERS
Budget Day today
FRIDAY MARCH 12, 2021
Yofi Grant has led the GIPC since 2017.
GIPC targets US$3bn of FDI By Eugene Davis ugendavis@gmail.com
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he Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) is looking to attract at least US$3bn in foreign direct investment (FDI) this year as part of the country’s post-Covid recovery strategy. Cont’d on page 3
Tullow to drill 4 wells to support production By Joshua Worlasi Amlanu
Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu is the caretaker Finance Minister
By Nii Annerquaye Abbey abbeykwei@gmail.com
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n 2017, despite inheriting an economy under an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout programme, Ken Ofori-Atta could still afford the luxury of abolishing some
Calls to amend Shippers’ Act to give Authority more powers
taxes when he presented AkufoAddo’s maiden budget. Four years down the line, Mr. Ofori-Atta’s generosity seems unthinkable. The Covid-19 pandemic has been overwhelming. Restrictions on human movement and border closures conspired to slow
macjosh1922@gmail.com
down economic activity last year. Revenues consequently slowed, with government incurring more expenditure than it had planned as it sought to contain the spread of the virus. Cont’d on page 2
By Patrick Paintsil
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ullow Oil is targeting to drill four wells in Ghana by the close of the year in an effort to increase production from its Jubilee and TEN fields to offset anticipated near-term output declines. Addressing investors on the company’s 2020 performance and outlook, Cont’d on page 3
p_paintsil@hotmail.com
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xecutive Secretary of the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana, Samson Asaki Awiingobit,
Samson Asaki Awiingobit
Cont’d on page 5
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Editorial / News
FRIDAY MARCH 12, 2021
Editorial Shippers must cease fire but shipping lines must play ball
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t appears that cost to the shipping business in the country’s seaports keeps soaring by the day as new tariffs and surcharges keep popping out every now and then. Undoubtedly, shipping is a costly enterprise and every aspect of it is huge toll on the pocket of the shipper, be it an importer or an exporter. It is quite easier to understand the cry of the shipping public. Considering the impact of the pandemic on their business, tariff increment or new cost to the business was the least they expected. As service providers, the charges of shipping lines are negotiable on client-by-client basis and they are mostly the end product of the liners’ cost
analysis. The puzzle is that whereas shippers want handling charges to be a component of freight that is payable at source or port of origin, the shipping lines admit that they decide where to collect handling charges as a component of freight, and in this case locally; per the agreement with the importer. That is why using compulsion or running to government to force shipping lines to scrap the new charges is not the best option, especially when the shipping lines remain resolute on their stance. This paper is aware that the Transport Ministry and other state agencies directly involved in the shipping business have already held a meeting on the
Budget Day today Continued from cover
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The sheer scale of work to be done by the Akufo-Addo-led administration, as the nation waits to receive the President’s first budget statement in his second term today, is depicted by the widening fiscal deficit and the ballooning public debt. The public debt, according to the central bank, stood at GH¢273bn as at October 2020, translating into about 71 percent of GDP. The 2020 fiscal deficit will most likely be reported in double digits, with the World Bank projecting 14.5 percent of GDP. After winning a second-term mandate and then shrugging off a judicial challenge to his legitimacy by ex-President John Mahama, next on the President’s tough todo list is getting the economy back to the pre-pandemic level. In one of his weekend Covid-19 national broadcasts, Mr. Akufo-Addo famously said, “We know how to bring the economy back to life…” As Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, takes to the floor of Parliament today—in place of an indisposed Ken Ofori-Atta—to deliver government’s first full-year budget
since the pandemic, his job is no mean one. Exactly a year after the first cases of the coronavirus were detected in Ghana, Mr. Mensah Bonsu’s task will be to outline measures to contain the monstrous public debt which has become extremely costly to service. The GH¢7bn budgeted for interest payment in the first quarter of this year makes it the secondbiggest government expenditure item – only GH¢700m shy of the amount budgeted for salary and wages within the period. Government’s immediate task is to rein in the public debt, a task Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah confirmed when he spoke to journalists earlier this week. “Between 2017 and 2019, we made great gains in our economy, as the President outlined in his address to the nation. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has dealt a very big blow to the economy. One of its devastating effects is that it has gravely hampered growth. The consequence is that growth has suffered and our debt situation has gotten worse and COVID-19 is a significant reason. The implication is that, over the next
Ken Ofori-Atta is indisposed having suffered from complications from Covid-19
situation and the outcome was the call for shipping lines to alert the importing public, through the Ghana Shippers’ Authority of any new charges with a onemonth notice. Negotiation is obviously the best bet in finding a winwin solution to this challenge. It is difficult for one party to ask shipping lines to bear the new cost to the business as introduced by the port operator when both parties are bearing harsh impact of the pandemic. Despite the genuine concerns and arguments backing the introduction of these charges, we implore the shipping lines to engage other stakeholders in the business to see how best they can meet their concerns halfway. four years, we have to gradually start what the economists call fiscal consolidation by trying to reduce the debt burden,” he said. In order to achieve a fiscal consolidation, government simply has to find ways of cutting down non-essential expenditure while increasing substantially its revenues. Given that government struggled to meet its revenue targets last year, it would take some extra measures to generate more resources. These measures are likely to come in the form of new taxes. Mr. Oppong-Nkrumah, in his interaction with the media, conceded that government has to find new revenue streams – only falling short of stating which new tax policies would be introduced. “We have to work to raise some more revenues to fund some of our debts, fund the already existing expenditure, and then to ensure that the ever-growing needs of the people are attended to...What can we do to be more efficient in raising revenue from some of the old revenue measures? Are there new revenue measures that we can consider?” The pandemic’s impact has not only been unkind to government but to businesses as well, and with his government losing its stranglehold on Parliament, Mr. Akufo-Addo knows measures to restore the economy must not inflict more pain on Ghanaians if his party is to retain power at the next elections. He is thus likely to announce measures that achieve fiscal consolidation without sacrificing economic growth.
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GIPC targets US$3bn of FDI Continued from cover Last year, the centre registered FDI projects worth US$2.65bn, an increase of 139 percent over the US$1.11bn registered in 2019. The trend defied the anticipated steep decline in the value of registered FDI projects as COVID-19 threatened to cripple the Ghanaian economy. According to the GIPC’s 4th Quarter 2020 Investment Report that was released yesterday, some 279 projects were registered last year. This comprised 129 newly registered projects, 131 upstream developments and 19 free zones activities. Cumulatively, some 27,110 jobs were expected to be generated from the projects. The leading sources of the investments were China, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia and the Netherlands. In terms of the sectoral allocation of the investments, the manufacturing sector, with 57 projects, recorded the largest FDI value of US$1.27bn. This was followed by the services and mining sectors with FDI values of US$656.19m and US$424.32m, respectively. Speaking at the launch of the report, Yofi Grant, CEO of GIPC, said: “While this trend of strong performance in Ghana’s inbound FDI amidst the global health
pandemic could be attributed to a combination of factors, including effective government policy responses, an easing of travel restrictions, and, more importantly, the delivery and expected future development of vaccines in-country, the GIPC’s notable efforts as the leading investment promotion agency also played a pivotal role in attracting investors.” He stated that Ghana wants
“enduring investors who will grow with us”, and added that the centre has created the Aftercare and Diaspora office to attract at least US$3bn of investment in specific areas. The report revealed that on the domestic front, additional equity totalling US$69.28m was ploughed back as investment by 172 already-existing companies, whereas US$250.68m was invested by 52 wholly Ghanaian-
owned ventures. “As Ghana steps into an era of liberalised trade under the AFCFTA (African Continental Free Trade Area), there is even stronger commitment from the centre to boost investor confidence and ultimately harness valuable investments for Ghana, now Africa’s business capital,” Mr. Grant said.
Tullow to drill 4 wells to support production Continued from cover Chief Executive Officer Rahur Dhir said, “Given the scale of the resource space and the existing infrastructure, we have identified over 25 wells so far.
We will execute a consistent drilling programme, particularly in Jubilee, for the next five years.” The Maersk Venturer drillship has been contracted to start a multi-well drilling programme for a minimum period of four years.
The FPSO John Evans Atta Mills produces oil from the TEN field operated by Tullow.
The rig has arrived in Ghanaian waters and is scheduled to commence drilling in April. It is expected to drill and complete four wells this year, consisting of two Jubilee production wells, one Jubilee
water injector well, and one TEN gas injector well to provide pressure support to two Ntomme oil production wells. “We expect the two new production wells in Jubilee to add about 8,000 barrels per day (bopd) in the first year, while the water injector will add 8,000 bopd. Similarly, the gas injection at TEN will add about 6,000 bopd to [the production from] the two wells in Jubliee,” Dhir said. “This well campaign is expected to begin to offset nearterm production decline, and further wells in 2022 will see production materially recover and be sustained for the long term.” The CEO also noted that the drilling programme incorporates lessons learned from the previous programme and is targeting a 20 to 30 percent reduction in drilling costs through simplified well designs, improved rig reliability, and supply chain savings.
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BoG takes tougher stance on dud cheques By Joshua Worlasi Amlanu macjosh1922@gmail.com
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o further discourage the issuance of dud cheques and to sustain confidence in the payment system, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has revised the sanctions regime in respect of issuance of dud cheques. Under the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) as amended, it is an offence punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment of up to five years for any person to issue a dud cheque. In spite of the act, there is still a high issuance of dud cheques by customers of banks and specialised deposit-taking institutions (SDIs). This development, the BoG has indicated, has negative consequential effects on the acceptance of cheques for transactions. Sanctions For first-time offenders, the central bank says the bank or SDI shall issue a Warning Notification
Dr. Ernest Addison, BoG Governor
to the customer. In the case where a customer issues a dud cheque for the second time within three years of the first offence, the drawee bank or SDI concerned shall report the conduct of the customer to the BoG and the customer’s details and breach shall be recorded in a dud cheque register maintained at the BoG. Where a customer issues a dud cheque on a third occasion within three years of the first offence, the drawee bank or SDI concerned shall again inform
the BoG. The BoG shall ban such a customer from issuing cheques within the country for a minimum period of three years. The BoG shall notify all banks and SDIs of the ban and publish a list of all third-time offenders in two daily newspapers of national circulation. The customer may, however, be permitted to receive cheques and funds into the affected account and perform other electronic transactions on the account. Additionally, the BoG says it will ban such a customer from
accessing new credit facilities from the banking system for a period of three years. Requirements In view of this, banks and SDIs are required to continue to submit data on issuers of dud cheques to the credit reference bureaux, in accordance with Section 25 (c) of the Credit Reporting Act, 2007 (Act 726). They are also required to continue to submit returns on dud cheques to the BoG on an “as and when” basis.
Calls to amend Shippers’ Act to give Authority more powers Continued from cover has called for the amendment of the act establishing the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) to give the state agency the power to regulate local rates and charges in the shipping industry. “We don’t have a law with strong punitive measures that can cause the revocation of the licence of a shipping line or shipowner that fails to operate according to the regulations of the shipping business in the country,” he told Business24 in an exclusive interview. According to Mr. Awiingobit, the Ghana Shippers’ Act, in its current form, allows for advocacy and mediation but lacks the power to enforce compliance with the laws of the shipping business. He added: “The aspect of the law that governs the dealings of the Authority and shipping lines cannot enforce the repatriation, revocation of licence of defaulting liners or even to prosecute same in the case of wanton disobedience to the laws of our land.” Alternatively, he is asking the Ministry of Transport to clothe the Ghana Maritime Authority—which currently has the power to issue
or revoke the licences of ships that sail the nation’s waters—with extra powers to supervise the trade aspect of the shipping business. Mr. Awiingobit’s suggestions come on the back of what industry players have described as an arbitrary increase in fees and charges by shipping lines, an act that has received condemnation from trade associations including the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) and the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders. A US$70 increase [US$35 for both import and export] in charges to the container handling
side of the shipping business by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) came with a port additional surcharge by the shipping lines that is being levied to importers. The charge for container handling services by companies like PIL, which used to be US$77, has moved to US$132. That of Maersk Line, which was US$61, is now US$125; MSC’s charge of US$65 has moved to US$120, whilst Grimaldi’s charge has moved from US$55 to US$155. But according to Mr. Awiingobit, this charge is more of a rip-off than
cost recovery for the shipping lines because “the principal or shipowner, in negotiating the freight, was aware of stevedoring services at the destination port to get the container landed and that service is factored in calculating the freight”. “So, for their local representatives to introduce additional port charges as cost recovery is solely because our laws are weak, not punitive enough or because the GSA pretends to be working when they are not, because they have no law to do so.”
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UNDP engages the private sector to unlock investments for SDGs attainment in Ghana
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he United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) engaged investors and businesses to channel private sector capital to accelerate the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Ghana. The virtual impact facilitation event, held in partnership with Business for Peace Foundation of Norway, focused discussions on UNDP’s upcoming SDG Investor Map for Ghana. The SDG Investor Map is a digital tool that provides market intelligence on investment opportunities in Ghana and related impact data to identify and increase SDGaligned actionable investments, to end poverty and inequality as envisioned by the global goals. The financing gap for SDGs is huge. Ghana’s SDG financing gap is estimated at US$ 43 billion per year, equivalent to 52% of GDP, and this requires accelerated actions towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. ‘Ghana is a prime destination for private investment, including international investment, to compliment public and domestic investment in order to bridge the SDG financing gap. As we step into the last decade of action on the SDGs, ramping up domestic and external private investment and
exploring innovative financing frameworks remains the key to unlocking the commitments in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda for Financing for Development”, noted Angela Lusigi, UNDP Resident Representative in Ghana. The Ghana SDG Investor Map falls under UNDP’s global SDG Impact initiative that aims to work with the private sector to invest in enterprises and markets in ways that help achieve the SDGs. The Maps will provide investors and businesses with much-needed country-level data and SDG investment roadmaps. The Ghana SDG Investor Map
is expected to contribute to the 100 Billion Ghana cedis investments envisaged in the country’s Coronavirus Alleviation and Revitalization of Enterprises Programme (Ghana CARES), which is a three-year programme seeking to shift Ghana’s growth trajectory back towards the achievement of the SDGs. “Investors are looking for data and the SDG Investor Maps provide data and information that highlight investment opportunities and expected impact on development. I will urge businesses to incorporate the SDGs into their core growth strategies to contribute to sustainable
development”, Emmanuel DoniKwame, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Ghana. The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mr. Yofi Grant, speaking at the event, emphasized the need to continue to engage the private sector to help improve their understanding of the global goals. He said, “partnership is critical in achieving the SDGs and it is important to continue to engage the private sector to understand the global goals and their role in the attainment of the SDGs”.
First National Bank recognised as Africa’s Most Valuable Bank Brand second year running the Brand Finance® survey partly of the bank because the bank has
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irst National Bank has retained its position as Africa’s Most Valuable Bank Brand for the second year in a row in the 2021 Brand Finance® Global 500 Banking report. With brand value of US$1.3 billion,
Dominic Adu
First National Bank is the top performing South African brand among top 200 most valuable bank brands in the world in the 2021 Brand Finance® Global 500 Banking ranking. In determining leading banks,
considers brand-specific revenues as a proportion of parent company revenues attributable to the brand in question and forecast those revenues by analysing historic revenues, equity analyst forecasts, and economic growth rates. Jacques Celliers, CEO of First National Bank says, “This accolade affirms the resilience of our business to withstand the monumental challenge of a global pandemic. Despite the headwinds that customers and businesses across the continent continue to face, plans to implement vaccination programmes in some countries augur well for efforts to minimise the impact of the pandemic on lives and livelihoods. We are energised and remain committed to continue playing an active role in all countries in which we operate.” Dominic Adu, CEO of First national Bank stated that this is another worthy feather in the cap
worked hard to provide various support measures to maintain financial stability for customers in the past year, albeit the challenges of the past year. “In the last year our brand pushed boundaries in adding value to customers’ lives in a time of uncertainty, and this was reflected in our efforts to offer relief to individuals and business, coupled with keeping our doors open as an essential service,” says Dominic Adu, CEO of First National Bank Ghana. “Our industry-leading digital platform enabled our customers to manage their finances in the comfort of their homes and millions of our customers continued to supplement business and households budgets with our relief packages to alleviate financial strain. All these efforts interventions are testament to our brand promise of help,” concludes Dominic.
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Feature
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COVIDNOMICS: 2021 Budget Statement, Can the Bull still ride on?
Introduction It is almost a year since the global economic community was hit by the covid-19 virus putting economies into disarray and the challenges associated with the spread of the pandemic, including; a shortfall in production due to cut down in supply and human capital, rise in income variant, inequality afloat and the death tolls caused by the virus. This calamity brought an urgency for nations to develop new strategic measures such as the formulation and implementation of new budgetary plans as means to control the pandemic and further minimise its effect on the economy. These developments also saw the assistance of development partners such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, United Nations, and the World Health Organisation offering fiscal, monetary and humanitarian support to cushion the pandemic’s health and economic consequences, and protect vulnerable populations. In all these situations, Ghana was not an exception to this global development carpe diem to provide a mid-year budget plan for the year 2020 in order to control the covid-19 pandemic, sustain businesses, and manage the economy, which has seen the Ghanaian economy inching closer to normalcy, under the Nana Akufo-Addo Administration. Recap: 2020 Mid-Year Budget Review Countries around the world are faced with a mystery and difficulty to drive their challenging economies. The urgency of the times calls for deep knowledge
and an action driven mechanism to unravel the mystery. The covid-19 pandemic opened the floodgates of risk and opportunities for every nation including Ghana. At the backdrop of my mid-year budget review 2020 paper titled, “COVIDNOMICS; Should Ken Ofori-Atta pause, relax or nurture Ghana’s?’’, which we dealt with risk and opportunities as well as policy framework in navigating the pandemic, of which aspects were reflected in Ken Ofori-Atta’s Mid-year 2020 Budget review presentation. In fact, the budget was not only the most ambitious of all times but also provided the path for resilient and trajectory growth for post covid-19. I am here once again to provide insights as the Government presents its financial and economic plans for the year 2021. My expression of position is advisory but not binding. This paper will be modelled holistically around five step-plan for the 2021 budget; namely Risk and Opportunities, Reviving, Protecting, Sustainability, and Driving the economy for the future. Risk Covid-19 is an active event and will stick around over a period. The rollout of vaccines in the country has raised hopes that recovery is in sight and therefore the government must be determined to ensure the vaccination program covers more than half of the population of the country, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future. According to the greatest baseball player, Yogi Berra,
“simple put, we still do not know, and the uncertainties of the future remain the same”. The nation’s tolerability of risk will be dominated by the perception of risk of covid-19 infections and new variants in testing the efficacy of the vaccines. Let us be reminded that we are all not fully immune and therefore uncertainties and risk remain unchanged. Both micro and macroeconomic indicators will continue to go wrong in this level of economic dispensation until there is certainty. It is therefore advisable to use the indicators as a guide to recovery and not a metric of measure. Economic indicators such as growth rate, budget deficit, revenue, expenditure and primary balance must be a measure for recovery. The bounce back of the economy will be dependent on the right investments allocated to the real sectors of the economy and policy direction activated by the administration. Opportunities The National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), has become a national treasure and must be strengthened further to be an explanatory drive for the economy in the long-term. The survival of every nation’s economy is anchored on the Small and Medium-size Enterprises (SMEs) which contribute about 70% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) coupled with massive employment reduction for the economy. The government’s stimulus packages to businesses within the private sector through the NBSSI must be entrenched and
the scheme must not be subjected to rigid and compliant conditions that limits the large percentage of the number of SMEs accessing the funds. Injection of funds to the agency will help stir the SMEs during the implementation of African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AFCFTA) and be the bedrock for entrepreneurship and innovation for the economy. The cash flows under the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP), the IMF Rapid Credit Facility, COCOBOD Syndicated Loan facility, Contingency fund, World Bank, Commercial banks, Heritage Fund, Covid-19 Funds and BOG funds must be reassessed and channel to areas that were highly impacted. Revive The pandemic has greatly affected livelihoods, businesses, and the economy in general. However, with the vaccines being rolled out, we are optimistic that things will pick up and gradually lead us to achieving normalcy. A number of countries are developing action plans to get people back to work, revive the tourism, hospitality, and aviation industries of their economies. Others including Australia, France, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have announced several measures ranging from extension of tax-collection deadlines, setting up taskforces to develop and implement strategies to aid the tourism industry to broader stimulus packages with a focus on improving consumer spending and tourism.
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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 With the case of Ghana, particular attention should be on revamping the tourist sites, hospitality sector and the adoption of the concept of visa on arrival to increase tourist growth of the country. This will go a long way to help revive businesses and create the necessary job opportunities for the people of the country. Protect It is without doubt that the covid-19 pandemic has caused businesses to either shut down or operate at break-even notwithstanding the global supply chain shocks and decline in profit. It is necessary that the Government continue to provide tax relief incentives, import and export duty reductions, and equity financing to industries, firms and businesses in Ghana. This implies that certain sectors of the Ghanaian economy should be made to enjoy tax holidays, reduction in corporate tax and tax rebates particularly for the hospitality, industry and aviation sector as well as extend the tax reliefs made available to households and businesses under the mid-year 2020 budget review to other areas of the economy. Less I forget, there should be a special export tax reliefs and financial support for firms and businesses which could not produce to export during the era of the covid-19 pandemic. The government should not lose sight of the fact that firms and industries in Ghana would need substantial tax regulation and financial incentives to be more competitive in doing business across the African frontiers under the AFCFTA. This would help serve as a shield and create the necessary atmosphere for firms to thrive in Ghana and beyond. Sustainability The global economy is expected to turn around from the covid-19 woes to a trajectory growth path due to strategic fiscal stimulus packages that were carried out across nations to help protect jobs, businesses and sustain livelihoods. Though the path to recovery is uncertain, it is expected that the fight against the virus through the vaccination would help restore confidence and boost economic growth in the long term. It is in this respect that the policies that were carried out in the 2020 mid-year budget which
includes but not limited to; CAP Business Support Scheme that provided over GH¢600.0 million to micro, small and mediumsized enterprises (MSMEs), the LEAP programme, NBSSI soft loan programme, Bank of Ghana Policy response programme coupled with the social interventions rolled out under the CARES programme should be sustained. These would demand an increase in the threshold of the capital allocation even though there is limited fiscal stimulus. Further, the Government under the 2021 budget must do well to extend the Unemployment scheme to cover the youth who by the reason of the covid-19 pandemic are without jobs or have become entrepreneurs themselves. Surprisingly, there is a storm brewing in the youth bracket and the scary effect cannot be contained if the needed steps are not taken immediately. The government must provide a safety net in the budget and make provisions for apprenticeship, entrepreneurship and trainingship. These services will boost productivity and channel a wave of diverse talent to promote economic growth in a forceful, proactive, and pragmatic approach with fiscal consolidation in the long term, to help move the economy from life support to turbocharge mode. Moreover, the government must not lose sight of the World Health Organisation covid-19 protocols of ensuring the availability of PPEs and hand sanitizers to the people due to the presence of the vaccines. Since the vaccine is to compliment the effort of the PPEs in helping to control the pandemic. We should be mindful of the fact that the covid-19 pandemic is not over anywhere until it is over everywhere.
The Government must prioritise a liquidity injection of increasing the vaccine as well as the PPEs with the provision of special incentives for frontline workers as it was previously captured in the 2020 Mid-Year Budget review. To sustain and complement the existing government interventions, we recommend that the Government adopts other sustainable policy intervention programmes such as: Government Backed Loan Schemes (Equity Financing), Tech Investment, Road Infrastructure Development and Tourism Fund Support into the 2021 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana. Driving the economy The phenomenon of fiscal deficit, rising unemployment, widening of the inequality gap coupled with the hardship borne out of the covid-19 pandemic demands prudent, strategic and resilient economic measures to drive the annual plans of the Government into success. The difficulty that arises is how the government is going to fund these medium-term policy measures to the benefits of Ghanaians. In this perspective, deem it necessary to suggest that apart from assistance received from international development partners and the private sector, the Government can take advantage of this opportune time of the covid-19 pandemic to raise funds from the public pension houses and other institutions through the capital market with a given reasonable moratorium. It is also important that our trade borders are digitized to avoid smuggling and to ensure proper valuation of goods and services towards an efficient
revenue mobilisation for the fiscal year 2021. With the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area which is centered on communication, tourism and transportation as the bedrock for driving the success of the trade agreement. It is keen the Government pays attention to its priority of increasing the road infrastructure growth of the country. This development is expected to create local or urban opportunity zones, feasible for the immediate implementation of the One District One Factory industrial agenda of the Government and increase the agriculture value chain of these zones. In order to drive the economy into a more prudent and trajectory growth in the longterm, the Government should adopt the equity-financing model as a strategy for the provision of the fund relief packages for business, firms and industries instead of the debt-financing option used under NBSSI. This model of financing can be driven through the establishment of the National Development Bank which would help provide support to the agro, industrial and export manufacturing sectors of the country without recourse to debt-interest payments. The public sector borrowing requirement (PSBR) should not be an issue under covid-19 as the risk remained unchanged which has been echoed by IMF that, “spend whatever you need but keep the receipts’’. Therefore, borrowing is never a bad thing, however to demand for funds over and above, and not use it for the right purposes undermines the credit worthiness of the country. According to Stephen Valdez & Philip Molyneux in the sixth edition of their book, ‘An Introduction to Global Financial Markets, “Equity is the exception in the debt merry-go-round”. SAMUEL OKYERE DONKOR (INVESTMENT BANKER) ATTA TAKYI – POLICY ADVISOR (CO-AUTHOR) Contact # 0509105121 Email address: samuelokyered1@ gmail.com
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Your Digital Footprint: How It May Affect You
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ake no mistake about it – the Internet is listening every time you use it! It is important that you understand what you are leaving behind when you use the Internet – visit websites, conduct searches, post on social media, comment on issues, etc. Your digital footprint may contribute to your online reputation. It could cost you an opportunity and can change people’s perception of you. Every day, we leave our comfortable homes for one reason or the other. We leave the house for work, we visit the hospital, the shopping malls, bars, nightclubs, etc. We do so by either driving our private cars, joining the public transport, or walking. We leave traces that can attest to the fact that we were at these locations. For example, you drove from your home to the office. You record your car number in the logbook. You had lunch at a restaurant, and you were given a receipt with the date and time. You purchased a drug at the mall. There are CCTVs to record who entered the shop. In effect, you have left pieces of information at the various places you have visited. Some were willingly given by you and others you gave or left behind unknowingly. Facility owners would want to know who visited, when did he/she visit, what did he/she
purchase, etc. These details are used to make good decisions for improvement such as to know when to open and close the shop, how many attendants are needed at what times of the day. Everything has become digital and the life we live on the Internet is no different from what we do on daily basis. You go online to order Uber or Bolt, you bought pizza online and it was delivered to your office or you attended the appointment you had with your doctor via the telehealth mobile app, do not forget about the Zoom meeting you had. Our life offline and online are the same in terms of activities. Whether we like it or not, most of us contribute to a growing portrait of who we are online; a portrait that is probably more public than most of us assume. No matter what you do online, it is important that you know what kind of trail you are leaving, and what the possible effects can be. Every email, social media post, photo and click you make online leaves a trail. Even by reading this article, you are adding to your ever-growing details you leave online. It is permanent: it follows you for life and it is not going anywhere—it is your digital footprint. A digital footprint is a record or trail left by the things you do online. Your social media activity, the information on your personal
website, your browsing history, your online subscriptions, any photo galleries, and videos you have uploaded, the searches you do on social media or on Google. Do not forget the profiles you view on social media, the comments you pass, your presence either online or offline, status indicators such as busy, do not disturb — essentially, anything on the Internet with your name or username on it all make up your digital footprint. “Your digital footprint is data that’s created through your activities and communication online. This can include more passive activities, such as if a website collects your IP address, as well as more active digital activities, such as sharing images on social media,” says Natalie Athanasiadis. Your digital footprint is all the stuff you leave behind as you use the Internet. Comments on social media, Skype calls, app use, and email records - it is part of your online history and can potentially be seen by other people or tracked in a database. Active digital footprints are created when a user willingly releases personal data for the purpose of sharing information about him. Here, data is provided explicitly, and the user is aware of such data collection by the Internet service, or he/ she willingly provides such
information. For example, when a user creates a social networking profile or comments on some post or article then in such a scenario, the user is creating an active digital footprint of him/herself. A passive digital footprint is created when data is collected about some online activity without the consent or knowledge of the user. This means data is collected implicitly and most of the time the user is unaware of such data collection. For example, in an online environment, whenever a user browses any website, the website can trace his geographical location through the user’s IP address. Many organizations work behind the scenes to build profiles about us using our digital footprints. Once you share information about yourself on the Internet through social media or websites, you lose some control over your privacy. Your digital footprints may be bigger than you ever thought. They are all over the place. Be conscious about what you leave behind on the Internet. Author: Emmanuel K. Gadasu (Data Protection Officer, IIPGH and Data Privacy Consultant at Information Governance Solutions) For comments, contact author ekgadasu@gmail.com or Mobile: +233-243913077
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Feature
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America’s Return to the World
By Kemal Derviş
I
n the weeks prior to US President Joe Biden’s inauguration, many believed that a heavy domestic agenda would leave him with little scope to break quickly and cleanly with Donald Trump’s purely transactional approach to diplomacy and reengage America in international affairs. But, fortunately for the United States and the world, the Biden administration’s efforts to date clearly indicate otherwise. Biden forcefully outlined his strategic principles in a February 19 online speech to the Munich Security Conference. Soon afterward, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen summarized America’s new approach to international economic issues in a remarkable letter to G20 finance ministers. And on March 3, Secretary of State Antony Blinken comprehensively enumerated the administration’s foreign-policy priorities. These pronouncements point to several consistent themes, several of which are already reflected in the new administration’s actions. For starters, Biden’s approach will be systemic, not transactional, emphasizing strategic continuity and coherence. Unlike Trump, Biden will not call Chinese President Xi Jinping a great friend one day and a dangerous enemy the next. Nor will he refer to Europe as a greater threat to the US economy than China and, soon afterward, hail it as an
important ally. In his Munich speech, Biden argued that the world is at an inflection point in the struggle between autocracy and democracy. He stated that America’s “galvanizing mission” is to help democracy succeed. Because “democracy will and must prevail,” human-rights considerations also will be an important part of Biden’s overall approach. But the “galvanizing mission” will not imply US support for regime change abroad, which has backfired so badly in the past. America will instead seek to lead by example and work closely with democratic allies, recognizing that it cannot achieve desired outcomes on its own. Under Biden, America will also fully reengage with the multilateral system and work within, not against, international institutions. For example, the US has rejoined the 2015 Paris climate agreement, and on April 22 Biden will host an international climate summit at which he is expected to announce more ambitious nationally determined contributions under the Paris accord. These will most likely aim to achieve net-zero greenhousegas emissions by 2050, and possibly a 50% reduction from their 2005 levels by 2030. When necessary, the administration will seek to reform multilateral institutions rather than bypassing or obstructing them. The US has thus also reengaged with the United Nations Human Rights
Council and stopped blocking Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former Nigerian finance minister and senior World Bank official, from becoming director-general of the World Trade Organization. These early examples of Biden’s systemic approach in action are to be welcomed. But it is an approach that will face particularly strong challenges in two areas: human rights and China. The first issue came into focus following the recent release of a US intelligence report clearly implicating Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, in the gruesome 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The publication of the report suggests that the Biden administration is distancing itself somewhat from Saudi Arabia, and was followed by US sanctions on members of the Saudi security establishment and officials close to the crown prince. But MBS himself will face no personal sanctions, reflecting Saudi Arabia’s strategic importance and the likelihood that he will rule the Kingdom for a long time. Human-rights activists strongly criticized the decision. But Biden struck the right balance between condemning the Khashoggi murder and other human-rights abuses in Saudi Arabia – in addition to the limited sanctions, Biden has said he will not talk personally to MBS – and
recognizing the need to work with the Kingdom on difficult regional problems. Yellen’s letter also contains a welcome commitment by the US to work with the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting. Tax avoidance and aggressive tax minimization by international corporations, particularly in the digital sector, present a major fiscal and equity challenge for the international economy. Yellen says the US shares the aim of “finding workable solutions in a fair and judicious manner.” Implementing an overall strategy to bolster liberal democracy and rebuild multilateralism will inevitably involve many shades of gray, as reality imposes unanticipated constraints. But the Biden administration’s early actions and the sincerity of its declarations suggest that it could become the most internationally transformative US administration in decades. But whether that happens does depend, crucially, on Biden’s domestic success in fostering economic progress for all Americans. Leading by example begins at home. About author Kemal Derviş, a former minister of economic affairs of Turkey and administrator for the United Nations Development Programme, is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
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