Business24 Newspaper (February 24, 2020)

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New FX platform will deepen market—BoG UNIPASS

threatens port gains—IMANI

By Patrick PAINTSIL

The central bank has launched a new primary FX market platform with unique features designed to support an order book that ensures back-to-back trading with firm prices in a transparent fashion to encourage genuine trading interest.

The Refinitiv Spot Matching platform, which went live last Friday, is a trusted platform seen as a key step for deepening the local FX market. All banks on the Ghana interbank market are mandated to use it for their firm dealings of lot sizes in multiples of US$250,000 or more.

“This platform is expected to play an effective role in further transforming the interbank market into a deeper, liquid and a more efficient one, which will in turn effectively support the central bank’s mandate of price stability and financial stability.

Ultimately, a deeper FX market in the context of a flexible exchange rate regime and stable inflation environment will increase resilience of the Ghanaian economy against external shocks,” Bank of Ghana Governor Dr. Ernest Addison said at the launch of the platform in Accra.

According to him, the new FX tool is to get the domestic FX market in tune with current demands of the global market, which is driven by technology and innovation.

He stated: “Over the years, the

News Desk Report

Dr. Ernest Addison, Governor of the Bank of Ghana

Bank of Ghana has been implementing FX market reforms to enhance transparency, improve price discovery, and increase availability of FX hedging products. But the FX market is increasingly evolving and factors such as technology, regulation, security and structural changes are constantly driving market and industry behaviour.”

More importantly, Dr. Addison said the adoption of new technology will play a critical role in automating the trading workflows and is supporting a drive

towards further market electronification.

“As the Ghanaian FX market evolves, it is important to embrace international best practices and standard interbank trading conventions that will position Ghana as a preferred destination for investor equity and portfolio flows in Africa,” he stressed.

In the future, other major stakeholders in the country’s foreign exchange market, such as the Bulk Oil Distribution Companies, mining firms and

others, will be granted access to the platform so they can see in real-time the trading position of the cedi against the other currencies.

Once that is done, it will improve price discovery and transparency through real-time access to live prices for onshore and offshore stakeholders in the Ghana interbank FX market and deliver clear surveillance for Bank of Ghana.

Policy think-tank IMANI Africa has warned that all the progress made at the ports are under serious threat because of efforts by the government to replace the existing tried and tested system with a new untested alternative called UNIPASS. “Ghana seems to be rushing into something serious and complex without enough contemplation and preparation. We should be careful throwing out the hard work of many governments, starting in earnest from the establishment of the GCNet and West Blue systems, which had issues but which have also seen a lot of improvement over time,” the policy think-tank said.

IMANI made these observations in a paper reviewing the Trade FaMORE ON PAGE 2

Local banks to part-finance Pullman project

By Eugene Davis

A consortium of yet-to-benamed local banks are expected to partly finance the Pullman Accra Airport City project, a Parliamentary report has revealed.

According to the CEO of Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), Solomon Asamoah, debt financing for the project will ini-

tially be sourced from a consortium of domestic banks during the project construction period.

“Upon the completion of the construction works, the debt will be replaced by a longer-term financing from the African Export-Import Bank,” he told the Finance Committee of Parliament.

This was contained in the report of the Finance Committee on the request for waiver of taxes (import duties, import

and domestic VAT, import and domestic NHIL, and import and domestic GETFund levy) amounting to US$23.98 million on materials, plant, machinery and equipment to be procured

by Platinum Properties Limited for the Pullman Accra Airport City Hotel and Serviced Apartments. The total cost of the project is estimated at about US$126m, with a debt-to-equity MORE ON PAGE 2

FEATURE

FEATURE

DIGITAL LITERACY: AN ENABLER TO THE SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF AFCFTA

CHINA’S GREAT LEAP INTO EPIDEMIC

We need to devise means of educating our retailers on enhancing their businesses with technology.

MORE ON PAGE 8

The COVID-19 outbreak in China is not the first public-health emergency enabled by the absence of freedom of speech in China, and it is far from the worst. MORE ON PAGE 8

INTERNATIONAL MARKET

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

(AS AT 21/2/2020) *EXCHANGE RATE (INT. RATE): USD$1 =GH¢5.3377* *EXCHANGE RATE (BANK RATE): USD$1 =GH¢5.4800* *POLICY RATE:16%* GHANA REFERENCE RATE : 16.11% *INFLATION RATE: 7.8%* PRODUCER PRICE INFLATION: 13.3% 91 DAY TREASURY BILL INTEREST RATE: 14.6898% *AVERAGE PETROL AND DIESEL PRICE: GHC 5.48*

BRENT CRUDE $/BARREL: -0.46 ($58.85) NATURAL GAS $/MILLION BTUS: -0.02 ($1.90) GOLD $/TROY OUNCE: +10.50 ($1,631.00) SILVER $/TROY OUNCE: +0.07 ($18.49) CORN $/BUSHEL: 0.00 ($382.25) COCOA $/METRIC TON: +13.00 ($2,860.00) COFFEE ¢/POUND: -4.05 ($104.95) SUGAR ¢/POUND: -0.14 ($14.94)

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News/Editorial

UNIPASS threatens port gains— IMANI continued from page 1 cilitation Agreement Between the Government of Ghana and Ghana Link Network Services Limited for the Provision of a Fully Integrated Trade Facilitation and Customs Management System.

IMANI observed that the contract covering the takeover of single window operations at the port by Ghana Link and its overseas partner, CUPIA Korea, is quite simplistic and shallow.

“The present arrangement looks like the government is handing over the contract ‘on a silver platter’ at no evident cost to the contractor herein, and then also grants them generous terms and wide latitude to operate without proving either their capability or producing proof upfront of what they bring in terms of investment and other resources. This will no doubt attract suspicions of undue influence,” IMANI noted.

The Ministry of Trade awarded a 10-year third single window contract to Ghana Link Network Services Limited and its overseas partner, CUPIA Korea Customs Service. The sole-sourced contract was signed on March 29, 2018 and subsequently published on the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) website.

According to IMANI, the UNIPASS contract, despite its brevity, still gives much space to the rights of Ghana Link Limited and the responsibilities of the Ghana Government and penalties attendant to default on the part of Ghana Government.

However, “not sufficient space is allotted to the responsibilities of the contractor (Ghana Link) and the penalties for their failure,” it said.

IMANI pointed out that there is no liability assumed by Ghana Link for all the assets and operations it has been given, adding “at a minimum, one would expect a certain minimum investment by the contractor and a performance bond or something similar to assure Government of Ghana that it is covered and would not be the loser if things go wrong.”

“If the Ghana Government sought independent objective legal advice on this, it is likely they would be advised to allow UNIPASS to make a competitive bid against the existing system and prove why they must take over the system, plus the rewards of such a move,” the think-tank stated.

Editorial: Pullman project finance shows strength of local banks The news that a consortium of local banks is expected to partly finance the Pullman Accra Airport City project show the strength of the banking sector after an extensive banking sector reform by the Bank of Ghana.

The Pullman project, a joint venture between Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) and Inter-Afrique Holdings Limited (IAH), is expected to cost an estimated US$126m.

According to the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund

continued from page 1

(GIIF), debt financing for the project will initially be sourced from a consortium of domestic banks during the project construction period.

“Upon the completion of the construction works, the debt will be replaced by a longer-term financing from the African Export-Import Bank,” Solomon Asamoah, the Fund’s CEO said.

The extensive banking sector reform, which included an increase in the minimum capital requirement of universal banks from GHC 120million to GHC 400million, issuance of new corporate gover-

nance directives, and revocation of the licenses of insolvent universal banks and savings and loans (S&Ls) companies, has, indeed, greatly improved the health of the financial sector and position it to support the development of the Ghanaian economy.

Though the reform has been costly, the activities of universal banks and the projects they chose to participate in going forward, will reflect their inherent strength. Universal banks are now able to undertake big-ticket transactions either alone or as part of a consortium.

The benefits of the project, as captured in the Parliamentary report, include an estimated VAT revenue of US$90m and US$26m in corporate taxes during the project’s first ten years of operation.

The world-renowned hotel brand, when completed, will greatly augment the number of hotel rooms available in the country, at a time that more and more people of Ghanaian and black heritage are visiting the country as part of efforts to reconnect with their roots.

Local banks to part-finance Pullman project ture did not have the numbers to approve it.

financing ratio of 0.75: 0.25, the report noted.

The project is a joint venture between Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) and Inter-Afrique Holdings Limited (IAH). GIIF is a statutory fund established by the government to invest in infrastructure, including by leveraging private sources of capital. IAH, on the other hand, is the parent company of the Inter-Afrique Group, a Ghanaian-based business group formed in 1985 with activities spanning financial services, property development, mining supplies, and information technology.

The report explained that 59 percent of the equity contribution will come from the project sponsor, Inter-Afrique Holdings Limited (IAH), while the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) will contribute the remaining 41 percent.

Even though debate on the report has been concluded

by Parliament, a decision on the resolution and approval of the tax waiver was deferred because the legisla-

Deal faces opposition During the debate on the report, the Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, argued that the granting of tax waivers further widens the gap between the rich and the poor.

He maintained that the Minority was vehemently against the tax waiver in that it is a franchise that is “coming to Ghana and not the original hotel itself.”

The Member of Parliament also stated: “Government is dipping its hands into GIIF to get US$13m to support Pullman. We are stealing from the poor and enriching the rich.”

The government will earn an estimated VAT revenue of US$90m and US$26m in corporate taxes during the project’s first ten years of operation.

Upon the project’s completion, the Airport City development enclave is expected to become Accra’s most preferred hotel destination. This will augment the aviation industry and help attract more high-profile business meetings and social visitors into the Ghanaian capital.

Ghana Police Service to take delivery of 3 helicopters The Ghana Police Service is to take delivery of three (3) helicopters to enhance its operations, as part of a comprehensive government programme to retool the law enforcement agency. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, delivering the State of the Nation Address (SONA) to Parliament last week said: “The police have been provided with more vehicles and equipment than they have ever had, including over six hundred (600) vehicles and three (3) incoming helicopters. There are now more opportunities for police officers to undergo training on the job to make them better prepared for work in our communities and keep us safe.”

He noted that government was building upon and improving the capacity of the cybercrime unit to confront and neutralise the criminal and dark underbelly of modern technology and the cyber-world.

He assured that government will continue to work with the management of the police service to ensure that there is proper and adequate training in modern policing methods and the equipping of the service to enable them deal with crime.

“Mr. Speaker, Government is committed to improving the conditions of service of all security personnel, including the police. But, nevertheless, I think it is my duty also to point out that public perception of the police continues not to be the best, and they must make a comprehensive effort to earn the confi-

dence of the public. We cannot run a country of law and order without a well-trained and accomplished police service, that has the respect and confidence

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Dominic Andoh: E ditor Eugene Kwabena Davis: Head of Parliamentary Business & Commodities Benson Afful : Head of Energy & Education Patrick Paintsil : Head of Maritime & Banking Eliezer Mensah: Head of Production Marketing: Alexander Lartey Agyemang: Business Development Manager Ruth Fosua Tetteh: Deputy Business Development Manager

of the people. I acknowledge the work they do, but I urge them to work harder on their reputation. “Mr. Speaker, I am happy to report that the equipping and rehabilitation effort is not only in the police service, but also in all the other services as well. I must make mention of the Fire Service and the Prison Service where the numbers have been increased with fresh recruitment. There are positive things happening in the Prison Service with opportunities being made available for inmates to acquire skills.

“I note, in particular, with a lot of satisfaction, that, this past year, three hundred and seventy-six (376) prison inmates passed various exams in the National Vocational and Technical Institutes, Junior High Schools and Senior High Schools.”

Gifty Mensah: Marketing Manager Irene Mottey: Sales Manager Edna Eyram Swatson: Special Projects Manager Events: Evelyn Kanyoke Snr. Events Consultant Finance/Administration Joseph Ackon Bissue: Accountant Ampomah Akoto: Director of Operations

BUSINESS24 | MONDAY FEBRUARY 24, 2020

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3

News

Drop in unemployment rate expected Aker Energy to award Pecan FPSO deal to Yinson … as 1D1F gathers steam

By Benson Afful

Over 228,000 youth are to be engage under government’s flagship industrialisation policy christened One District, One Factory (1D1F) this year.

The initiative is to help create more jobs for the youth and significantly reduce the unemployment rate in the country.

“Is envisaged that the 1D1F initiative will generate a total of two hundred and twenty-eight thousand, eight hundred and sixty-six (228,866) direct and indirect jobs. Even though the latest Ghana Living Standards Survey has recorded a drop in unemployment from 11.9% in 2015 to 7.3% in 2019, we still need to do more to create more jobs with urgency,” the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said when he presented his 4th State of the Nation Address to Parliament last week. He said the 1D1F is progressing and beginning to show dividends.

Currently, a total of 181 projects, spread across the 112 districts, are at various stages of implementation under the programme, President Akufo-Addo said, adding that 58 companies are already in operation; twenty-six (26) projects currently un-

der construction; fifty-eight (58) AfDB small-scale projects ready for sod cutting in the early part of this year; and twenty-six (26) pipeline projects are ready to commence implementation by the 1st quarter of this year.

EXIM Bank, last month, signed a US$100million facility with Credit Suisse to help complete, this year, twenty (20) of the export-related factories.

Ghanaian graduates face difficult employment odds when they leave school, as there are only 40,000 new places to be filled in the formal sector each year compared to almost 100,000 graduates churned out annually. This shortage of jobs is due to various reasons including: the lack of diversification of the economy and the structural mismatch between skills most graduates possess and the requirements of employers.

Analysts have said the most sustainable way of providing hope for unemployed youths is through industrialisation and structural transformation of the Ghanaian economy.

Power and industrialisation The President, however, admitted that the country cannot achieve it plans for industrialization unless the government create a reliable and reasonably priced energy source.

Though the country has witnessed quite a stable power in recent times, there is still more to be done.

“It gives me great pleasure to be able to say that we have overcome the DUMSOR menace.

But, unfortunately, I cannot say that we have resolved all our energy problems. It is still work in progress,” President Akufo-Addo said.

Recently, the Business24 reported that Steel and iron manufacturer, B5 Plus Limited—a company established under the One District, One Factory (1D1F) programme— appealed to government to urgently step in and ensure that the company has enough power and water for its production.

In a distress message, CEO of the company, Mukesh Thakwani, called on government to step in to salvage the situation in order to sustain the company’s expansion agenda.

“Under 1D1F we were told we will get electricity and water at our doorsteps but as of today we are not able to get our regular supply of electricity and water with a lot of fluctuations, it is becoming very difficult for us to work in this environment,” he told Parliament’s Government’s Assurance Committee on a recent tour of the facility.

Norwegian oil company Aker has penned a letter of Intent (LOI) to award its future operations and maintenance works on its floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel at the Pecan field to Yinson Holdings Berhad.

The LOI follows a competitive tender and demonstrates Aker Energy’s intention to award the forthcoming bareboat charter and operations and maintenance contract for the FPSO for the planned development of the Pecan field in the Deepwater Tano Cape Three Points (DWT/CTP) block offshore Ghana, Aker Energy said on Friday.

Aker’s deal with Yinson Holdings Berhad will run for ten years followed by five-yearly extension options exercisable

by Aker Energy as operator on behalf of the license partners Lukoil, Fueltrade and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).

“We are continuing with our preparations for the Pecan project and awarding an LOI for the future contracts for the FPSO vessel is certainly a key milestone,” says Mr. Svein Jakob Liknes, CEO of Aker Energy. At approximately 2,400 meters below sea, the FPSO will be located over and con-

nect to the subsea production system located level once developed and installed.

The FPSO will be Yinson’s second vessel to operate in Ghanaian waters, with the first being FPSO John Agyekum Kufuor, operating for Eni since 2017.

“Once in operation, the project will bring significant revenues to the country as well as direct and indirect job opportunities for indigenous companies and individuals,” said Kadijah Amoah, Country Director of Aker Energy in Ghana.

Ghana ranked 117 on Financial Secrecy Index Ghana is ranked 117th out of 133 countries on the 2020 Financial Secrecy Index (FSI), garnering a score of 52 and accounting for 0.01 percent of global market in offshore financial services.

The FSI ranks each country based on intensity of its legal and financial systems with a secrecy score out of 100, where a zero out of 100 is full transparency and a 100 out of 100 is full secrecy.

Ghana’s secrecy score, according to FSI 2020, was based on ownership registration, legal entity transparency, integrity of tax and financial regulation as well as international standards and cooperation.

Three other African countries such as Nigeria ranked 34 scoring 70, South Africa ranked 58 gathering 56 and Rwanda ranked 99 with 63.

Meanwhile, on the global level Cayman Island leapfrogged over the US and Switzerland in global ranking of secrecy hotbeds to top the Index.

The rest of the 10 biggest enablers of FSI in the world are, Hong Kong, Singapore, Luxembourg, Japan, The Netherlands, British Virgin Island and the United Arab Emirates.

The Tax Justice Network’s FSI 2020 revealed that financial secrecy around the world was decreasing as a result of recent transparency reforms.

It said on the average, countries on the index reduced their contribution to global FSI by seven percent.

Liz Nelson, a Director at the Tax Justice Network, said “The sweeping reforms that were made in recent years and have led to a global curbing of financial secrecy were considered to be impossible to achieve when

the first Financial Secrecy Index was published a decade ago.

“However, progress on country by country reporting remains slow, leaving unchecked the rampant tax abuse that disproportionally undercuts the people who start out with less opportunities in life to begin with.”

Alex Cobham, Chief Executive at the Tax Justice Network, said “Creating a fair world that treats all members of society as equals means reprogramming our financial and tax systems to run

on transparency, not secrecy, making it impossible for criminals and elites to go uncounted and making sure countries are well-resourced and well-governed to support everyone to lead a meaningful and fulfilling life. We still have a lot of work to do ahead – our governments must keep their foot to the pedal. “It is deplorable, however, that in the face of this progress, an Anglo-American axis of secrecy has actively chosen to double down on the practices that exacerbate corruption, tax

abuse and global inequalities”.

Gabriel Zucman, a Commissioner at the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT) and Professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley, said “The Financial Secrecy Index is like the Hubble telescope of tracking harmful regulations around the planet and mapping out a trajectory towards a more transparent world but while countries around the world are making progress towards financial

transparency the US seems to be digging its heels in secrecy”.

The Tax Justice Network is recommending that counter-measures by governments to reduce the canker, increasing corporate tax transparency towards the new Global Reporting Initiative standards and addition of public registration of beneficial ownership and legal vehicles to its binding recommendations be pursued. It called on policy-makers to prioritise sanctions against these backsliders

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BUSINESS24 | MONDAY FEBRUARY 24, 2020

BUSINESS24 | MONDAY FEBRUARY 24, 2020

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5

Feature

Social Democracy beats Democratic Socialism

By Daron Acemoglu

It used to be an unwritten rule of US politics that a socialist could never qualify for high national office. But now a self-proclaimed “democratic socialist,” US Senator Bernie Sanders, is the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. Should America embrace the change?

Democrats have made the primaries about much more than US President Donald Trump.

Sanders’s momentum reflects a yearning for radical solutions to serious structural economic problems. In the decades after World War II, the US economy became steadily more productive, and wages for all workers – regardless of education – grew by over 2% per year, on average.

But that is no longer the case today.

Over the last four decades, productivity growth has been lackluster, economic growth has slowed, and an increasing share of the gains have gone to capital owners and the highly educated. Meanwhile, median wages have stagnated, and the real (inflation-adjusted) wages of workers with a high-school education or less have actually fallen. Just a few companies (and their owners) dominate much of the economy. The top 0.1% of the income distribution captures more than 11% of national income, up from around just 2.5% in the 1970s.

But does democratic socialism offer a cure for these ills?

As an ideology that regards the market economy as inherently unfair, un-equalizing, and incorrigible, its solution is to cut that system’s most important lifeline: private ownership of the means of production. Instead of a system in which firms and all of their equipment and machinery rest in the hands of a small group of owners, democratic socialists would prefer “economic democracy,” whereby companies would be controlled either by their workers or by an administrative structure operated by the state.

Democratic socialists contrast their envisioned system with the Soviet-style brand. Theirs, they argue, can be achieved wholly by democratic means.

But the most recent attempts to socialize production (in Latin America) have relied on anti-democratic arrangements.

And that points to another problem with the current debate in the US: democratic socialism has been conflated with social democracy. And, unfortunately, Sanders has contributed to this confusion.

Social democracy refers to the policy framework that emerged and took hold in Europe, especially the Nordic countries, over the course of the twentieth century. It, too, is focused on reining in the excesses of the market economy, reducing inequality, and improving living standards for the least fortunate. But while US democratic socialists like Sanders often cite Nordic social democracy as their model, there are in fact deep and consequential differences between the two systems. Simply put, European social democracy is a system for regulating the market

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks during a campaign event in Richmond, Calif. The independent senator identifies as a democratic socialist.

JUSTIN SULLIVAN / GETTY IMAGES

economy, not for supplanting it.

To understand how social-democratic politics has evolved, consider the Swedish Social Democratic Workers Party (SAP), which distanced itself early on from Marxist ideology and the Communist Party. One of the SAP’s early and formative leaders, Hjalmar Branting, offered a platform appealing not only to industrial workers but also to the middle class.

Most important, the SAP competed for power by democratic means, working within the system to improve conditions for the majority of Swedes. In the first election following the onset of the Great Depression, SAP leader Per Albin Hansson presented the party as a “people’s home,” and offered an inclusive agenda. The voters rewarded the SAP with a remarkably high 41.7% of the vote, enabling it to form a governing coalition with the Agrarian Party. Following another overwhelming election victory, the SAP organized a meeting in 1938 of representatives of business, trade unions, farmers, and the government.

That gathering, in the resort town of Saltsjöbaden, launched an era of cooperative labor relations that would define the Swedish economy for decades.

A key pillar of the Swedish social-democratic compact was centralized wage setting. Under the Rehn-Meidner model (so named for two contemporary Swedish economists), trade unions and business associa-

tions negotiated industry-wide wages, and the state maintained active labor-market and social-welfare policies, while also investing in worker training and public education. The result was significant wage compression: all workers doing the same job were paid the same wage, regardless of their skill level or their firm’s profitability.

Far from socializing the means of production, this system supported the market economy, because it allowed productive firms to flourish, invest, and expand at the expense of their less competitive rivals. With wages set at the industry level, a firm that increased its productivity could keep the resulting rewards (profits). Not surprisingly, Swedish productivity under this system grew steadily, and Swedish firms became highly competitive in export markets.

Meanwhile, similar institutions developed in other Nordic countries – in some telling cases introduced not by socialists or social democrats but by center-right governments.

Social democracy, broadly construed, became the foundation of post-war prosperity everywhere in the industrialized world. That includes the United States, where the New Deal and subsequent reforms strengthened or introduced important components of the social-democratic compact, including collective bargaining, social welfare policies, and public education.

When intellectual and politi-

The US needs effective regulation to rein in concentrated market power. cal currents deviated from the market-based social-democratic compact, things generally didn’t work out too well. Starting in the late 1960s, Swedish and Danish trade unions, under the influence of more radical leftwing forces, embraced democratic socialism and started demanding economic democracy and direct control of profits. In Sweden, this led to intense negotiations with businesses and the introduction of “wage earner funds,” whereby portions of corporate profits (usually in the form of new stock issues) would be put into company-level funds for the workers. This change destroyed the cooperative agreement between businesses and unions, and distorted the incentives that had previously driven investment and productivity growth. By the early 1990s, the system’s flaws had become apparent, and it was duly abandoned.

When free-market intellectual currents led to rightward deviations from the social-demo-

cratic compact, the results were just as bad. Inequality widened amid equally tepid productivity performance, while social safety nets were left in tatters.

What is needed, then, is not market fundamentalism or democratic socialism, but social democracy. The US needs effective regulation to rein in concentrated market power. Workers need a greater voice, and public services and the safety net need to be strengthened. Last but not least, the US needs a new technology policy to ensure that the trajectory of economic development is in everyone’s interest.

None of this can be achieved by socializing firms, especially in an age of globalization and technology-led companies. The market must be regulated, not sidelined.

Daron Acemoglu

Daron Acemoglu, Professor of Economics at MIT, is co-author (with James A. Robinson) of The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty.

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BUSINESS24 | MONDAY FEBRUARY 24, 2020

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MARKETS STRUCTURE

USDCAD

•

ABC Zigzag corrective wave

PREVIOUS/FORECAST •

USDCAD, having successfully completed its bullish impulsive swing to around 1.3320 price region, started to trade downwards.

•

Expecting sell off to around 1.30445 price region as price corrects its bullish swing in an abc zigzag corrective wave

** Current price @ time of analysis: 1.32523

EURUSD

STRUCTURE •

Bullish shark pattern, abc Corrective wave

PREVIOUS/FORECAST •

The Euro continued to trade lower, breaking 3 month low at around 1.08757 price region to form a bullish harmonic shark with PRZ around 1.08299 price region

•

Expecting price to buy in a smaller degree abc zigzag corrective manner to about 1.09917 price region as it begins its abc correction on a higher degree

**current price @ time of analysis: 1.08137

STRUCTURE • Bullish shark pattern, abc Corrective wave

GBPUSD

PREVIOUS/FORECAST • The Euro continued to trade lower to form a bullish harmonic shark with PRZ around 1.07823 price region •

Expecting price to buy in a smaller degree abc zigzag corrective manner to about 1.09917 price region

**current price @ time of analysis: 1.08137

STRUCTURE

XAUUSD

•

Bearish Harmonic Butterfly Pattern

PREVIOUS/FORECAST •

Gold established a new high for the year at around 1637.149 price region while forming a bearish harmonic butterfly pattern

•

Expecting sell to around 1591.468 price region

**current price @ time of analysis: 1632.365

ADVICE TO BE PROFITABLE IN TRADING Why do people fail in the forex market?

You would be demotivated when you hear the fact that the failure rate in the forex market is more than 95%. Yes. Most of the people who try their hand in the forex market, get out of it even before completing one full year. It doesn’t mean that it is really tough to make it in the forex market. And also, there is no need to crack thousands of hard puzzles to open the door of treasures.

If you go through the analysis by experts, it reveals that there is a pattern in the way people approach, and do execute in the forex market.

And get the same results!

At the instance you realize it, you would also be the one who accepts the realities. Eventually, you will move ahead and do the needful to be in the earning club.

“Not Following The Market” You’ve learned forex trading.

Well. Beware! It’s not like driving your new car, and it doesn’t have steadfast results. With the top gear and the right acceleration, there is no guarantee to get the right speed.

While trading, you should listen to the market and adapt yourself to

it instead of being stubborn with your ideas. That’s the right way to surf the tides in the forex sea.

“Not Having The Passion” Forex market is not available in common places to fall in love at first sight. But to be successful and prosper as a trader, one has to develop a real interest in it during learning and executing the knowledge. Otherwise studying the market and analyzing the factors to place your trades would become a tough job. Then quitting in midway is a SURE thing to happen.

“Not Seeing The Reality” In the forex market, success means no 100% win. It’s a combination of ‘WINS’ and ‘LOSSES’, and keeping your losses at a minimum is the key.

All successful traders still incur losses, and (it’s part of the game). Without realizing it many “newbie traders” set unrealistic expectations and burn their energy down. Be informed, and you should not let a streak of failures to let you down and you should devise your strategies to face the failures.

“Overtrading” Aiming unrealistic high profits, trading addiction, and trading beyond the investment potential led the traders to indulge in overtrading. When you form

your trading strategy, you have to take your capital into consideration.

Relying on leverage, with the aim of making a big profit, is not advisable as it would eventually lead to the closure of your trading account.

Trade addiction is doing forex trade just for the sake of trading without realizing the need for it.

This overtrading, which is incompatible with the capital you have also causes failure.

“Not Having A Proper Forex Plan” Doing forex trade, without a plan is like gambling and incurring a loss is an event to occur, sooner or later. Then, you should trade with the proper risk-reward ratio, which helps you to approach each trade with the right portion of your capital as an acceptable loss.

Moreover, it further helps you to sustain in the market, and you could make winning trades subsequently.

Happy Trading!

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Feature

China’s Great Leap into Epidemic

By Aryeh Neier

The COVID-19 outbreak in China is not the first public-health emergency enabled by the absence of freedom of speech in China, and it is far from the worst. Between 1958 and 1962, the inability to criticize bad policy led to a famine that killed an estimated 36 million Chinese.

Before the world had any knowledge of the new coronavirus that has sparked a global panic a Wuhan-based ophthalmologist, Li Wenliang, noticed something strange in a few patients. They seemed to have contracted an unfamiliar virus that resembled severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which hobbled China nearly a generation ago. A few days later, after Li had sent a warning message to several doctors in a group chat, the 34-year-old doctor was summoned by the police, who forced him to sign a letter confessing to “making false comments” that had “disrupted the social order.” Li is now dead, a victim of the very virus – now called COVID-19 – about which he sounded the alarm.

Li’s death – together with further revelations of China’s efforts to silence COVID-19 whistleblowers – has sparked global outrage, and rightly so. Had the government been more concerned about protecting public health than suppressing unflattering information, it may have

been able to prevent the virus from spreading. So far, COVID-19 has infected more than 74,000 in China alone, with over 2,000 dead.

And yet this is not the first time that the denial of freedom of speech has been linked to a deadly public health emergency in China. When the SARS epidemic began in 2002, the Chinese authorities also initially attempted to cover it up.

Fortunately, Hu Shuli – the founder and managing editor of Caijing, a business weekly – exposed officials’ machinations relatively quickly. After learning that patients in Beijing had mysterious fevers, she sent journalists to hospitals to interview physicians. Caijing’s reporting helped force China’s leaders to acknowledge SARS publicly – the first step toward bringing the virus under control. Still, by the time SARS was contained, the virus had spread to more than 8,000 people worldwide and killed almost 800.

But repression of free speech in China has an even more disturbing public-health pedigree.

It also played a significant role in enabling the devastation caused by Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward – the greatest calamity China has faced since the Communist Party took power in 1949.

In 1958, Mao decided that, in order to achieve rapid industrialization, villagers should be forcibly herded into communes,

where they would perform industrial tasks that elsewhere would have relied on machines and factories. For example, millions were tasked with producing steel in small backyard furnaces, often by melting down farming implements.

By diverting labor into highly inefficient small-scale industry, the Great Leap Forward gutted agricultural production, resulting in severe food shortages, which persisted even after the initiative was ended in 1960. According to the Chinese journalist Yang Jisheng – whose authoritative account of the resulting famine, based on two decades of research, was published in Hong Kong in 2008 – no fewer than 36 million Chinese starved to death between 1958 and 1962.

As with COVID-19, vital information about the calamitous consequences of the Great Leap Forward was suppressed from the very beginning. At first, the central government authorities were largely unaware of the disaster unfolding in the countryside, owing to local officials’ reluctance to relay information that might be deemed critical of Mao. But even when China’s top leaders learned of the famine, they kept the matter quiet, rather than appealing for outside assistance. Protecting Mao’s reputation was the top priority, and, given China’s extreme international isolation at the time, the outside world would

Aryeh Neier

not find out unless the Chinese told them.

Suppression of the truth about the Great Leap Forward persists to this day, with party officials preferring to downplay the tragedy by portraying it as the result of bad weather conditions.

Yang’s book still cannot be published in mainland China.

The link between famine and freedom of speech is not limited to China. As the Indian philosopher and Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen noted some two decades ago, “no famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy.” Leaders who depend on the support of voters with the freedom to criticize public policies are generally unlikely to uphold policies that cause those voters to starve.

This has not been the case in, say, Zimbabwe, where about half the population – some 7.7 million people – currently face

food insecurity, according to the World Food Program. Unprecedented levels of malnutrition beset eight of Zimbabwe’s 59 districts.

Zimbabwe has long been known as “the breadbasket of Africa,” thanks to its relatively mild climate. But climate change is taking its toll. Making matters worse, decades of economic mismanagement by Robert Mugabe – who dispensed with democratic accountability during his 37-year-long rule, which ended when the military forced him to resign in 2017 – have produced runaway inflation, high unemployment, fuel shortages, and prolonged power outages. All of this has worsened Zimbabweans’ plight significantly.

Freedom of expression is about far more than direct political dissent or tolerance of ideas, acts, or images that we find offensive. As Sen wrote in 1990, “one set of freedoms – to criticize, to publish, to vote – are causally linked with other types of freedoms,” such as “the freedom to escape starvation and famine mortality.” To that list we should add “the freedom to avoid death by COVID-19.”

Aryeh Neier, President Emeritus of the Open Society Foundations and a founder of Human Rights Watch, is author of The International Human Rights Movement: A History.

Digital Literacy: An enabler to the successful implementation of AfCFTA

By Awura Abena Amponsah

The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) will bring all the 55 member states of the African Union together.

The free trade area will as a result, cover a market of 1.2 billion people with a gross domestic product of more than US $3.4 trillion. In a comparative perspective, Africa will be likened to huge countries such as China, India and USA. The AfCFTA will be the largest free trade area since the inception of the World Trade Centre.

For thirty years, China’s economy has experienced massive growth. Though the adoption of a mixed economy (capitalism and command economy) has been a significant driver of growth, it is a well-established fact that, their large population has also contributed enormously. China is almost one fifth of the world.

Some of the main objectives of the AfCFTA is to create a single market for trade (goods and services) and to allow the free movement of people, goods and investment. A single continental market will accelerate intra-African trade and reduce political barriers to trade, through the establishment of the Customs Union. Competitiveness at the enterprise level will be enhanced, and so will opportunities to scale and allocate resources appropriately.

Unfortunately, this free trade area also poses some great risks for our trade and retail industry.

The retail industry is dominated by Small and Medium sized

Enterprises (SME). Given that, consumer spending in Africa is largely concentrated in the informal sector, a small proportion of retailers account for a disproportionate amount of sales income. There is certainly room for growth. Yet, AfCFTA threatens the realization of this growth. Efficiently utilizing the advantages of the AfCFTA will require some level of resources.

More than 90% of these traders do not have the capacity. For instance, how can a typical retailer with a capital of USD $2000 to USD $10,000 fully grab the opportunities created through the single continental market?

Unless, of course, he is operating efficiently and has a way of reaching out to the other parts of the market with very little financing. Sadly, the typical African retailer has almost no knowledge about efficient shop management practices; neither does this retailer have the digital literacy, which is the only other way to scale into other countries with inadequate capital.

We cannot over emphasize the importance of digital literacy.

Without digital literacy, every good intended decision and action will be planted seeds of our own woes. We may be caught in the trap of running in circles and not achieving any substantial outcome as a continent.

Digital literacy will be the reason why these retail giants (who form less than 10% of the industry) will not be able to compete out these disadvantaged SME retailers.

Can we take our time and wait for these SME retailers to catch up? No! Every day that passes

by without putting in our maximum efforts widens the income inequality gap. A retailer loses business; an African is ripped off a decent work and economic growth; a family loses its source of income; poverty is aggravated. The average African retailer should be well empowered to use technology to expand his market opportunity and to improve his business. Key stakeholders of the retail industry need to rise up! Citizens need to amplify their efforts. Folding our arms, sitting back and leaving digital literacy to chance is a way of consenting to the unfair financial disparity.

Let us also not forget that, the continent was never dealt with fairly, to begin with. Africa is still struggling with extracting value from the world’s ‘free’ markets, regardless of the fact that nat-

ural resources and ideas were never an issue domestically.

Take chocolate – 75% of all the cocoa produced in the world come from Africa and yet, we only receive 5% of the annual revenue, that is USD $5 billion of USD $100 billion.

As a share of Africa’s total economy, consumer spending is now the fastest-growing source of demand, compared to government and business spending, and this trend is projected to continue through 2030. Interestingly, by 2030 the population of Africa is estimated to have surpassed that of either India or China. In light of these projections, even the most conservative estimates expect the value of consumer spending in Africa to surpass US $2 trillion within the next few years—an increase of more than 30% from 2015 lev-

els (Landry Signe, 2018).

In today’s world, customers are increasingly defining how retailers run their businesses.

The retail industry is evolving at a faster and faster rate of change. Technology innovations, changing consumer behaviour and attitudes are all playing their part in changing the face of retail, as we know it.

Winning retailers will own demand-driven business models and will have a great exposure to technology. The setting up of the AfCFTA will aggravate the situation.

We need to devise means of educating our retailers on enhancing their businesses with technology. For instance, equipping them with web browsing skills, use of search engines, email, text, and evaluating online resources. They contribute to almost a quarter of all the money made in Africa. They really matter!

Reference Karuri, Ken (2016), “Africa’s consumer market promising: BCG Report,” AFP and Boston Consulting Group, African news; Hatch et al. (2012), p. 3.

Awura Abena Amponsah (Co-founder, Sumundi Limited) (Member, Institute of ICT Professionals, Ghana). For comments, contact awura@sumundi.com or Mobile: 0541952025

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BAN K I N G

African Trade Insurance presence to mitigate investment risks – Ofori-Atta Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance, says the presence of the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI), will help to mitigate Ghana’s investment risks, to unlock additional investments and lower the cost of borrowing.

In a speech read for him at its official launch recently in Accra, he said the Agency was going to support Ghanaian banks by providing access to credit insurance that would offer the much-needed collateral.

He noted that with the ATI, the banks would have additional and improved revenue streams, something that would aid economic growth.

The local banks would be able to lend more to businesses to assist their expansion to give more jobs, while strengthening the competitiveness of the banks and boosting private sector growth. Ghana became a full member of the ATI in October 2019 with shareholding valued at US$176 million that was provided with the financial support of KfW, a German state-owned development bank. The Agency expects to review, and potentially insure, the current pipeline transaction in Ghana valued at US$12billion. “ATI is a unique institution because the list of benefits it brings to countries goes well beyond insurance.

“It is not a typical insurance company; it operates on the level of investments and trade by supplying the insurance that fuels all the major investments and trade transactions in other regions of the world”.

Mr. Ofori-Atta said, in Africa, this type of insurance had been in short supply largely because the economies got a late start to development than the more developed regions.

“As a result, African governments tend to obtain lower credit ratings. Africa also has a risk perception challenge because it is perceived as more risky than other regions, these factors have led to a shortage of investment insurance.”

In 2019, ATI insured portfolio transactions across Africa was valued at US$64 billion.

It was able to support such volumes of trade and investments

Standard Chartered commits US$75 billion towards SDG’s Standard Chartered (www.

SC.com) has today announced new business targets for supporting its clients as they transition to a low carbon economy as part of its sustainability aspirations.

By the end of 2024, the Bank commits to provide US$40 billion of project financing services for infrastructure that promotes sustainable development whilst an additional US$35 billion will go into project financing services, M&A advisory and debt structuring services for renewables and cleantech projects (solar and wind).

Underpinning the aspirations, Standard Chartered also intends to reduce its emissions across its global properties by 2030.

With an office footprint spanning 60 countries, including many large emerging markets, the Bank will achieve net-zero emissions by only sourcing energy from renewable sources and continuing to pursue energy efficiency measures across its 12 million square feet of property.

Tracey McDermott, Group Head, Corporate Affairs, Brand & Marketing, commented: “Over the past 18 months, we have made a series of commitments which are all geared towards supporting the Paris Agreement on climate change and the transition to a cleaner, greener, fairer economy. We know that the investment required cannot be provided by governments and NGOs alone, so it is critical that investors embrace the Sustainable Development Goals at pace and scale.

“Our unique footprint means we are well placed to help get finance to where it matters most.

That is why, as well as ceasing support for clients who generate more than 10% of earnings from thermal coal by 2030, we also have a renewed target for financing and facilitating USD35 billion of clean technology and renewables, and USD40 billion of sustainable infrastructure.”

Sunil Kaushal, Regional CEO for Standard Chartered, Africa and the Middle East, said: “It is estimated that emerging markets need an annual USD2.5 trillion investment to meet the SDG targets by 2030.

A bulk of this investment will need to be focused on Africa and the Middle East, which is home to some of the key sustainable development opportunities. The financing gap in Arab countries has been estimated to be over USD 100 billion annually [1], whilst in Africa this figure stands between USD 500 billion and USD 1.2 trillion [2].

For the goals to be met by 2030, investors and banks need to coordinate and connect capital to promote sustainable development.”

“With our unique footprint into emerging and developing markets, we can use our banking knowledge, people, and products to catalyze capital to where it matters most for SDG financing. Africa and the Middle East region is home to some of the world’s fastest-growing economies, though we also face some of the world’s most pressing environmental and social issues. Our ability to solve for the issues here will have a tremendous impact on our 2030 ambition to meet global SDGs.” Standard Chartered has a broad range of sustainable finance product offerings that can be deployed to help clients pivot their business towards a more sustainable model. In October 2018, it created the Sustainable Finance team and has since launched sustainable deposit products in London, Singapore, Hong Kong and New York; plus, a EUR500 million Sustainability Bond, the proceeds of which will be used to provide finance in areas aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals – including clean energy projects, smaller business lending and microfinance loans.

in part because of an impressive network of international financial institutions such as reinsurance companies and financiers.

The Minister said Ghana could benefit enormously from the ATI and encouraged other West African member countries to use its insurance to attract commercial financing at the levels of the more developed economies.

“This means financing at better terms and longer duration,

which can help pay off more expensive debts and create a more sustainable debt management process,” he added.

The manufacturing and trade sectors would benefit from the ATI through credit insurance to expand their sales beyond Ghana. Through the ATl’s Regional Liquidity Support Facility (RLSF), backed by KfW, Ghana could help mitigate the negative impacts of climate change.

The Facility was created to help tackle climate Change by supporting renewable energy projects in ATl’s member countries.

The RLSF supports small and mid-scale renewable energy projects with an installed capacity of up to 50 MW and in exceptional cases up to 100 MW by protecting the developers against the risk of delayed payments by public off-takers.

Mr John Lentaigne, the Acting Chief Executive Officer, ATI, said it had successfully helped governments to attract lower-cost financing at longer durations by providing a novel insurance scheme that effectively ‘wraps’ the government’s borrowing requests with insurance.

“ATl can support Ghana’s drive to increase trade with other African countries and internationally in a number of ways”, he added.

Financial institutions urged to invest in risk management practices Mr. Michael Mensah-Baah, Chief Operating Officer, Absa Bank, Ghana has advised financial institutions to invest in risk management practices to forestall any uncertainties.

He said even though it was difficult to predict the future, measures must be put in place to mitigate any unforeseen problems. Mr Mensah-Baah said this at a lecture on the theme: “Leveraging Risk Management in Financial Institutions” in Accra and reminded Board of Directors that it had an oversight responsibility to manage a company’s risk management framework to function well.

He said it was imperative for management to respect all stakeholders in financial institutions because shareholders were owners of the organization and appointed board members to represent them.

He urged Board of Directors to sanction any management member who failed to execute his or her duty; to serve as deterrent to others as well as preserve the image of the company.

“Everyone in the Organisation is responsible for risk management, it is a chain and starts from board members to management and staff,” he said.

He stated that risk management was an event and urged financial institutions to institute a good corporate governance mechanism for survival.

Mr Osei Gyasi, Head of Banking Supervision Unit, Bank of Ghana, launched a book titled: “Corporate Governance for Banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions making directorship a Competence based Profession”.

The book, he said would become a great material to be used for the training of directors of financial institutions in the country. It incorporates all the financial acts into one umbrella, which would guide financial institutions in managing its operations in an efficient and effective manner.

It also provides insight into the Ghanaian banking crisis and several case studies on financial service.

Mr Gyasi said the book would serve as a reference document for financial institutions, academia, students, banking practitioners and those who wants to acquire knowledge in the area of corporate governance.

Mr Justice Awuku-Sao, the Author said the book entailed sections of the banking Acts 2016, sections of the 2018 guidelines from the Bank of Ghana and aspects of 2019 company Acts that affected all financial directors and international best practice and corporate governance.

He entreated Bank of Ghana to make the book ready for all directors of financial institutions during their training programmes.GNA

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News

WearCheck expands in West Africa South African condition monitoring specialists, WearCheck, upgraded their laboratory in Tarkwa, Ghana this month into a state-of-the-art testing centre which can now conduct transformer oil, coolant and fuel analysis - amongst a host of additional services – as well as traditional used oil analysis.

Tarkwa’s new laboratory - now housed in a building a block away from the original converted shipping container - is kitted out with various new instruments that enable extensive advanced testing to be done, and additional laboratory technicians have been employed.

The company also opened a second laboratory in Ghana recently, providing world class oil analysis and reliability solutions services to industries in the Ashanti region, in Kumasi.

These developments by WearCheck are a direct result of increased demand for excellent condition monitoring services in Ghana.

This brings to 17 the number of laboratories operated by WearCheck, which was founded over 40 years ago in Durban, South Africa, and today processes in excess of 800 000 used oil samples annually.

WearCheck Kumasi laboratory supervisor Martin Acheampong (left) processes used oil samples in the company’s new lab in Ghana, while lab technician Charles Aggrey looks on. WearCheck provides oil analysis and other condition monitoring services to industries to boost machinery availability and reliability.

Since 2013, WearCheck Tarkwa has successfully serviced Ghanaian mining operations and other industries, conducting the scientific analysis of used oil and other condition monitoring techniques - all of which reduce maintenance costs and boost productivity by improving equipment reliability and availability.

Managing director Neil Robinson is delighted to be expanding business operations in Ghana.

‘The industries in Ghana have welcomed WearCheck with open arms, for which we are very grateful. The positive feedback from our Ghanaian customers has inspired our company to expand into the Ashanti area to meet the local need for our top-quality laboratory services.’

Robinson is dedicated to providing top quality service and is proud of WearCheck’s status as the only condition monitoring company in Africa with ISO 9001 quality certification and ISO 14001 certification for its environmental management programme, as well as ISO 17025 accreditation for its laboratory-centric quality management programme. Backed by a team of highly-skilled scientists and

technicians, WearCheck assists customers to select the best condition monitoring programme, which incorporates services such as the analysis of used oil and other fluids, thermography, vibration analysis, balancing, technical compliance, rope condition assessment, non-destructive testing, and a wide range of aligned services.

Mining, industrial, marine, earth moving, aviation, construction and power generation – these are just some of the industries in which WearCheck’s customers operate.

WearCheck is Africa’s premier condition monitoring company, with a network of laboratories spanning nine countries on the continent and beyond in Dubai and India. Laboratories are situated in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, DRC and Mozambique, with WearCheck branches in several other African countries.

WearCheck Tarkwa is now located at Tamso Sector 7, Teberebe Junction (down the road from the original container site), and can be contacted on supportgh@wearcheck.com. gh. or call +233 54 229 8912.

Even without an outbreak, coronavirus could hit Africa hard Even without a single confirmed case, Sub-Saharan Africa may be the region hardest hit outside Asia by the spread of the coronavirus.

The outbreak has shut down entire swathes of the Chinese economy, threatening world economic growth and curbing appetite for oil and metals that are the lifeline of many African nations.

A slowdown in the world’s second largest economy and a 5% drop in oil prices over one year could mean $4bn in lost export revenue for Sub-Saharan Africa, or the equivalent to 0.3% of its GDP — more than any other continent outside Asia, according to a study by the Overseas Development Institute.

“Many developing countries are increasingly dependent on China for trade, both for imports and exports,” Dirk Willem te Velde, principal research fellow at the institute, said in London. “If you want to raise the quality of your growth that is more job intensive and more resilient to shocks then you have got to diversify, and when you have a shock like this it makes you realise that.”

The IMF slashed its economic growth projection for Africa’s top oil exporter, Nigeria, to 2% from 2.5% because of a decline in oil prices. The drop has led to pressure on the naira given crude accounts for 90% of the West African nation’s exports.

Weaker demand from China also puts other resource-dependent economies such as Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia at risk.

Crude prices are down about 11% this year. Copper and iron ore prices have declined 8% and 1.5% respectively this year.

Alarm bells African central bankers are starting to sound alarm bells.

“It is a catastrophe that is

A medical worker wears protective clothing as a preventive measure against the Covid-19 coronavirus in Beijing, China, February 21 2020. Picture: GREG BAKER / AFP

unfolding,” Bank of Namibia governor Ipumbu Shiimi told reporters after cutting interest rates on February 19. “We don’t know exactly where and when it is going to peak but I think it is already starting to disrupt economic activities.”

The country sells almost a fifth of its exports, mostly diamonds and copper, to China.

The SA Reserve Bank will take into account the virus impact on the global economy at its next rate-setting meeting, said Chris Loewald, a member of its monetary policy committee.

“It’s quite clear, we have seen

the copper price being affected, it’s reduced, so that obviously affects our economy directly,” Zambian central bank governor Denny Kalyalya said. “The full extent of that is not calibrated at this point but definitely, it has a negative effect.”

Consumer spending Unlike when the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic started in China in 2003, the Chinese economy is now more integrated into the rest of the world, representing 18% of global GDP. In just over a decade, the Asian nation has displaced the US as Africa’s

single largest trade partner. A slump in Chinese consumer spending will hit smaller, niche export markets too.

“This will have an impact on other African countries who are actively trying to export more goods to China,” said Leah Lynch, deputy director at Development Reimagined, a consultancy based in Beijing. Examples of what would be affected by a slowdown in China’s food and beverage sector include Namibian beef, Rwandan coffee, Kenyan avocados and SA citrus, she said.

Still, Africa could bounce back

quickly once the outbreak is brought under control, said Razia Khan, chief economist for Africa and Middle East with Standard Chartered Bank.

“As this does not have the normal characteristics of a global demand slowdown, there is little reason to believe that the traditional relationship between African growth and global growth will hold,” Khan said, referring to Africa’s usual sluggish response to a global upturn.

“This time, with expectations of a V-shaped recovery in China, that long lag may not be in place.” (Bloomberg)

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AVI ATI ON

British airways launches new world traveller items British Airways has unveiled freshly designed soft blankets and cushions and a new headrest for customers in its World Traveller (long haul economy) cabin. The fresh white headrest covers, a new look bright blue cushion with a classic herringbone design and a new blanket in a super-soft fleece material will help customers to settle in and get comfy.

The items are available on all long-haul flights to and from Heathrow and will launch on all long-haul flights to and from Gatwick on 1 March, 2020.

Blankets that are being replaced will be donated to charities and projects in the UK and overseas. Carolina Martinoli, British Airways’ Director of Customer experience, said: “We want our customers to be able to sit back and really relax on board, making the most of the comfortable new soft furnishings, the in-flight films and pro-

grammes and the four-course World Traveller menu. Our aim is to deliver them to their destination feeling refreshed and feeling their trip is off to a great start. ” These additional changes to the World Traveller offer follow a long list of other recent investments for customers including 73 new aircraft, the refurbishment of the airline’s long-haul fleet with new cabins so they look and feel new, redesigned lounges, new dining across all cabins, new bedding and amenity kits for First, Club World and World Traveller Plus, the best quality onboard WiFi to every aircraft and providing access to power at every aircraft seat. The airline recently introduced its Club Suite, a new business class seat with direct aisle access on its A350 aircraft, which will be rolled out across the British Airways’ long-haul fleet.

Coronavirus outbreak to cost airlines nearly $30bn The International Air Transport Association, or IATA, predicted demand for air travel will fall for the first time in more than a decade, reports BBC. Airlines in China and other parts of the Asia Pacific region are expected to take the vast majority of the impact.

It comes as carriers around the world have been forced to reduce flights, according to the report.

In total, airlines in the Asia Pacific region are set to see a $27.8bn revenue loss in 2020, while those outside Asia are expected to lose $1.5bn in revenue, IATA has forecast.

Of that figure, IATA predicted that carriers in China are set to lose revenue of $12.8bn in their home market alone.

“Airlines are making difficult decisions to cut capacity and in some cases routes,” said IATA’s Director General Alexandre de Juniac. “This will be a very tough year for airlines.”

However, IATA cautioned it was too early to predict what this expected revenue loss would mean for airlines’ profitability this year.

Malaysia Airlines promotion ‘atrocious’ Malaysia Airlines promotion targeted at Kiwis and titled “My Ultimate Bucket List” has been labelled atrocious by MH370 widow Danica Weeks.

The airline - which also hit headlines when MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July - invited travellers from New Zealand and Australia to enter the competition, which kicked off on Monday and offered them the chance to win an Apple iPad or return trip to Malaysia.

They were asked to answer the question, “What and where would you like to tick off on your bucket list, and explain why.”

Mrs Weeks, whose New Zealand husband Paul was one of 239 people lost when Flight MH370 disappeared in March, said she was “blown away” by the airline’s insensitivity The Perth mother of two said many of the airline’s interactions with families of the victims

were “insensitive”.

“This is just another promotion that they’ve come up with.

It’s just atrocious - why would you say that?

“We’re sitting here wondering [and] they’ve been entrusted with our loved ones and can’t tell us where they are.”

Auckland University senior marketing lecturer Bodo Lang said Malaysia Airlines had made a “very poor choice from an advertising stand point”.

“Other airlines would have got away with this but Malaysia Airlines should have shown ... awareness in this situation Competitions are an often-used tactic in many product categories. Travel is no exception and the idea of being able to win a trip to an amazing location lends oozes [of ] positivity and that is exactly what Malaysia Airlines needs at this point. And passengers, of course.”

The competition was not going to help the airline’s reputation, Dr Lang said.

They have had two fatal incidents in one year. While Malaysia Airlines may have had very limited control over why these incidents happened, they were in control over how they handled the aftermath and this could have been handled much better.

“In the long run, Malaysia Airlines will have to gradually rebuild its trust with passengers and the public. The unfortunate naming of the competition would have made this task again

Ethiopian Mobile App Hits 1 Million Downloads

Ethiopian Mobile App Hits 1 Million Downloads Addis Ababa, 21 February, 2020 The number of Ethiopian Mobile App users has reached one million. With a robust and integrated digital strategy, Ethiopian has set an innovative approach to simplicity and seamless end-to-end customer experience with its user-friendly mobile App. The multi-award-winning global airline launched into a digitization journey with localized service, languages and payment options. Being a pioneering airline in Africa with the inclusion of Alipay and WeChat payment options, the App also features 38 payment options which cater to global customers. Ethiopian Mobile App enables global passengers book, pay, check-in, board as well as enjoy flight status notifications all with a single-window system and a mobile-cloud first strategy.

Mr. Miretab Teklay, Ethiopian IMC Director, said, “In line with Ethiopian digitally connected guest strategy, we have made substantial investment in our digital service to elevate our customers experience with Ethiopian. The digital transformation is incredibly encouraging. The app year-on-year revenue alone has risen 1000%.

Currently, all touch points across the customer journey have gone digital. The digital service has helped us create great customer experiences.

Our digitally talented technical team is working day and night to leverage emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, IoT, block chain, biometrics and make the app a leading digital platform in the world.” Download and enjoy the digital experience at bit.ly/ET-android-app and bit.ly/ET-iOSApp

Ghana: New domestic airline to start operations this year more difficult for the airline.”

Last night, Malaysia Airlines issued a statement saying it had “withdrawn the title of a recent competition available to Australia and New Zealand ... as it is found to be inappropriate at this point in time”.

“The competition had been earlier approved as it was themed around a common phrase that is used in both countries. The airline appreciates and respects the sentiments of the public and in no way did it intend to offend any parties.” (nzherald.co.nz)

AviationGhana sources have confirmed that a new duly licensed domestic and regional airline is all set to start operations in the second quarter of this year (Q2).

The sources say, the airline has recruited experienced hands and is busily working towards the start of its operations in the country. There are currently three airlines servicing various destinations in the country–Africa World Airlines (AWA), Passion Air, and Unity Air. Of the three, AWA has the largest fleet and is the only Ghanaian registered carrier operating regional

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EN ERGY

CPC expresses worry over hike in LPG prices The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers has expressed concern about the Price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) which has seen some sustained increases at the various retail outlets across the country over the past few months.

These increases, according to the Chamber, pose a huge financial burden on consumers in the usage of LPG by both households and automobile users.

“The national LPG promotion programme aimed at increasing LPG penetration and usage to about 50% coverage by 2030 is and will not be met if these sustained increases are not reversed and prices stabilized, the tendency for consumers to resort to cheaper alternative fuel sources could also become a reality as a section of domestic and commercial users complain of the drag in pump prices of LPG across the country,” Prices of Ex-pump and Depot are computed on averages since the prices are in ranges and from different sources.

Ex-pump prices of LPG per kg over the period has seen an increase of about Gh¢ 1.03/kg since the second window of September, 2019 to February, 2020 representing a 21% of change.

The maximum increment in ex-pump prices of LPG per kg

happened in the third window of January with a percentage increment of 8.16%.

The only decrease in the pump price within the period was in the second window of January where prices fell by 2.53% though world market prices of crude and other petroleum products have seen some reduc-

tions within the period.

Depot prices of LPG per kg did not change in the second window of November, 2019 but ex-pump prices increased by 0.19%.

Between September, 2019 and February, 2020, depot prices of LPG per kg changed by GHp 0.46 while Ex-pump prices of Nominal Pump price (GH₵)

LPG per kg changed by GH¢1.03.

Ex-pump prices have increased higher than the depot prices over the same period, what this implies is that a smaller increase in depot prices leads to a comparable higher increase in expump prices.

The current average prices of LPG per kg is at Ghc5.93 which

WINDOWS

Ex-Pump Price Range (GH₵)

Average Pump Price (GH₵)

Depot Prices Range (GHC)

Average Supply Price

Depot Price Percentage

16TH SEPT- 30TH SEPT

4.8 - 5.00

4.9

2.66- 2.84

2.76

-

1ST OCT -15TH OCT

4.92 - 5.10

5.01

0.11

2.30%

2.67-2.95

2.81

1.81%

16TH OCT- 31ST OCT

4.96 - 5.12

5.04

0.03

0.61%

2.70 - 2.97

2.85

1.42%

1ST NOV -15TH NOV

5.17 - 5.40

5.26

0.22

4.37%

2.81 – 3.13

2.97

4.21%

16TH NOV - 30TH NOV

5.19 - 5.37

5.27

0.01

0.19%

2.82 -3.12

2.97

0%

1ST DEC -15TH DEC

5.22 - 5.40

5.31

0.04

0.76%

2.84 -3.13

2.99

0.67%

16TH - 31ST DEC

5.36 - 5.55

5.46

0.15

2.83%

2.92 – 3.22

3.07

2.68%

1ST JAN - 3RD JAN

5.43 - 5.62

5.53

0.07

1.28%

2.95 - 3.26

3.11

1.30%

4TH - 15TH JAN

5.29 - 5.48

5.39

0.14

-2.53%

2.88 - 3.18

3.03

-2.57%

16TH JAN - 31ST JAN

5.73 - 5.92

5.83

0.44

8.16%

3.12 -3.43

3.28

8.25%

1ST FEB - 15TH FEB

5.84 - 6.02

5.93

0.10

1.72%

3.17 -3.49

3.33

1.52%

-

Percentage increase in Price

is a lot higher than the average prices of Gasoil and Gasoline.

Below is the Tabular representation of the results.

The Chamber said the astronomical increase in the prices when not checked would impact negatively on the targeted LPG penetration rate.

-

The rich world must take responsibility for its carbon footprint

By Adair Turner

China and other developing economies are instinctively wary of developed-country proposals to combine domestic carbon prices with “carbon tariffs” imposed on imported goods. But such policies may be the only way for rich-world consumers to take responsibility for their carbon footprint in other countries.

The climate activist Greta Thunberg has accused developed economies of “creative carbon accounting” because their measures of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, and of achieved and planned reductions, fail to consider the gases emitted when imported goods are produced in other countries. As Chinese officials quite rightly point out, about 15% of their country’s emissions result when goods are made in China but consumed in other, usually richer, economies.

China and other developing economies also are instinctively wary of developed-country proposals to combine domestic carbon prices with “carbon tariffs” imposed on imported goods. But such policies may be the only way for rich-world consumers to take responsibility for their carbon footprint in other countries.

The “creative accounting” charge would be unfair if it were meant to imply deliberate concealment; the United Kingdom’s government, for example, publishes an easily accessible carbon-footprint report. But the figures certainly support Thunberg’s point. In 2016, the UK emitted 784 million tons of GHGs on a consumption basis, versus 468 million tons on a production basis. And from

Adair Turner

1997-2016, the UK’s consumption-based emissions fell by only 10%, compared to a 35% decrease in production-related emissions.

Likewise, the European Union’s total consumption-based emissions are about 19% higher than those related to production.

And while the United States’ gap of 8% is smaller in percentage terms, on a tons-per-capita basis it is just as large.

China is easily the biggest counterpart to this developed-economy gap, with consumption emissions of about 8.5 gigatons per year, versus ten gigatons on a production basis. And while China’s per capita emissions have already overtaken the UK’s on a production basis, it will be several years before the country’s per capita consumption footprint exceeds that of the UK. So, if the developed world is serious about limiting potentially catastrophic climate change, it must take responsibility for emissions that its consumption generates abroad.

There are only two ways to do this. One is for the rich world to consume less. But although more responsible lifestyles – buying fewer clothes, cars, and electronic goods, or eating less

red meat – should certainly play a role in making zero-carbon economies possible, such changes alone will not get us close to zero emissions. Nor will they necessarily close the consumption-versus-production gap, because consumption of domestically produced goods could fall as much as that of imports. And reduced imports by developed countries mean reduced exports for poorer economies, creating challenges for economic development.

The alternative is to ensure that imported goods are produced in a low- and eventually zero-carbon fashion. The ideal policy to achieve this would be a globally agreed carbon price, which would encourage producers in all countries to adopt low- or zero-carbon technologies. Absent this ideal, there are now growing calls in Europe and the US for a second-best solution – domestic carbon prices imposed in particular countries plus “border carbon adjustments,” meaning carbon-related tariffs on imports from countries that do not impose an equivalent carbon price on their producers.

The immediate reaction of policymakers in China, India,

and many other developing countries may be to condemn such policies as yet more protectionism in a world already destabilized by US President Donald Trump’s tariff wars. And anti-Chinese political rhetoric in the US – sometimes including the absurd accusation that China is an irresponsible polluter even though its per capita emissions are half those of the US – creates a difficult environment for rational policy assessment.

But in most industries, the combination of domestic carbon prices and border carbon tariffs poses no threat to the competitiveness and growth prospects of exporting companies in developing economies.

Imagine that European steel producers were subject to a new carbon tax of €50 ($54) per ton of CO2 within Europe, which also applied to imports of steel from China or anywhere else. In that case, the relative competitive position of European and foreign steel producers seeking to serve European customers would be unchanged compared to the no-tax starting point.

And Chinese or Indian steelmakers, or companies in other high-emission sectors, are as well placed as their European or US peers to adopt new technologies that reduce the carbon content of their exports (and thus their liability to border carbon taxes).

Indeed, domestic carbon prices plus border adjustments are simply an alternative route to achieving the international level playing field that ideally would be secured through a global carbon price applied simultaneously in all countries. There is one crucial difference, though: if carbon taxes are imposed at the importing country’s border, rather than within the exporting country, then the importing

country gets to keep the tax revenue.

That fact increases the incentive for exporting countries to impose equivalent domestic carbon taxes, rather than leaving their companies to pay taxes at the importing country’s borders. As a result, domestic carbon taxes with border adjustments could well prove to be an effective stepping-stone toward common global carbon prices, even if explicit international agreement on a global regime cannot be achieved.

Furthermore, such an approach suggests a potentially attractive way to encourage wider acceptance of border tariffs as being legitimate, necessary, and unthreatening. To be sure, the revenues from any carbon taxes levied on domestic producers should be used within the domestic economy – whether to support investment in low-carbon technologies or as a “carbon dividend” returned to citizens. But there is a good argument for channeling the revenues from carbon tariffs to overseas aid programs designed to help developing countries finance their transition to a zero-carbon economy.

Thoughtful developing-economy negotiators should argue for such revenue transfers, rather than opposing a policy that developed countries will have to deploy. After all, richer economies must not only drive down their own industrial emissions, but also take responsibility for those that their consumption is generating elsewhere in the world.

Adair Turner, Chair of the Energy Transitions Commission, was Chair of the UK Financial Services Authority from 2008 to 2012. His latest book is Between Debt and the Devil. (Copyright: www.project-syndicate.org)

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AG R I BU S I N ES S & C O M M O D ITI ES

Let’s promote export of cocoa products under AfCFTA—AGI The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) is to collaborate with the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) to train young entrepreneurs in the manufacturing of chocolate, cocoa byproducts and other research products developed by CRIG to enable them start something on their own.

This was disclosed by Mr. Dela Gadzanku, the Regional branch of the AGI when he visited CRIG at New Tafo in the Eastern Region. He explained that if Ghana is to move beyond aid and industrialise, there was the need to make more locals to go into cocoa processing and production.

“This is to afford the country the opportunity to take advantage of the $100 Billion available in the cocoa industry to create jobs for the people.”

Mr. Gadzanku called for efforts to promote cocoa products as one of Ghana’s first exports under the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA).

He said if the country was able to get more of cocoa products to the Ghanaian and international markets, it could enhance the economic fortunes of the country. The visit by the AGI was to afford the association the opportunity to familiarize with CRIG

and to find best ways to collaborate to boost the cocoa sector.

The delegation as part of the visit was taken round the various departments of CRIG including; the new products area, where chocolate and other cocoa byproducts were manufactured and a shop where products re-

3 Ghanaian agri-tech startups to participate in Impulse Acceleration Program

Sixteen startups drawn from Africa, USA, Portugal, Brazil have been selected to partake in Mohammed VI Polytechnic University’s (UM6) Impulse Acceleration Program in Morocco, Switzerland and the USA. The program, which began on January 13, 2020, has three Ghanaian Agritech start-ups, Esoko, SAYeTECH and Trotro Tractor, selected among 350 applications received after the Impulse African roadshow that made a stop in Accra last August.

The program proposes a wide variety of startups with innovative products and services that have the potential to reinforce OCP Group’s capabilities to contribute to global food security cause. The second and third bootcamps of the program are ongoing in Benguerir and Lausanne.

They consist of masterclasses, demo days, a challenge with the coding school 1337, several meetings with corporates and venture capitalists as well as engagement opportunities with OCP Group and its subsidiary OCP Africa. Commenting on the program, Adnane Alaoui Soulimani, Impulse Program Di-

rector, explained that the threemonth start-up training program for Agritech, Biotech and Mining Tech startups includes best-in-class business curriculums, value-added mentoring opportunities and intensive connections with ecosystem players in Morocco, Switzerland and the USA. According to him, the Impulse program seeks to reinforce OCP Group’s innovation capabilities, bring innovative solutions to the smallholder farmers in Africa and, to support the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems in Morocco and the rest of the African continent.

The Impulse Accelerated Program call for applications ended on October 1st last year with over 350 applications received from more than 40 countries.

These numbers are unprecedented for a program of this nature and demonstrate a true need to support entrepreneurs in the continent.

After a careful and robust multi-criterion selection process, the top applications were selected based on a meritocratic only approach and they have been enrolled into a world class accelerator programme.

searched on were displayed for sale. The Executive Director of CRIG, Dr Isaac Yaw Opoku said, their mandate as an institution was to act as the research wing of the Ghana Cocoa Board to help find solutions to production problems of cocoa, coffee, cashew, cola and shea nut.

He said in 2000, Ghana’s cocoa production was around 390,000 metric tons, so cocoa research suggested to COCOBOD that if issues such as blackpod disease, pest infestation and soil nutrition management were addressed, production could go up. As a result of the intervention, cocoa production of the country rose to 600,000 metric tons by 2004.

He indicated that CRIG had done a lot for the cocoa industry because previously cocoa took seven years to be harvested, but now it took only 18 months to be harvested all through the help of technology developed by CRIG. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mariseth Farms, Mrs. Marian Ofori Twumasi said, the visit educated her on new techniques on cocoa farming and called for efforts to publicise new products that are developed by CRIG.

Ghana Grains Council, BUSAC Fund to promote structured grain trading Ghana Grains Council (GGC) in collaboration with the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge Fund (BUSAC Fund) is embarking on a month-long advocacy campaign to sensitise members to enforce standards in the industry.

The step supported by USAID and DANIDA is to encourage all stakeholders including farmers, Fixed Based Operators (FBOs), traders, processors, millers, warehouse operators, and aggregators in the agricultural commodity markets value chain, especially for grains and legumes to ensure that there is quality, productivity and profitability in the grains value chain.

According to a statement from GGC, copied to the media, the Council had earmarked a month-long sensitisation drive which kick starts from the Volta Regional capital, Ho, through to Ejura in Ashanti Region, Techiman, Bono East Region, Wa and Tumu in Upper West Region, Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region and Tamale the Northern region.

The sensitisation drive would create a platform for the Council to engage stakeholders like the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), Food and Drugs Authority, representatives of the major grains market centres and all value chain actors on how to drive growth in the sector.

The statement said the GGC and the Ghana Standards Authority had developed standards for grains and legumes such as maize, rice, soybean, sorghum and groundnut.

It was therefore impera-

tive for all value chain actors to appreciate the overarching importance of the adoption and enforcement of the standards herein developed by the regulators.

This is because apart from the strategic value-added services, value chain actors stood to gain warehouse receipting, advocacy, capacity building opportunities and access to high end markets and premium prices, the statement said.

“The GGC realises that certain key factors militate against adherence to the standards set by the GSA, due to the current voluntary nature of the enforcement and knowledge gab on benefits of incorporating such standards by industry players,” it noted.

The Grain standard specification covers the characteristics for the grain and set requirements for three main areas – Safety, Quality and Sampling and test methods, with each grain having its standard.

Compliance to these standards, the statement explained, would enhance the competitiveness of value chain actors to have access to high end markets and ultimately help them to better

position themselves to leverage on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The AfCFTA provides a platform for free trade by creating a single market to deepen the economic integration of the continent.

The statement urged the grain industry to tap into markets of member countries within the AfCFTA by linking markets to actors within the grain value chain.

Mrs Emily Boahen, the Acting Executive Secretary of GGC appealed to all members, government, public institutions and stakeholders to collaborate and help tofacilitate extended market access, influence policy change and to adhere to standards and regulations in Ghana’s grains sub sector to increase economic growth and productivity, the statement said.

GGC is a private sector-led initiative formed by grain business leaders with initial funding from USAID’s ATP and ADVANCE projects to positively intervene in the grains and legume value chain to achieve improvement in productivity, quality and greater commercialization of the industry. GNA

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MINING

Aluminij shareholders reject lease bid from Israeli-Chinese group Shareholders of Bosnia’s indebted aluminium smelter Aluminij Mostar on Friday rejected as inadequate a bid by an Israeli-Chinese consortium to lease the plant’s foundry, a move which would be a first step towards restarting production.

The smelter was shut down last July over debt incurred because of high electricity and alumina prices. An attempt to find a strategic partner had failed after London-listed miner and commodity trader Glencore and other investors pulled out of talks on a possible takeover.

The offer from a consortium of Israeli M.T Abraham Group, China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) and China Non-Ferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering & Construction to lease the foundry was rejected by 78% of Aluminij’s shareholders.

The group had previously made two bids for the whole company, which were also re-

jected. The government of Bosnia’s Bosniak-Croat Federation, which owns a 44% stake in the smelter, said it declined the latest offer because of technical errors which needed to be reworked and other terms that were vaguely defined.

Small shareholders also own

India’s production of non-metallic minerals witness slide as mines decline Production of non-metallic minerals is on the wane as the count of mines has seen a substantive decline from 931 in 2016-17 to 780 in 2018-19.

While metallic minerals grab the limelight for more widespread industrial applications, the non-metallic minerals trump them in value terms. At the end of 2018-19, the non-metallic minerals had a greater contribution to the country’s economy, valued at Rs 63,011 crore. Against this, the value of metallic minerals stood at Rs 61,009 crore.

In case of some of the industrial minerals like barytes, talc, steatite, pyrophyllite, kyanite, andalusite, sillimanite and wollastonite, India is one of the leading producing countries in the world.

“While India is endowed with adequate reserves of number of industrial minerals, namely, limestone, calcareous minerals, barites, sillimanite, talc, steatite, pyrophyllite, silica minerals etc., however, minerals such as apatite and rock phosphate, graphite, asbestos, fluorite and potash fall in the deficit or scarce category. Domestic resources for industrial minerals namely, borax, diatomite, mercury and Sulphur are almost negligible and India has to rely on their imports”, said R L Mohanty, vice president Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (Fimi) said in an address to the delegates at the Conference on Indian Industrial Minerals held in Ahmedabad recently.

India has significant import dependence on some of the industrial minerals. In case of rock phosphate, the reliance is 83 per cent. The import dependence exceeds 40 per cent for other key industrial minerals like graphite, magnesite and sulphur.

“However, it is a matter of concern that the resources of many of the industrial minerals remain untapped in the country as a result of which the annual output of non-metallic and minor minerals is almost stagnant.

There is also a huge competition from the global market and in

a competitive world, it is necessary that what we produce should be economically viable.

The industry must utilise its full potential and rise to new levels of technological competitiveness and productivity. The domestic industrial mineral industry needs to be promoted through a mix of progressive market development strategies and suitable fiscal measures to offset cheaper imports”, Mohanty added.

The demand for industrial minerals is expected to escalate given the Government’s thrust on rural segment and rapid urbanisation programmes.

In February 2015, 31 minerals were transferred to the minor minerals category and most of the industrial minerals being minor minerals, come under the purview of state governments.

“It is imperative that the state governments take initiatives for creating conducive environment for the enhanced growth and contribution of industrial minerals by way of expediency in grant of concessions, faster development of mines and facilitating taxation structure besides adoption of state-of-the-art technologies and skill development to meet the domestic demand as well as supplies to international markets. Our Gujarat based mining companies are facing major challenges in getting statutory clearances particularly for grant of environment clearances (EC). There are number of applications which are pending at state level for their grant”, he said. ( Business Standard)

a 44% stake and one of them, Zlatko Topic, told state radio the 15,000 euro bid was “flatly rejected” as shameful and humiliating because of the low price.

Representatives of the Croatian government, which owns a 12% stake in the company, voted in favour of the offer.

Stipo Buljan, the Federation’s government representative at the meeting in Aluminij’s home town of Mostar, said all sides had agreed to work together over the next 30 days to find a new solution to rescue the company, which employed 900 workers and was among Bosnia’s top exporters.

Federation Industry and Energy Minister Nermin Dzindic has said that bankruptcy is an option. Aluminij, which accumulated debt of almost 380 million Bosnian marka ($209.7 million), is being investigated by the financial and tax police.

Reuters

Mining corporations threaten newly discovered hummingbird with extinction

Mining giants are threatening to wipe out a newly discovered hummingbird, according to campaigners.

The blue-throated hillstar, which was discovered last year on mountaintops in southern Ecuador, is already critically endangered.

But mining corporations have gained the rights to move in on its habitat to extract metals, which experts say would be disastrous for the bird and other wildlife.

Scientists estimate there are only between 250 and 750 hillstars, which grow up to 5in long. They are unusual among hummingbirds because they are suited to the low temperatures of the Andes, the only place in the world where they live.

The metal-rich landscapes of the South American country have been increasingly targeted for industrial mining. Swathes of tropical forests have been cleared to allow copper, gold and lead to be extracted from large open pits.

If the mining companies take up their new permits, experts fear it will mean almost certain extinction for the hillstar.

Ecuador’s national mining

agency, Arcom, has been contacted for comment.

World Land Trust is trying to raise £30,000 to put the 70,000acre habitat under government protection and prevent mining.

The project also aims to provide clean water for at least 470,000 Ecuadorian people by extending a proposed water protection area.

“This is a unique opportunity to save a critically endangered species from extinction,” said Richard Cuthbert, head of conservation at the trust.

“For every habitat we lose, we eliminate a stronghold for numerous plant and animal species. For species such as the blue-throated hillstar, with such a small range, this can mean extinction.

“The fact that we are continuing to discover new species in habitats facing threats like mining shows we may not even be aware of the ecological damage these activities cause.”

As well as the hillstar, a new species of frog, the tik tik rain frog, was also discovered last year in ther area, which is home to spectacled bears, mountain tapirs and the Andean condor. (independent.co.uk/)

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F EATUR ES

Violence against women is blocking development

By Tlaleng Mofokeng

Modern development strategies often recognize the pivotal importance of enabling women to fulfill their potential and contribute effectively to their economies. Yet they fail to recognize the need for concerted action to protect women from violence, and uphold the rights of victims. They are thus grossly inadequate.

The single highest barrier to development globally is neither hunger nor disease. It is gender-based discrimination and violence. That is why achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 – gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls – is a prerequisite for progress on the other 16 SDGs. And yet, with only a decade left to complete the SDG agenda, governments continually fail to uphold girls and women’s most basic rights, let alone empower them to reach their full potential.

Consider the plight of women in South Africa, where the femicide rate is almost five times the global average and sexual assault is rampant: in 2018-2019, the police recorded an average of 114 rapes per day – an increase of nearly 5% from the previous year. To add insult to injury, women and girls – including victims of such assaults – often lack access to sexual and reproductive health services, including safe, affordable abortion.

The problem is not legal. South Africa’s constitution guarantees access to reproductive health care, and the 1996 Choice on Termination of Pregnancy (CTOP) act allows abortion on demand up to the twelfth week of pregnancy. And yet unsafe abortions still outnumber safe abortions 2:1.

Based on South Africa’s high rate of sexual assault – and my firsthand experience as a doctor working in the country – it is fair to assume that a non-negligible share of these unwanted and unsupportable pregnancies began in violence. In this sense, many of South Africa’s women are victimized twice: first, by the perpetrators of the assault and, second, by the health system that forces them either to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term or turn to sellers of illegal abortion pills.

In the latter scenario, the women risk side effects like sepsis and hemorrhaging, and often endure the dangerous and undignified process in public bathrooms. They may then suffer yet more violence, as their community blames them for the consequences of actions taken in desperation. For example, I was recently contacted by a young woman who was being hunted by a mob that suspected her of abandoning a fetus in a public toilet.

It didn’t matter that the woman had been raped and subsequently obstructed by the local clinic staff from receiving an abortion – care guaranteed by the CTOP act. It didn’t matter that her constitutional rights had been systematically violated. She would now suffer yet more violence, unless she managed to secure safe passage away from her home. Meanwhile, no healthcare professional or support

DR TLALENG MOFOKENG: I ENVISION A WORLD WHERE ALL PEOPLE ARE AT THE CENTRE OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AGENDA

staff has ever been punished for denying abortion services in violation of the CTOP act.

These problems are systemic.

A 2016 report by South Africa’s Commission on Gender Equality found that the Department of Justice was not coordinating the departments involved in implementing the Service Charter for Victims of Crime in South Africa. The Department of Health, for its part, had not established a standardized system for funding, monitoring, and evaluating the delivery of health-care services to victims.

The consequences of these failures included shortages of DNA evidence kits at police stations, inadequate transport resources, and a lack of safe houses for victims. Perhaps not surprisingly, perpetrators of sexual violence are rarely punished.

These problems are hardly unique to South Africa. The World Health Organization esti-

mates that, globally, more than one in three (35%) women will experience physical or sexual intimate-partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. Few see their attackers punished, and many cannot access sexual and reproductive health care after the fact, even in countries that have ratified international instruments guaranteeing the right to such care.

In 2015, the WHO and other United Nations agencies attempted to help address these lapses with the Essential Services Package for Women and Girls Subject to Violence. The package serves as a tool to identify what countries’ health, social services, police, and justice sectors must provide to all women and girls who have experienced gender-based violence, and lays out guidelines for coordination.

By implementing the package’s

recommendations, countries would be better able to fulfill their commitments under regional and international frameworks, such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (which encompasses the SDGs).

This would also support national-level efforts, such as proper enforcement of South Africa’s CTOP act. Failure to take such steps is exacting a devastating physical, psychological, social, and economic toll on countries.

As a 2013 WHO report notes, violence against women leads to death, injury, and unwanted pregnancy, with higher rates of infant and child mortality.

Moreover, victims often face depression, social isolation, and excessive alcohol use, all of which impairs their ability to work, leading to lost income.

In the European Union, gender-based violence is estimated to cost nearly €256 billion ($280 billion) per year. In South Afri-

ca, that figure stands at 28.4 billion rand ($1.9 billion).

Modern development strategies often recognize the pivotal importance of enabling women to fulfill their potential and contribute effectively to their economies. Yet they fail to recognize the need for concerted action to protect women from violence, and uphold the rights of victims. They are thus grossly inadequate.

Women deserve to be safe in their homes, at school or work, in hospitals, and on the streets.

Only when they are not struggling to survive can they – and their communities – truly thrive.

Tlaleng Mofokeng, a member of the Commission for Gender Equality in South Africa, is an expert in sexual and reproductive health and rights and the author of Dr T: A Guide to Sexual Health and Pleasure.

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NEWS

EPA, US Embassy and one other, conduct research on air pollution The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is jointly conducting a research at Jamestown in Accra with the United States (US) Embassy and an NGO, Environment 360, to measure the degree of pollution in the area.

Mr. Emmanuel Appoh, the Head of Environmental Quality Department of the EPA), said the outcome of the research would enable the Agency to determine the sources of air pollutants and take appropriate action to deal with these to improve the air quality.

Jamestown, a predominantly fishing community, was chosen for a case study because of the intense use of firewood for fish smoking. Mr. Appoh was speaking at an air quality event held by the US Embassy for journalists in Ghana’s capital city of Accra, on Thursday.

The goal was to aid them to have better understanding of the threats of air pollution in the country and the West African sub-region. The EPA official spoke of steps taken to install air monitors to assist the Agency to collect accurate data to forecast possible threats. Two regulatory grade monitors, the unit cost is

about US$160,000, are going to be installed at the University of Ghana Campus and Adabraka,

by June, to aid both data collection and policy formulation.

Each monitor would cover a four-kilometre radius and that would enable the EPA to provide information on day-to-day reading of the Air Quality Index and forecast to the population.

The installation of the equipment, he said, was being done with the support of the World

GH4STEM campaign starts The GH4STEM Campaign has been launched with Naa Ashorkor as the Voice of the Campaign. WeGo Innovate, the creators of the campaign, along with their partners--Ghana Association of Science Teachers (GAST), Ghana STEM Network, GhScientific, and The Exploratory, aim to transform the teaching and learning processes in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

The goal is to address the challenge of poor learning outcomes in STEM through two flagship programs under the GH4STEM campaign. These are the Junior Experimenters of Science ( JUNEOS) and Senior Experimenters of Science (SENEOS) challenges that will be aired on major television networks in the country.

The JUNEOS and SENEOS competitions are science experiment challenges broadly targeting students in Junior and Senior High Schools across the nation. These initiatives combine video, storytelling and the practical application of STEM theories in everyday life. The experiments performed by students are based on the national curriculum, thereby allowing students to build on their critical thinking skills, collaborative skills, creativity, problems-solving skills as well as enhance their capacity for innovation.

Naa Ashorkor, the Voice of GH4STEM summarized the relevance of STEM: “ When students are introduced to practical STEM, it helps them develop critical thinking, innovation and problem solving skills. I have a platform. I have the voice, literally to help push this campaign and this message far. And I am happy to use it.”

The students on the maiden edition of the challenge have been given the opportunity to showcase their know-how and understanding in STEM through

Bank. He said it was in everybody’s interest to join the effort at reducing air pollution because of its harmful effects on human health. “Air pollution does not know anybody and must be given serious attention by all”, he added.

Dr. Daniel Westervelt, US EPA Air Quality Fellow, said bridging the data gap within the country and the sub-Saharan region was crucial in the fight against air pollution.

He suggested that calibrated low-cost air quality monitors such as ‘Purple Air Sensors” could be installed in addition to the regulatory grade monitors to aid in data collection across the country.

He underlined the need to provide the people with access to data on air pollution to empower them to take action.

He advised that air pollution solutions should be co-produced by U.S and African leadership and cited how the New York City, in the 1950s and 1960s, was saddled with air pollution challenge but through many interventions, the situation had significantly improved.

(GNA)

NBSSI and Cocoa Life empower youth in cocoa communities

Naa Ashorkor

practical means and by using local materials they find in their environments. This represents the uniqueness of the GH4STEM campaign. Besides the students, the teachers also benefit from this initiative as it provides a means of networking and peer-learning.

The Founder of WeGo Innovate, Charles Selorm Agbemashior reaffirmed, “At the heart of JUNEOS Challenge are the teachers who, against all odds, overcome resource challenges and create powerful learning environments that make STEM lessons fun and accessible by using familiar, everyday materials as teaching aids, even in complex scientific experiments.”

The JUNEOS and SENEOS challenges are matchless given the goal to make science as relatable as possible to students, teachers and the general public. Dr. Thomas Tagoe, the Co-Founder of Ghscientific iterates, “Through JUNEOS we are making a bet on the potential of the Ghanaian child. I am convinced

that years from now, we will be proven right for making this bet.” Dr. Peter Asare-Nuamah, a representative from the Ghana STEM Network and the Former Ghana Ambassador to the Next Einstein Forum explains, “the campaign is a bold step in the right direction to demystify the myth surrounding teaching and learning and doing science in Ghana. It makes science practical and bridges the gap in doing science between urban and rural schools.” Mr. Thomas K. Arboh “JUNEOS Challenge will elicit critical thinking in the Child, Innovation is the new face of practical STEM Education.”

As GH4STEM’s JUNEOS and SENEOS challenges are only commencing, WeGo Innovate believes that with the right partnerships and lessons learnt from the pilot campaign, practical STEM has the potential to transform the learning of STEM and create future innovators throughout Africa.

The National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), in collaboration with Mondelez International, has trained 40 youth in cocoa growing communities in alternative livelihood sources.

The youth, from the Suhum and Lower-West Akyem districts, were trained to produce shower gel and body cream from cocoa husks to complement their sources of livelihood under the Cocoa Life Project of Mondalez International.

This came to light when the beneficiaries were presented with start-up kits including creaming machines, mixing bowls and packaging containers.

They were also given ingredients for production such as cocoa butter perfumes, preservatives, potash acid, petroleum jelly and glycerine.

Mrs. Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, the Chief Executive Officer of the NBSSI, said for the past two years the NBSSI had committed to training the youth in employable skills as well as giving business support to small and medium enterprises.

She urged the beneficiaries to put the skills and equipment to good use to improve on their living conditions. Mrs. Yaa Peprah-Amekudzi, the Country Lead of Cocoa Life, said cocoa farming could be supported with many other sustainable ventures such as skills training to grow their businesses.

BUSINESS24 | MONDAY FEBRUARY 24, 2020

THEBUSINESS24ONLINE.COM |

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NEWS

Jumia advertising now official in Ghana Ghana’s leading e-commerce platform, Jumia.com.gh, has opened up its online platform to brands and corporate organisations for advertising in a bid to raise more revenues and drive more value add-on for institutional & non-institutional partners.

With this new development brands and corporate organizations can now showcase their goods and services to over 2 million unique customers monthly.

Jumia’s Regional Managing Director of Advertising, Sascha Breuss, emphasized the need for this service by highlighting that: “Online is no longer the future, but where millions of unique visitors currently reside every month. We want to enable our partners and other agencies to leverage this massive traffic on our online platform in Ghana through Jumia Advertising.”

With over 300 million-page visits in 2019 alone and over 13 million platform visits monthly, Jumia advertising is a welcome development for brands and businesses keen on getting premium visibility on their products and services.

“By launching Jumia Advertising, we are responding to high demand from our brand partners and other agencies, who are seeking to maximize the traffic to our platform,” said

Jumia Ghana CEO Diana Owusu Kyereko.

Advertisers can expect that their messages will reach highly targeted segments, right at the moment of purchase – e.g. for DSTV the ads will be presented to people who are buying new TVs. Or when selling beverages, key messages can be shown to customers who are looking at either a competitor’s products or similar food & consumer good items.

Jumia is a leading e-commerce platform in Africa. It is built around a marketplace, Jumia Logistics, and JumiaPay. The marketplace helps millions of consumers and sellers to connect and transact. Jumia Logistics enables the delivery of millions of packages through our network of local partners.

JumiaPay facilitates the payments of online transactions for Jumia’s ecosystem. With over 1 billion people and 500 million internet users in Africa, Jumia believes that e-commerce is making people’s lives easier by helping them shop and pay for millions of products at the best prices wherever they live.

E-commerce is also creating new opportunities for SMEs to grow, and job opportunities for a new generation to thrive.

Customers at the heart of the UBA brand United Bank for Africa (Ghana) on 14th February showed that they indeed value and cherish their customers.

The bank shared chocolates across its business offices to delight customers as part of the Valentine’s Day celebration and to commemorate National Chocolate Day. The theme for this Year’s celebration was “Love like UBA” aimed at demonstrating love and appreciation for loyalty to UBA Ghana.

The Government of Ghana declared valentine’s day as chocolate day in 2005 to promote the consumption of locally manufactured chocolate and improve the economy.

As part of this year’s Valentine’s day celebration, UBA Ghana engaged customers on the ‘7days of love’ challenge.

The Challenge done on social media with each day expressing different meaning of love engaged customers in anticipation for Valentine’s Day. Customers were rewarded with airtime vouchers and loaded UBA prepaid cards through the ‘selfie challenge’. Staff were not left out as they received dinner for two at the prestigious Movenpick Ambassador Hotel.

Senior management could not stay out of the excitement and euphoria around the bank as they joined in the event to put smiles on the faces of customers they interacted with.

Customers expressed joy and gratitude upon receiving their chocolates. The day ended with delighted customers and praise for the initiative.

Managing Director of UBA Ghana, Isong Udom noted “on a special day like this, we want to share our love with our valued

customers who make us who we are.” He added UBA will continue to deliver superior banking service and at the same time offer rewards to customers.

Since inception in 2005, UBA Ghana has established its presence in Ghana as a full financial service institution providing retail, corporate and investment banking services. The bank offers a wide range of unique banking solutions and products to its customers. The Bank pioneered the entry of a new generation of foreign banks into Ghana in January 2005. UBA’s world class customer driven innovations have earned it the confidence of the Ghanaian public; as it continues to provide banking services to a wide variety of customers.