Business 24 Newspaper (February 26, 2020)

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Ten new airports coming

GH¢5bn depositors’ payout released

…GHC 24.7m earmarked for feasibility studies

By Dominick Andoh

Feasibility studies for ten (10) new airports, airstrips and helipads are expected to commence in earnest this year.

The studies will cover proposed Takoradi Airport and Upper East Airport; development of airstrips and helipads at Mole, Yendi, Kete Krachi, Tarkwa, Obuasi, Koforidua, West Central and Kyebi.

The total cost for the feasibility studies, to be undertaken by the Aviation Ministry, for the ten aerodromes and seven (7) other projects is GHC 24.7million, the Report of the Committee on Roads and Transport on the Annual Budget Estimate of the Ministry of Aviation for 2020 Financial Year has revealed.

There are currently five (5) operational civilian airports in the country—Accra’s Kotoka International Airport (Terminals 1-3), Kumasi Airport, Tamale Airport, and Wa Airport and Ho Airport.

There is currently a military airport in Takoradi which is used by domestic airlines for scheduled passenger operations. However, the limited use of the facility by airlines, and the growing demand on

…¢200 million disbursed to 800 accounts so far

Operational Airports • Kotoka International Airport • Ho Airport • Kumasi International Airport • Tamale Airport • Wa Airport

Yendi Mole

Kete Krachi

By Patrick Paintsil

Proposed Airports

Sunyani

Kyebi Obuasi

The Ministry of Finance has released GH¢ 5 billion to the Receiver of the defunct Savings and Loans and Microfinance Companies, as well as the Official Liquidator of the Micro Credit companies through Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG), in a combination of cash and bonds to fully settle all validated claims due depositors of failed Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs).

Koforidua

Tarkwa West Central Takoradi Map of Ghana

MORE ON PAGE 2

Govt’s structured agric initiatives yielding results—Akufo-Addo tions that came with the initiative has increased the production and yield of some staples and driven down prices of such commodities.

According to the president, sustained investments in resources, expertise and time, has resulted in the steady growth of the agriculture sector, recording growth rates of 6.1% and 6.4% between 2017 and 2018 respectively.

“Another good example of deliberate, well-thought out poli-

By Patrick Paintsil

Government’s flagship programme for the dominant agricultural sector, Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), set out to position the agribusiness as an attractive and economically viable profession, has been a huge success, according to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. The guided implementation of the PFJ and other related ac-

FX Rate (Commercial Banks Average) (USD/GHS) Crude Oil (USD/BBL)

Estimates for PBU effective 1st march 2020 (12 February 26th February 2020 avergaes)

% CHANGE

5.5344

5.3985

-2.46%

55.69

57.29

2.87%

Petrol (USD/MT)

536.77

541.57

0.8%

Gasoil USD/MT)

503.38

503.68

0.06%

LPG (USD/MT)

446.67

416.18

JET/KEROSENE (USD/MT)

542.65

529.91

-2.3%

Fuel Oil (USD/MT)

397.02

376.27

-5.23%

*PBU - Price Build-Up

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INTERNATIONAL MARKET

PETROLUEM PRICE INDICATORS (AS OF 24 FEBRUARY, 2020) PBU effective 16th February 2020 (27 January - 11th February 2020 averages)

cy, executed through hard work and commitment, that is generating dividends, is what we have done about food and agriculture in the past three (3) years.

“There is increased production and high yields of some foodstuffs like maize, rice, sorghum, groundnuts, soya bean, cowpea, cassava and plantain that has led to a decrease in the wholesale prices in market cen-

-6.82%

FEATURE THE NEW NORMAL SHOULD BE CASHLESS

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

As at 21/2/2020)

*EXCHANGE RATE (INT. RATE)

USD$1 =GH¢5.3377*

BRENT CRUDE $/BARREL

EXCHANGE RATE (BANK RATE)

USD$1 =GH¢5.4800*

NATURAL GAS $/MILLION BTUS

Swedish central bank departed from a negative-interest-rate policy that it had maintained for almost five years.

*POLICY RATE

MORE ON PAGE 8

PRODUCER PRICE INFLATION:

16%*

GOLD $/TROY OUNCE

GHANA REFERENCE RATE

16.11%

CORN $/BUSHEL

*INFLATION RATE

7.8%*

COCOA $/METRIC TON

13.3%

COFFEE ¢/POUND:

91 DAY TREASURY BILL INTEREST RATE

14.6898%

SUGAR ¢/POUND

Business24 Limited , Tel: +233 030 296 5297 / 024 337 6878 Advertise: 024 429 9168 Subscribe for ePaper : thebusiness24online.com/subscribe

-0.46 ($58.85) -0.02 ($1.90) +10.50 ($1,631.00) 0.00 ($382.25) +13.00 ($2,860.00) -4.05 ($104.95) -0.14 ($14.94)

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News/Editorial

GH¢5bn depositors’ payout released continued from page 1 This intervention will provide liquidity and guarantee the funds of individuals, businesses, and financial institutions that have been locked up in these defunct financial institutions, pending the completion of the Receivership exercise.

“All depositors affected should note that the Receiver and CBG will provide them with a detailed plan and procedures to fully settle all outstanding depositor claims in cash and fixed instruments once the claims have been validated in line with the resolution process.

We expect that the recent accelerated pace of the prosecutions and an intensification of the civil recovery process under the Receivership will result in substantial recovery of these monies for the Treasury,” a statement on the MoF As at press time on Tuesday, the Receiver of the defunct financial institutions, according to Business24 sources, had paid about ¢200 million into accounts of 800 depositors of the Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG).

According to the Finance Ministry, government has so far spent about GH¢17.7 billion on the resolution process, GH¢11.65 billion for the banking sector and GH¢6.1 billion on the SDIs and MFIs. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) last week, pledged that depositors of the failed microfinance and savings and loans institutions would be paid their locked-up monies in full.

“Depositors of the savings and loans and microfinance institutions, including DKM, which collapsed in 2015, will receive 100% of their deposits, too, once the validation exercise is concluded,” he said.

Government had initially guaranteed up to GH¢20,000 per depositor, but the president’s declaration means that already-paid depositors whose claims exceed GH¢20,000 will receive the remainder of their funds, while those yet to access their cash will receive 100% payment.

“This is money that we can ill-afford and which would have gone to fund the many things that our communities are crying for. Properly utilised, GH¢13 billion would work wonders with our perennial infrastructure deficit,” President Akufo-Addo said of the payouts.

Editorial: Planting for Food and Jobs puts agric back to growth path Sustained investments in resources, expertise and time, has resulted in the steady growth of the agriculture sector, recording growth rates of 6.1% and 6.4% between 2017 and 2018 respectively.

There has also been an increase in the production and high yields of some foodstuffs like maize, rice, sorghum, groundnuts, soya bean, cowpea, cassava and plantain which has led to a decrease in

the wholesale prices in market centers in major food producing areas over the same period.

These are some of the positive outcomes of the government’s Planting for Food and Jobs programme, a thought-out initiative to revive the fortunes of the dominant agriculture sector and to attract the much-needed youthful expertise and investment.

As an agrarian economy, the relevance of the agric sector to the national economy cannot be un-

derestimated and it is therefore encouraging that such a critical economic area is picking up again.

It is noteworthy that at the heart of all these efforts is the determination to make agriculture an attractive business to young, educated Ghanaians, and this is why modernisation, mechanisation and the use of technology are all part of the scheme.

In applauding the government for such an impressive feat, Business24 emphasises that the problems of the sector go beyond production

with issues of post-harvest losses and proper means of carting farm yields grossly affecting the income levels of farmers.

We urge the implementers of the programme to pay attention to the post-production side of the agric sector and ensure that some of these problems are resolved so as to incentivise the farmers and to sustain the programme.

Govt’s structured agric initiatives yielding results—Akufo-Addo has been revitalised to enhance agricultural marketing, and improve access to market. NAFCO is promoting institutional procurement of produce and sales to schools and hospitals,” he said.

Backing the efforts of the NAFCO is the Commodities Exchange in Ghana, which is fully operational to promote high productivity, price stability, increased exports, and reduced imports of commodities.

Under the PFJ programme are: the Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) module which promotes the following tree crops: cashew, coffee, coconut, oil palm, mango, rubber and shea and the Rearing for Food and Jobs (RFJ) programme is developing a competitive and more efficient livestock industry that will increase domestic meat production and reduce importation of livestock.

President Akufo-Addo noted: “At the heart of all these efforts is the determination to make agriculture an attractive business to young, educated Ghanaians, and this is why modernisation, mechanisation and the use of technology are all part of the scheme.”

continued from page 1

ters in major food producing areas,” the President said when he delivered the State of the National Address to Parliament last week.

The PFJ was rolled out by the government to promote growth in food production and create jobs across the country and was structured around the five pillars of: seed, fertilizer, extension services, marketing and monitoring.

It was policy action to drive the much-needed youthful expertise to the agricultural space and make the dominant sector more attractive to investments.

President Akufo-Addo said measures are being put in place to drive the gains of the programme across the value chain for farmers to generate the most income from their sweat.

“Once the foodstuffs are produced, we do not leave it to chance and risk not being able to sell and, thereby, discourage the farmers.

The National Food and Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO)

Ten new airports coming …GHC 24.7m earmarked for feasibility studies the Accra-Takoradi route as well as the need to provide easy access to the tourism hub of the country–Cape Coast, has meant there is the need to construct a bigger civilian airport.

“We have a lot of tourists going to the Cape Coast area, there is a lot of development going on in the oil and gas enclave in the Western Region, and the Takoradi Port is there as well. The fishing harbour in Elmina is also there. All these show that people will be travelling to and from the Central and Western Regions, so we plan to move on that,” Aviation Minister, Joseph Kofi Adda, told this writer.

The Ho Airport on the other hand, is currently

used as a pilot training base by some airlines. The airport has a runaway of 1,900 metres in length and 30metres wide, an aircraft parking area, a terminal building that can hold at least 150,000 passengers a year, a VIP and VVIP facility, a parking area for the staff and nine- Kilometre network of roads around the airport.

Regional and domestic airline operator, Africa World Airlines (AWA) has indicated that it is willing to start servicing the airport to boost tourism and investment in the Volta Region.

The Sunyani Airport has been out of use for some time now due to defects on the runway of the facility. The Aviation Ministry, working with the airports operator, Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), are

currently overseeing a rehabilitation of the runway to make it possible for airlines to service the airport. The terminal building of the facility has, however, been expanded to accommodate modern x-ray security screening equipment.

Why new aerodromes Total domestic passenger traffic increased from 415,158 in 2018 to 690,314 in 2019, representing an increase of a 40 percent increase in domestic passenger throughput.

Many factors have been attributed to this significant increase in passenger throughput, including, the opening improvement in on-ground infrastructure such as the opening of the Wa Airport, increase

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Dominic Andoh: Editor 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

in flight frequency by airlines and the Year of Return 2019 when Ghana took centre stage on the global tourism map.

Major music and fashion events such as Afrochella and Afronation, under the Year of Return brand, also attracted a lot of tourists into the country who travelled to other parts of the country to reconnect with their roots.

Ghana’s quest to be the aviation hub of the sub-region and the gateway to West Africa also means that she must invest in opening up various parts of the country. With the firm decision to establish a home-based carrier, the country stands to benefit by investing in on-ground infrastructure in various parts of the world where the home-based carrier can service.

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 | WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2020

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News

MiDA holds kick-off meeting for construction of two primary sub-stations The Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), will construct two primary substations in Kanda and Legon as part of projects being implemented under the Ghana Power Compact Program.

The projects will assist in reducing technical losses at the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

A kick-off meeting was held on February 20th and 21st 2020 to signify the readiness of all the parties including the project contractor, Eiffage Ghana Ltd, towards the commencement of the project.

Various issues related to the project were discussed, including implementation timelines towards the realization of the scheduled August 2021 completion date.

Officials at the meeting included Mr Martin Eson-Benjamin, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MiDA, and Ms Elizabeth Feleke, Deputy Resident Country Director of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

Additionally, representatives of ECG, the Ghana Armed Forces and the University of Ghana,

Legon (beneficiaries of the two substations), SMEC PTY, the project engineers, and other project consultants were present.

In his opening remarks, Mr Eson-Benjamin. said the primary substations “will fill an infrastructure gap which has been anticipated as the solution

to the perennial power supply challenges experienced by the beneficiary health facilities.”

He added that these primary substation interventions could be perceived “as a health-driven infrastructure initiative” and that the substations are therefore “critical assets in the promotion of quality healthcare for

Ghanaians”.

The 33/11kV Legon primary substation will improve electricity supply to the University of Ghana and its surrounding communities, especially to the newly constructed University of Ghana Teaching Hospital and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research.

The Kanda primary substation will improve power supply to the 37 Military Hospital and Greater Accra Regional Hospital. When completed, the health facilities and the neighboring communities will experience significant improvements in the quality of power supplied to institutions and homes.

Alongside the project, MiDA will construct a 16 Unit threebed apartment block at Kanda for the Ghana Armed Forces.

This will provide accommodation for persons to be affected by the construction of the substation.

On her part, the Deputy RCD of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, Ms Feleke said Ghanaians as well as the US Government, who are providing the funds, hold huge expectations of the project.

The cost of the two substations is estimated at US$11.3 million and will be funded by MCC as part of the US$308 million Compact II funds provided by the people and Government of the USA and the US$23.2 million counterpart funds by the Government of Ghana.

African Union Mobilizes Continent-Wide Response to COVID-19 Outbreak

Penplusbytes engages young persons, the media and techies in an ideas’ “marathon”

The Chairperson, African Union Commission, H.E. Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat, has said that the Commission will strengthen partnerships and coordination across Africa to respond to the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak.

“I would like to assure you of the firm resolve of the African Union Commission to establish the necessary synergy to maximize the impact of our actions to protect our continent from the ongoing coronavirus disease outbreak,” said H.E. Mahamat during the opening ceremony of the emergency meeting of the African Union Ministers of Health on COVID-19.

Mr. Mahamat said that, although Africa has reported only one case of COVID-19, the continent is already feeling the impact of the disease economically and socially.

“This epidemic is a human tragedy and it’s already paralyzing economic activities. We are feeling the effects already, because China, one of Africa’s economic partners, is affected.

If we do not take urgent actions the socio-economic effects will be very huge on Africa and the rest of the world,” said H.E. Mahamat.

In his address to the meeting, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), said: “Our biggest concern continues to be the potential for COVID-19 to spread in countries with weaker health systems. Our regional office for Africa, in partnership with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), is working hard to prepare African countries for the potential spread of the virus to Africa. We are calling on all

Social media has been recognised as an enabler for citizen participation and governance processes as it provides an avenue for ordinary people to receive and share information on policies that affect their daily lives.

In recent times however, social media has become a major tool for spreading misinformation, disinformation, and perpetuating the phenomenon of “fake news”, especially during elections, leading to mistrust of the media, political tensions and disorder across Africa.

Ghana has had its fair share of this information disorder over the years and it is expected to be widespread this year ahead of the elections considering the competitive nature of Ghana’s elections.

Penplusbytes with support from DW Akademie is rolling out activities under its media and information literacy campaign for the youth; aimed at educating the young on what is information disorder and how to circumvent its forms while consuming media content as well as producing credible media content by themselves.

On Thursday 27th and Friday 28th February, the project team would bring together young persons aged 15 to 35 years, media practitioners and programmers to brainstorm and reflect on what tech tools, products or applications would be useful to curb the menace of “fake news” during elections 2020 and beyond.

The event dubbed “#IdeathonMILElections 2020” would take the form of an ideathon, which is a novel means of developing innovative start-ups in the tech field.

According to the Executive Director of Penplusbytes, Ju-

countries to invest urgently in preparedness.”

During the meeting, Africa CDC presented an update about the situation of COVID-19 to the ministers, including the latest information regarding science, diagnosis, and management. The ministers discussed and agreed on a joint continental strategy to better prepare and respond to the disease, including a common approach for monitoring and movement restrictions of people at risk for COVID-19 and for information sharing.

“From the onset of the outbreak, the African Union has continued to share information with Member States through teleconferences by Africa CDC and through the Permanent Representative Committee and the Peace and Security Council of the African Union. We will continue to provide a platform for the exchange of information to improve health systems in Africa,” said H.E. Mrs Amira

Elfadil, Commissioner for Social Affairs, African Union Commission.

The ministers also discussed how to work together to develop and implement national preparedness plans, strengthen capacity, and stockpile personal protective equipment and quality-assured diagnostics with guidance and support from Africa CDC and WHO. They agreed to perform these tasks through the Africa Taskforce for Coronavirus (AFCOR), which was established by Africa CDC to share information and best practices, build technical capacity, support high-quality policy decisions, and coordinate detection and control at borders.

Following the meeting, Africa CDC and WHO will work with Member States and partners to provide comprehensive guidance on controlling COVID-19 and mobilizing more resources to support preparedness and response in the continent.

liet Amoah: “An ideathon is an intensive, brainstorming event to help young talents generate fresh solutions to existing challenges in their communities. We are hopeful that this one would address the growing concern of the implications of misinformation and how the nation through its youth can combat the issue of fake news m during elections 2020.”

On his part, Project Manager for DW Akademie Ghana, Simon Fischer, reiterated the need for innovative technologies in addressing societal concerns. “At a time when new technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, etc. are being used globally at every step to move closer to digital transformation, ideathons can help us to leverage on these new ideas in tackling our everyday challenges such as mis- and dis-information,” he said.

The media and information literacy campaign spearheaded

by Penplusbytes has come at an opportune time when young persons need to be educated on their social media behaviours particularly during the election campaign period.

Penplusbytes has already started with youth projects and summer schools that have helped a number of young persons improve both their personal skills and their media and information related skills.

These activities amongst others is expected to generate ideas and technologies that could drive innovative solutions which will enable the youth make informed decisions as users of news and media. It is hoped that at the end, the youth will become skillful creators and producers of media messages as they participate in Ghana’s upcoming elections.

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BUSINESS24 | WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2020

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Feature

The New Normal Should Be Cashless

A customer makes a contactless payment with a bank card on an Ingenico payment terminal.

Bloomberg | Getty Image

By Willem H. Buiter

In December 2019, the Swedish central bank departed from a negative-interest-rate policy that it had maintained for almost five years. The Riksbank’s repo rate (the rate at which it lends to commercial banks), which reached a low of -0.5% in February 2016, had risen to 0%

by January. The latest rate hike comes despite signs that the Swedish economy is slowing, with inflation running below target.

In the event of a cyclical downturn, says Riksbank Governor Stefan Ingves, stimulus will need to come from government spending and asset purchases by the central bank, given the limited effectiveness of negative interest rates. “There actually is a lower bound for the policy rate,” Ingves argues, making it “hard to imagine that you would go negative to, say, minus 5 percent.”

I beg to differ. It may well be that, in a low-interest-rate environment, countercyclical fiscal policy can play a more prominent role in managing the business cycle without creating any debt-sustainability issues. Even so, negative interest rates have not been given a fair chance.

Around the world, central banks and economic policymakers have been unwilling to remove (or at least lower substantially) the effective lower bound

(ELB) on nominal interest rates created by the existence of cash or currency. As a financial instrument that pays a zero nominal interest rate, cash sets a floor for other financial instruments that do, in principle, have freely variable nominal interest rates. Owing to the “carry costs of currency” (the cost of storage, insurance, and so on), the ELB is probably around -0.75 basis points – a level achieved by the policy rates in Denmark and Switzerland.

To be sure, a recent influential paper by Markus K. Brunnermeier and Yann Koby of Princeton University contends that there may be an “interest rate … at which accommodative monetary policy reverses and becomes contractionary for [bank] lending.” According to the authors, this reversal rate is determined by four factors: “banks’ fixed-income holdings, … the strictness of capital constraints, … the degree of passthrough to deposit rates, and … the initial capitalization of banks.”

I have no quarrel with the authors’ argument, but I would simply point out that the degree of pass-through to deposit rates is limited by the existence of an ELB on nominal interest rates.

So, the question is whether the degree of pass-through to deposit rates (and other rates paid to bank creditors) would continue to be lower at negative interest rates than at positive interest rates if the ELB were removed

by abolishing currency, or lowered significantly by removing all large-denomination currency notes.

Yes, firms and households that have grown up in an economic environment with positive nominal interest rates might have trouble calculating the real (inflation-adjusted) rate of interest associated with a negative nominal interest rate. But this difficulty would be only temporary.

Neutral real rates are already at zero or in negative territory in most advanced economies, and are likely to remain there for years if not decades to come.

As these economies continue to register below-target inflation, the implication is that negative nominal interest rates will become the new normal, and that the “inflation illusion” or “nominal interest rate illusion” will become a thing of the past. There is no reason to assume that such cognitive distortions will last forever.

There are three ways to eliminate the ELB. The first is to introduce a variable exchange rate between currency and deposits with the central bank (implying the same for deposits with commercial banks and other private instruments). Charging a -5% interest rate on deposits while simultaneously appreciating the value of deposits vis-à-vis currency holdings at a 5% rate would eliminate any arbitrage opportunities.

The second way to get rid of the ELB is to tax currency. But

I would prefer the third option: abolish the currency and replace it with a central-bank digital currency, while allowing for a transition period during which time small-denomination notes could be kept in circulation to accommodate the digitally and financially excluded.

In Sweden’s case, abolishing cash would be a minor event.

The value of Swedish banknotes in circulation at the end of 2019 was just SEK60.38 billion ($6.2 billion, or 1.26% of GDP). Of that amount, SEK44.85 billion comprised the two largest denominations – SEK500 and SEK1,000 notes (akin to American $50 and $100 bills, respectively) – which suggests that they were unlikely to be used in small retail transactions by technological laggards.

By comparison, in the United States, cash in circulation at the end of 2018 stood at $1.67 trillion (around 8% of GDP), of which 80% was in $100 bills.

In the eurozone, the figure for the same year was €1.23 trillion ($1.33 trillion, or 9% of GDP), of which 48% was in denominations equal to or higher than €100. Clearly, going digital would be more challenging for the US and much of the eurozone than for Sweden; but even in the former two, it remains eminently feasible.

Finally, there is a further benefit to abolishing currency: doing so eliminates the preferred means of payment and store of value among tax evaders, mon-

ey launderers, drug cartels, human traffickers, and other criminals. I would, of course, regret depriving the libertarian community of a financial bearer instrument whose anonymity offers protection from an overbearing and possibly predatory state; but those who want anonymity could always choose Bitcoin. The rest of us could prepare to welcome -5% policy rates during the next deep recession.

Swedish central bank departed from a negative-interest-rate policy that it had maintained for almost five years.

Willem H. Buiter Willem H. Buiter, a former chief economist at Citigroup, is a visiting professor at Columbia University. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2020. www.project-syndicate.org

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Education

How StarTimes empowers African talents Africa’s leading media group StarTimes favors local content or content in local languages for its African subscribers.

The 43 channels it created are broadcast not only in English and French but also in African local language such as Swahili or Hausa.

That led the media group to establish its own Dubbing & Translation Center in the Chinese capital city, Beijing. Every year, this center dubs 10,000 hours of TV series, films and documentaries into 11 languages.

The head of StarTimes media division Lily Meng explains that “we need professional staff to meet our dubbing requirements. And to identify the best actors, we decided to organize dubbing contest directly in Africa and give local talents the opportunity to work in China.

Here they get trained in an international environment using the latest technologies.”

So in 2016, StarTimes organized its first Swahili dubbing contest in Tanzania. More than a hundred of candidates applied but only the ten most talented actors and actress were offered a job in China.

Among them, Happiness Stanslaus Lulikela who, before attending the dubbing contest was already a well-known actress in Tanzania. When she decided to leave everything to go to China, her friends didn’t understand as her career was doing well. But for her, it was an easy decision. “I needed to

learn more things. If I didn’t come here, I couldn’t achieve my goal.”

Three years later, Happiness still works for StarTimes in Beijing. If she still enjoys dubbing, she isn’t satisfied with being just a dubbing actress. StarTimes gave her the opportunity to learn new skills. “In our country, only technicians can operate the machine and edit the film. I never had the chance to use the equipment. But here, StarTimes trained me and now I can independently operate the studio.”

In addition, Happiness is also working as a host for StarTimes Swahili channel. She enjoys doing program for her people back home in Tanzania.

Marc Jea has been working as a dubbing actor in Ivory Coast before winning a dubbing contest where he faced 200 people back in 2017.

Since starting to work for StarTimes in Beijing, Marc

has dubbed films, TV series, cartoons and documentaries.

“Doing different types of project made me understand my work much better and develop my dubbing skills’ range. I am grateful to StarTimes for providing me this opportunity.”

Since 2016, StarTimes held 23 dubbing contest for Swahili, Hausa, Portuguese, French and Zulu in five African countries.

Chris Koffi is another Ivoirian working for StarTimes in Beijing. But Chris is not an actor, he is a football commentator.

He is one of the four journalists from Ivory Coast commenting international football matches in French for StarTimes Sport Channels.

“We cooperate with our partner, the Ivoirian football club ASEC Mimosas. They happen to have their own sport radio, RJN,” says Lily Meng. “So they send us their own football commentators who stay here for 4-5 months doing TV comments.”

Chris Koffi says that “one would think that commenting football on TV is the same as on radio but these are two very different set of skills. It was difficult at first.

But we have been trained and we improved quickly.

Now I really have fun doing TV comments. And coming to China, this is a once-in-alifetime opportunity.”

Joëlle Zita Bola Bola would agree. She came from Gabon to pursue her studies in China and has never left since. While working as a host for StarTimes programs, she became an influencer in China and has around 300,000 followers.

She even participated in the Chinese New Year Gala broadcast on national television, the most watched TV program in China.

Joëlle mentions that she has “been living in China for 10 years now. Things are moving very quickly here, this is very exciting to be part of that. When I came to China, I would never have thought I would one day become a TV host for the African audience. I feel blessed.”

Hapiness, Marc, Chris or Joëlle are among the dozens of African that StarTimes trained in Beijing, giving them the opportunity to grow and give back to their people through working on high quality programs.

Ghana and World Rugby join hands to educate Educators Three World Rugby Trainers under leadership of Mr Denver Wannies (South Africa) with Mr Johnbosco Muamba (Kenya) and Dr Ben Mahinda embarked on a historic mission in Ghana to start training local candidates to also become Trainers.

According to Ghana Rugby President and Board Chairman, Mr Herbert Mensah, the occasion was momentous as it will liberate the Union from the need to wait for the availability of Rugby Africa Trainers to undertake Level 1 training of coaches in Ghana.

“Given the ambitious drive to penetrate schools with the World Rugby “Get Into Rugby” (GIR) youth education programme and plans for the expansion of rugby to new Regions in Ghana our need for GIR Courses and Level 1 Coaching courses is huge. This need can only be met if we can become independent from scarce Rugby Africa Trainers who are inundated with requests for training from more than 30 other African nations,” Mensah said.

Wannies, a World Rugby Master Trainer that is part of an elite squad of only seven other similarly qualified Trainers, came to Ghana to qualify a number of Level 2 Rugby Coaches, another first for Ghana Rugby.

His mission to Ghana also included the identification of potential candidates that may be developed into World

Rugby Educators. Three such candidates were selected that includes Head Coach of Ghana Rugby, Mr Lovemore ‘Dallas’ Kuzorera, Mr Clement Dennis who is the Technical Director of the CentWest Rugby Association and Ms Rafatu Inusah, Board Member and Women’s Representative.

Another area of need in Ghana, match officiating, was covered by Muamba who undertook two Level 1 Match Officiating courses as well as a new injury prevention course, Activate.

Dr Mahinda was part of the squad and undertook three

“First Aid In Rugby” (FAIR) courses.

According to Wannies the mission to Ghana was highly productive. In a TV interview Wannies said that with a little investment, including training, Ghana Rugby has the potential to compete effectively with the big names in Africa such as Namibia, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Uganda.

Muamba said that, especially for a fast-developing country such as Ghana, it is essential to keep developing and training coaches, match officials and medically qualified personnel.

“The Level 1 officiating went

well. I was happy to incorporate the Activate programme to the course which challenged participants’ knowledge about exercises and injury prevention,” Muamba said.

Dr Ben Mahinda said that he has a long-standing admiration for Ghana as a country and that coming here was kind of a dream for him.

“Rugby is a contact sport and it is logical that there may be some injuries.

Rugby Africa has invested in resources to support unions such as Ghana Rugby to make sure that player welfare is always part and parcel of coaches’ and referees’ arsenal of skills,” Mahinda said.

Mensah showed Ghana Rugby’s appreciation for the valuable work done by the Educators and Trainers by presenting each one of them with a original Ghana Eagles jersey.

Wannies will be back in Ghana on the 4th of March when he will join Mr Steph Nel, World Rugby Services Manager for Africa, and Mr Charles Yapo, Rugby Africa Development Manager for West Africa on a visit to review Ghana Rugby’s development strategy.

Wannies will not form part of the evaluation process but will rather focus on the next phase of the process to qualify the three identified Educator candidates.

Central University to build teaching hospital The Leadership of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), University Management, Senior Members of the University and representatives from the Student’s leadership witnessed the sod-cutting ceremony of the Central University Clinic.

The brief event led by the Chancellor, Rev Dr Mensa Otabil and the Vice Chancellor, Professor Bill Buenar Puplampu took place at the site on the Miotso campus of the University.

The Chancellor, in his remarks revealed that the University had considered various designs and sizes of the University hospital since its relevance in the teaching of the Medical and Allied Health programmes as well as provision of critical health services to both the university community and its immediate communities could not be overemphasized.

He noted that after many discussions and consultations, it was decided that the final design will be of a size that would be efficiently managed and maintained by the University.

Rev Dr Mensa Otabil announced that the ICGC was committed to providing the funding for the project valued at about Five million Ghana cedis and expected to be completed in not more than twenty-four months.

This will be the first phase of the Central University Teaching Hospital. He was happy that when completed the clinic will provide the much needed on-campus facility for the practical and clinical training of students in Nursing, Midwifery, Physician Assistantship, Pharmacy and Medicine as well as provide critical health services for the general traveling public along the Tema-Aflao highway and the Miotso, Dawhenya,Prampram, Ada, Sege and connected communities.

On his part, the Vice Chancellor was very grateful to the University Council and the leadership of the ICGC for agreeing to undertake this very strategic investment into Ghana’s health service delivery.He acknowledged the hard work and efforts of many who contributed to the design and preparation of the project especially; contributions from the School of Architecture and Design, the Development Directorate and the School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Professor Bill Buenar Puplampu stated that the completion of Central University Clinic will facilitate the commencement of programmes in Medicine as other relevant infrastructure like a theatre, a delivery suite, an X-Ray and Ultrasound units are added in the near future to upscale it to a full Teaching Hospital.

He also was happy that the cost of sending students on clinical rotations will be drastically cut as they can now use a facility on campus.

The 38-bed facility was designed by a team led by the Dean of the School of Architecture and Design (SADe) Architect J.G.K Abankwa.

To climax the event, a Cinnamon tree was planted to commemorate the project as Rev Dr Mensa Otabil led the gathering to pray for the successful execution and timely completion of the project.

To climax the event, a Cinnamon tree was planted to commemorate the project as Rev Dr Mensa Otabil led the gathering to pray for the successful execution and timely completion of the project.

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FEATURE

When China sneezes

By Stephen S. Roach

The world economy has clearly caught a cold. The outbreak of COVID-19 came at a particularly vulnerable point in the global business cycle. World output expanded by just 2.9% in 2019 – the slowest pace since the 200809 global financial crisis and just 0.4 percentage points above the 2.5% threshold typically associated with global recession.

Moreover, vulnerability increased in most major economies over the course of last year, making prospects for early 2020 all the more uncertain. In Japan, the world’s fourth-largest economy, growth contracted at a 6.3% annual rate in the fourth quarter – much sharper than expected following another consumption-tax hike. Industrial output fell sharply in December in both Germany (-3.5%) and France (-2.6%), the world’s fifthand tenth-largest economies respectively. The United States, the world’s second-largest economy, appeared relatively resilient by comparison, but 2.1% real (inflation-adjusted) GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2019 hardly qualifies as a boom.

And in China – now the world’s largest economy in purchasing-power-parity terms – growth slowed to a 27-year low of 6% in the last quarter of 2019.

In other words, there was no margin for an accident at the beginning of this year. Yet there has been a big accident: China’s COVID-19 shock. Over the past month, the combination of an unprecedented quarantine on Hubei Province (population 58.5 million) and draconian restrictions on inter-city (and international) travel has brought the Chinese economy to a virtual standstill. Daily activity trackers compiled by Morgan Stanley’s China team underscore the nationwide impact of this disruption. As of February 20, coal consumption (still 60% of China’s total energy consumption) remained down 38% from the year-earlier pace, and nationwide transportation comparisons were even weaker, making it extremely difficult for China’s nearly 300 million migrant workers to return to factories after the annual Lunar New Year holiday.

The disruptions to supply are especially acute. Not only is China the world’s largest exporter by a wide margin; it also plays a critical role at the center of global value chains. Recent research shows that GVCs account for nearly 75% of growth in world trade, with China the most important source of this expansion. Apple’s recent earnings alert says it all: the China shock is a major bottleneck to global supply.

But demand-side effects are also very important. After all, China is now the largest source of external demand for most Asian economies. Unsurprisingly, trade data for both Japan and Korea in early 2020 show unmistakable signs of weakness. As a result, it is virtually certain that Japan will record two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, which would make it three for three in experiencing recessions each time it has raised its consumption tax (1997, 2014, and 2019).

The shortfall of Chinese demand is also likely to hit an already weakening European economy very hard – especially Germany – and could even take a toll on a Teflon-like US economy, where China plays an important role as America’s third-largest and most rapidly growing export market. The sharp plunge in a preliminary tally of US purchasing managers’ sentiment for February hints at just such a possibility and underscores the time-honored adage that no country is an oasis in a faltering global economy.

In the end, the epidemiologists will have the final word on the endgame for COVID-19 and its economic impact. While that science is well beyond my expertise, I take the point that the current strain of coronavirus seems to be more contagious but less lethal than SARS was in early 2003. I was in Beijing during that outbreak 17 years ago and remember well the fear and uncertainty that gripped China back then. The good news is that the disruption was brief – a one-quarter shortfall of two percentage points in nominal GDP growth – followed by a vigorous rebound over the next four quarters. But circumstances were very different back then. In 2003, China was boom-

ing – with real GDP surging by 10% – and the world economy was growing by 4.3%. For China and the world, a SARS-related disruption barely made a dent.

Again, that is far from being the case today. COVID-19 hit at a time of much greater economic vulnerability. Significantly, the shock is concentrated on the world’s most important growth engine. The International Monetary Fund puts China’s share of global output at 19.7% this year, more than double its 8.5% share in 2003, during the SARS outbreak. Moreover, with China having accounted for fully 37% of the cumulative growth in world GDP since 2008 and no other economy stepping up to fill the void, the risk of outright global recession in the first half of 2020 seems like a distinct possibility.

Yes, this, too, will pass. While vaccine production will take time – 6-12 months at the very least, the experts say – the combination of warmer weather in the northern hemisphere and unprecedented containment measures could mean that the infection rate peaks at some point in the next few months.

But the economic response will undoubtedly lag the virus infection curve, as a premature relaxation of quarantines and

Stephen S. Roachr

“Over the past month, the combination of an unprecedented quarantine on Hubei Province (population 58.5 million) and draconian restrictions on inter-city (and international) travel has brought the Chinese economy to a virtual standstill.”

Stephen S. Roach, a faculty member at Yale University and former Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, is the author of Unbalanced: The Codependency of America and China. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2020. www.project-syndicate.org

travel restrictions could spur a new and more widespread wave of COVID-19. That implies, at a minimum, a two-quarter growth shortfall for China, double the duration of the shortfall during SARS, suggesting that China could miss its 6% annual growth target for 2020 by as much as one percentage point. China’s recent stimulus measures, aimed largely at the post-quarantine rebound, will not offset the draconian restrictions currently in place.

This matters little to the optimistic consensus of investors.

After all, by definition shocks are merely temporary disruptions of an underlying trend. While it is tempting to dismiss this shock for that very reason, the key is to heed the implications of the underlying trend. The world economy was weak, and getting weaker, when COVID-19 struck.

The V-shaped recovery trajectory of a SARS-like episode will thus be much tougher to replicate – especially with monetary and fiscal authorities in the US, Japan, and Europe having such little ammunition at their disposal. That, of course, was the big risk all along. In these days of dip-buying froth, China’s sneeze may prove to be especially vexing for long-complacent financial markets.

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MARITIME

Multipurpose Terminal at T’di Port: Dredging works underway Dredging works for the construction of the Takoradi Integrated Containers and Multipurpose Terminal at the Port of Takoradi has begun.

The construction of the terminal, to be known as Atlantic Terminal, is being done by a wholly Ghanaian company, Ibistek Company Ltd. The contractor, Jan De Nul, is projecting to finish the work by April 2020 to allow for the commencement of the construction of the quay wall for the terminal.

Jan De Nul commenced dredging works in February, 2020. A Cutter Suction Dredger (CSD) known as ‘CSD Zhen He‘ is cutting the basin of the sea where the terminal will be constructed to -16 meters.

The dredging will cover an area of 795 meters which constitutes the basin from the bulk jetty to the quay wall of the under-construction terminal.

The reclaimed material will be used to reclaim 62 hectares of land which will be used to host other facilities for the multi-purpose container terminal.

“We started dredging in February. We have commenced cutting of the basin area to -16 meters and practically it will be a basin that will allow very big vessels to come to the area. We have also started cutting trench-

es for the quay wall at -18.5 meters which is 2.5 meters below the level of the basin. That will be the foundation for the quay wall. We are hoping to finish the dredging works by April this year,” the Project Manager of Jan De Nul, Calin Andreescu, said.

Director of Port of Takoradi Captain Ebenezer Afedzie said the terminal when completed will enhance their vision of being a hub and not a feeder port.

“This project is very important to us because for years Takoradi Port has been deemed to be a port only for bulk mineral ore and container vessels and the rest were not coming here as we expected. The reason was our Port had a deepest draft of 10 meters. Now, this terminal we are building is going to have a depth of -16 meters. When we complete, we can bring in ships of up to -16 meters. The quay

Nigeria: Govt prepares bill to ban plastic production The National Assembly and the Federal Ministry of Environment have disclosed that there are plans to sponsor a bill meant to prohibit the production of plastics with a view to preserving the environment.

A member of the Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Senator Tolulope Odebiyi, disclosed this in Lagos at the launch of the Maritime Action Plan for Marine Litter and Plastics Management in Nigeria hosted by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA. Odebiyi said the bill would be harmonised with input from the Federal Ministry of Environment to make a holistic law that would impose tough sanctions on the production of organic polymers.

Odebiyi said: “I am happy NIMASA has taken the lead in ensuring that our waterways and all our water bodies are clean, safe and a vital source of economic activity for us in this country.

“I sponsored a bill with regards to plastic pollution and the proliferation of plastics in the country. The issue is getting to an alarming state.

“NIMASA has taken the lead.

But this is the back end of it.

We also have to look at the front end. We are spending billions of naira tiding up the environment; we also have people making billions of naira contributing to this menace. That is where the bill is aiming.

“You cannot continue to generate pollution, clog our waterways, cause erosion, flooding and all kinds of things, and some people are making money, knowing well that their

product is contributing to the pollution.

“The Senate is much interested in this issue. We see the environment as a vital economic resource for us in this country.

We will be working with NIMASA, Federal Ministry of Environment, and all the other

agencies.” In his remarks, Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, lamented that Nigeria was among the 20 countries generating more than 80 per cent of the land-based plastic wastes that end up in the oceans.

length for the container terminal is about 800 meters which is almost equal to the length of the old port.”

He added: “At the old port there were few container vessels that were coming into the port. They will queue with general cargo and the rest. Now we are going to have a dedicated 795 meters and -16 meters depth quay for container vessels. So, any container vessel that comes to Takoradi Port after the building of this terminal, will come straight inside the Port.”

According to him, the contractor has assured to work assiduously to be ahead of the scheduled date of completion of the terminal which is third quarter of 2021.

“Apart from the container terminal side, there will be another terminal for multi-purpose cargo. But the focus now is on the terminal side. The timing of completion of work is good.

Already, we have started advertising the port and sending messages out that next year we are going to have a brand new terminal. Before this to-be terminal, the highest number of containers we have discharged and loaded at the Takoradi Port is just about 850 to 900 TEU’s.

Now, we are hoping that, with the completion of thisterminal we are going to have big ships

coming with about four to five hundred thousand TEU’s coming to discharge in Takoradi.”

Chief Executive Officer of IBISTEK, the project owners, Dr. Nana Sakyi said the project is currently employing over 400 Ghanaians.

“The contractor currently has almost 400 Ghanaian employers on site. But as the project progresses that number is going to increase. Now we are dredging and when that is done, we are going to move to the next level which is placing of the blocks in the water and that will bring in some more people in addition to what we have now.

We are projecting to hit about four million at the peak.”

Dr. Sakyi explained that they have made enough provisions to enable local companies participate fully in the project.

“The project cost is half a billion dollars and phase one is about $210 million which is what work is currently ongoing.

Even though most of the money is going to the contractor, the contractor is also paying for supplies from Ghanaian suppliers. So, the aggregates, the sand, cement, labor and everything is local. They are not importing anything. So, if you look at the percentage more than sixty percent is going into the local economy.” 3news.com

10 Seafarers kidnapped from tanker off Cotonou

Ten crew members have been kidnapped from a crude oil tanker off Cotonou, Benin, Dryad Global said.

The incident occurred some 76 nautical miles southwest of Cotonou on February 20, 2020.

At the time of the attack, the ship — identified as the 78,928 cbm Alpine Penelope — was en route to Lagos, Nigeria, from Ijmuiden, the Netherlands. It was crewed by 24 people consisting of Georgian, Filipino and Ukrainian nationals.

The Liberia-flagged LR1 tanker is operated by Greek shipping company Oceangold Tankers, data provided by VesselsValue shows.

The officer on watch reportedly identified two armed men on board. It is understood that an alert was sent by the tanker, after which communications were lost. Communications were

re-established with the vessel around 0940UTC, according to Dryad. The vessel is now proceeding to Lagos.

“This is the 7th incident to occur in the waters off Cotonou since Jan 19. Of those, 5 have resulted in illegal boarding’s offshore, two of which resulted in kidnappings of crew,” Dryad informed.

Today’s attack occurred only 11 nautical miles west from an illegal boarding event on January 19, 2020. In this incident, the container ship Atlantic Discoverer was illegally boarded by two unknown persons with five persons identified as being alongside in a skiff.

Within 2019, the waters off Lomé and Cotonou witnessed an increase in both the volume and severity of maritime crime incidents. worldmaritimenews.com

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NEWS

So Energy Ghana unveils Kasoa Service station …in aggressive expansion drive So Energy Ghana, a Sahara Group company, has unveiled another retail station in just over a month in Kasoa as the company continues to redefine service delivery in sector across Ghana.

Located in the central region of Ghana, the So Energy Kasoa is the tenth addition to the company’s portfolio in Ghana, confirming So Energy’s commitment to giving consumers in Ghana access to quality petroleum products.

The station will provide services to the areas of Kasoa, Amasaman, Pokuase and its environs.

The National Chief Imam of Ghana, His Eminence, Sheikh Osman Sharubutu, attended the ceremony alongside So Energy management to officially commission the station.

The Managing Director, So Energy Ghana, Mrs. Yvette Selormey said the company remained resolute in its commitment to providing clean energy at affordable prices. She also expressed her gratitude to the drivers and community for patronizing the station, adding that So Energy “will continue to give all customers the best possible ultimate service experience.”

“Our drive to increase the number of retail outlets in Ghana is in line with our vision to bring energy to life by providing access to clean, safe and efficient fuel-

ing solutions to drive economic growth and development,” she stated.

Selormey said in addition to driving access to clean fuels, So Energy continues to invest in initiatives to ensure its operations align with the highest known safety standards.

She said: “Due to the nature of our business, we continue to invest heavily in our Quality Health Safety Security and Environment (QHSSE) and work closely with the relevant regulatory agencies which assists us to audit and ensure we are continuously transacting our business in an

eco-friendly manner.”

According to Selormey, So Energy will also continue to contribute its quota to Ghana’s development by driving economic growth through provision of employment opportunities and a viable business environment for all.

Some of So Energy’s corporate citizenship interventions in Ghana include a borehole project (this was a strategic partnership between Sahara, the Carter Center Foundation and W.A.T.E.R Ghana towards eradicating guinea worm across West Africa); collaboration with the Ghana Health

Service to carry out surgeries for Buruli ulcer patients in the Amasaman District; funding the Saint Francis Xavier school in the north, whose dormitories were razed down by fire; and funding the Kumasi market women after the fire that gutted the market in 2018.

So Energy has also had supported the Tema Senior High School by donating sanitation facilities (washrooms), rehabilitation of classrooms, hostels and laboratories which have improved the learning conditions for over 1,600 students.

Ethiopian Cargo Freighters Join Coronavirus Relief Efforts

Ethiopian transported around 1000 tonnage shipments of medical kits to China from February 6-21, 2020 to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus).

In line with its Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, Ethiopian shipped the medical kits with 10 chartered flights from different cities around the world including Liege, São Paulo, Durban, Accra, Diass, Khartoum, Dar es Salaam, etc... to three Chinese cities, namely Guangzhou, Shanghai and Chongqing.

The medical kits include face masks, nose masks and protection suits. Further contributing its share to contain the spread of COVID-19, Ethiopian plans to transport additional medical kits to China deploying five more chartered flights.

KENYA – AECF announces new board of directors The Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) has announced the appointment of a new Board during its Board meeting held in Nairobi.

The Board brings together visionary and committed leaders from across Africa with diverse expertise to lead the institution into a stronger future to deliver on its mission of ensuring a prosperous and enterprising rural Africa.

The incoming AECF Board members include: Ms. Hixonia Nyasulu – One of the influential businesswomen on the African continent, Ms. Nyasulu joins as the new AECF Board Chair and brings global experience across multiple business sectors and serving on several Boards, including AngloAmerican, Sasol, and Unilever PLC. She is the Founder and current Executive Chairman of Ayavuna Women’s Investments (Pty) Ltd, a women-controlled investment vehicle focused on promoting the economic empowerment of women.

Mr. Teklewold Atnafu – One of the foremost economists in Africa, Dr. Atnafu brings a deep understanding of African economies, policy environments, and what it takes to mobilize new capital for emerging sectors and businesses.

He currently serves as the Senior Macroeconomic Advisor to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, and until 2018 he was Governor of the Central Bank of Ethiopia.

Mr. Frank Braeken – A seasoned investor across the African continent, Mr. Braeken brings experience advising a variety of agro and food enterprises. He previously held various management functions in Unilever over near-

ly 20 years, and currently serves on the board of several companies including Buhler, Feronia Inc, myAgro, and Zambeef.

Mr. Enock Chikava – A foremost leader supporting Africa’s agricultural transformation, Mr. Chikava brings more than 25 years of experience working in private agribusiness, food processing, farmer organizations, and philanthropy.

He currently serves as the Deputy Director of Agricultural Development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he leads a team focused on developing innovative tools, solutions, and business models that can most cost-effectively deliver products, services, and practices to smallholder farmers at scale across Africa and South

Asia.

They join Mr Duncan Onyango who has served on AECF’s Board since 2017. Mr. Onyango is a visionary leader who has successfully developed and directed complex corporate and enterprise growth initiatives over more than 20 years.

He has served on the boards of major organisations in East Africa and the UK, including: Rift Valley Railways Ltd, First Access LLC, SolarNow LLC, Sanergy Ltd, TradeMark EA, Town and Country Housing Association (UK), among others.

The incoming Board Chair, Ms. Nyasulu of South Africa, thanked Lord Boateng and the outgoing Board members for their leadership, and she committed to taking up the AECF

strategy to deliver even greater impact going forward with the foundations laid.

“AECF recognizes the transformative potential of emerging businesses across sub-Sahara Africa to innovate, create jobs, and leverage investments and markets to create resilience and sustainable incomes for Africa’s rural and marginalized communities,” said Ms. Nyasulu.

“I am humbled by the opportunity to serve as the Chair of the AECF Board. Working with our partners, we will support earlier and growth stage businesses that can create 25,000 new jobs, leverage US$1 billion investment from private sector, help reduce carbon emissions, and ultimately improve 25 million lives and build resilient communities

across the continent.”

AECF is the premier challenge fund supporting early and growth-stage businesses in Africa’s agribusiness and renewable energy sectors to reduce poverty, promote resilient communities and create jobs through private sector investment.

Since its inception in 2008, AECF has transformed the lives of 17 million people, increasing their incomes and wages and realizing a cumulative development impact of US$ 1.3 billion.

To achieve this, it has supported 268 businesses across 26 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, that also created and sustained 12,000 jobs and leveraged US$ 750 million growth capital from the private sector.

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FEATURE

Wall Street Can’t Burn Bernie

Bernard Sanders is an American politician, and US presiden-

tial candidate 2020

By Jeffrey D. Sachs

The narcissism and Panglossian cluelessness of the Wall Street elite is a marvel to behold. Sitting on their perches of power, and enjoying tax breaks, easy money, and soaring stock markets, they are certain that all is best in this best of all possible worlds. Critics must be fools or devils.

When I have mentioned my support for US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in their company, it has been to audible gasps, as if I had invoked Lucifer’s name. They are certain that Sanders is unelectable, or that, if somehow elected, he would bring about the collapse of the republic. To varying degrees, the same sentiments can be found even in “liberal” media outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post.

This disdain is both telling and absurd. In Europe, Sanders would be a mainstream social democrat. He wants to restore some basic decency to American life: universal publicly financed health care; above-poverty wages for full-time workers, along with basic benefits such as family leave for infants and paid leave for illness; college education that does not drive young adults into lifelong debt; elections that billionaires cannot buy; and public policy determined by public opinion, not corporate lobbying (which reached $3.47 billion in the United States in 2019).

The US public supports all

these positions by large majorities. Americans want government to ensure health care for all. They want higher taxes on the rich. They want a transition to renewable energy. And they want limits on big money in politics. These are all core Sanders positions, and all are commonplace in Europe. Nonetheless, with each Sanders primary victory, the befuddled Wall Street elite and their favorite pundits puzzle over how an “extremist” like Sanders wins the vote.

An insight into Wall Street’s cluelessness is found in a recent Financial Times interview with Lloyd Blankfein, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs. Blankfein, a billionaire who earned tens of millions of dollars each year, argued that he’s merely “well-todo,” not rich. More bizarrely, he meant it. You see, Blankfein is a low-single-digit billionaire in an era when more than 50 Americans have a net worth of $10 billion or more. How rich one feels depends on one’s peer group.

The result, however, is the elite’s (and the elite media’s) shocking disregard for the lives of most Americans. They either don’t know or don’t care that tens of millions of Americans lack basic health-care coverage and that medical expenses bankrupt around 500,000 each year, or that one in five US households has zero or negative net worth and that nearly 40% struggle to meet basic needs.

And the elite hardly take notice of the 44 million Americans burdened by student debt totaling $1.6 trillion, a phenomenon essentially unknown in other developed countries. And while stock markets have soared, en-

riching the elites, suicide rates and other “deaths of despair” (such as opioid overdoses) have also soared, as the working class has fallen further into financial and psychological insecurity.

One reason the elites don’t notice these basic facts is that they haven’t been held to account for a long time. US politicians of both parties have been doing their bidding at least since President Ronald Reagan took office in 1981 and ushered in four decades of tax cuts, union busting, and other perks for the super-rich. The coziness of Wall Street and Washington is well captured in a 2008 photo making the rounds again: Donald Trump, Michael Bloomberg, and Bill Clinton are golfing together. It’s one big happy family.

Clinton’s chumminess with Wall Street billionaires is telling.

This was the norm for Republicans going back to the start of the twentieth century, but Wall Street’s close links with the Democrats are more recent. As a presidential candidate in 1992, Clinton maneuvered to link the Democratic Party to Goldman Sachs through its then-Co-Chair, Robert Rubin, who later became Clinton’s Secretary of the Treasury.

With Wall Street backing, Clinton won the presidency. From then on, both parties have been beholden to Wall Street for campaign financing. Barack Obama followed the Clinton playbook in the 2008 election. Once in office, Obama hired Rubin’s acolytes to staff his economic team.

Wall Street has certainly gotten its money’s worth for its campaign outlays. Clinton deregulated financial markets, enabling the rise of behemoths like Citi-

group (where Rubin became a director after leaving the White House). Clinton also ended welfare payments for poor single mothers, with damaging effects on young children, and stepped up mass incarceration of young African-American men. Obama, for his part, largely gave a free pass to the bankers who caused the 2008 crash. They received bailout money and invitations to White House dinners, rather than the jail time that many deserved.

With the mega-hubris of a mega-billionaire, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks he can buy the Democratic nomination by spending $1 billion of his $62 billion fortune on campaign ads, and then defeat fellow billionaire Donald Trump in November. This, too, is most likely a case of cluelessness. Bloomberg’s prospects deflated as soon as he appeared on the debate stage with Sanders and the other Democratic candidates, who reminded viewers of Bloomberg’s Republican past, allegations of a hostile work environment for women in Bloomberg’s business, and of his support for harsh police tactics against young African-American and Latino men.

No one should underestimate the deluge of hysteria that Trump and Wall Street will try to whip up against Sanders.

Trump accuses Sanders of trying to turn the US into Venezuela, when Canada or Denmark are the obvious comparisons. In the Nevada debate, Bloomberg ludicrously called Sanders’s support for worker representation on corporate boards, as in Germany’s co-determination policy, “communist.”

But American voters are hearing something different: health care, education, decent wages, paid sick leave, renewable energy, and an end to tax breaks and impunity for the super-rich.

It all sounds eminently sensible, indeed mainstream, when one cuts through the rhetoric of Wall Street, which is why Sanders has been winning – and can win again in November.

One reason the elites don’t notice these basic facts is that they haven’t been held to account for a long time.

Jeffrey D. Sachs, Professor of Sustainable Development and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University, is Director of Columbia’s Center for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2020. www.project-syndicate.org

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15

REAL ESTATE

Massive historical damage to our oil and gas sector

Tullow Oil said that its Jethro-1 well could hold the equivalent of 100 million barrels of oil

By Alex Mould

Over the last few days, I have watched with keen interest, Kevin Taylor’s expose on the Aker/Ghana government deal.

Kevin on his Loud Silence Media programme dubbed: “With All Due Respect” revealed clandestine changes in the upstream petroleum sector.

For the benefit of readers, let me add my comments to what I call the most radical political attack on Ghana’s upstream petroleum sector since the commencement of the FOURTH REPUBLIC. This attack has far reaching consequences and serious implications for the future of Ghana’s upstream petroleum industry way beyond AKER; affecting not only our economy but future generations to come!

Government knew we would all be distracted over the Christmas festivities in December; So, guess what our Gov’t did???

Late one evening, precisely on Dec 23rd, whilst some were spending family time together, some of us grieving, and our youth “Detty Raving”, “Blooming”, “Afro Chelling”, “Afro Nating” etc, our government led by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, rushed amendments through Parliament, to approve significant changes to the upstream petroleum sector without following the due process!

Let me refresh our memories a bit; you may all recall in October last year, I stood on a platform with the Minister of Energy, Hon

Peter Amewu at an Oil and Gas Conference held at the University of East London in the United Kingdom. At this conference I raised the alarm about the entire integrated Plan of Development (PoD) resubmitted by Aker Energy in relation to the Pecan oil field which would rob the nation of billions of United State Dollars both immediately and over the next 30 years.

I hinted that government was preparing to pass amendments to the existing regulations and laws governing the upstream petroleum sector provided Aker Energy agreed to the NPP Government’s demands. It is alleged that Government among other demands, asked Aker Energy to ensure the usage of only designated/chosen local partners (mainly controlled by people associated with the leadership of the NPP), even if these local partners are not qualified or even if these foreign oil services companies have already chosen their local partners.

The Energy Minister assured Ghanaians at the conference that he would not approve the PoD if those were the conditions attached to it. He said and I quote “the PoD that you are talking about is lying on my table and I insist I am not going to give them that opportunity”.

The changes that were rushed through Parliament, even made reference to an earlier amendment which Parliament had approved conditionally; the condition being that the Minister had to come back to Parliament, within 6 months or so, with some agreed revised clauses Parliamemt had insisted on, which related to increasing the People of Ghana’s additional

participating interest ( additional equity) from 3% to 10%, as well as ensuring that the original local content partners were not removed and their equity holding remained untouched .

Guess what happened?? The Minister in his submission of the recent amendment to parliament on Dec 22 did not even have the courtesy to address those preconditions that our legislative body (Parliament) had given for passing the previous amendment, but rather made mention in the new amendment laid on Dec 23, 2019 before Parliament that the previous conditional amendment that Parliament had given had been passed!

Consequences The immediate impact of the amendments will; • Strangle state policymaking, state regulation, and state commercial participation in the upstream oil and gas (O&G) Sector.

• Collapse local content development.

• Impose certain critical obligations on the Minister which are regulatory in nature.

• Compel the Minister to accept use of FPSO technology as the only option for producing the resources of the AGM Block even before the appraisal of the field in which the technology must be deployed.

• Compel the Minister to accept the contractor’s delineation of the area to be included within a “Development and Production Area” in the Aker Block.

• Allow Aker within a year of its Final Investment Decision to unilaterally vary the approved development plan without ref-

erence to the Minister contrary to Section 27(12) of Act 919.

• Give Contractors unfettered discretion over oilfield procurement without recourse to the petroleum commission or any other governmental authority also weakening the role of GNPC in Joint Management Committees.

The direct beneficiary of these giveaways will be the Norwegian Multinational, AKER which owns and controls both the Aker Ghana and AGM operated Oil Blocks. The direct LOSER is Ghana The cumulative medium to long term effect of all these giveaways will be a loss of national control over our precious petroleum resources which will lead among other things to:a. billions of dollars lost to the nation; and b. loss of job creation Taxation and Other Imports Sadly, these amendments also provide sweeping tax exemption for Aker and AGM, its sub-contractors and sub sub-contractors. No withholding taxes in the case of AGM itself, and a reduced withholding tax rate of 5% - instead of the 15% withholding tax - for any work or services or supply or use of goods, both to domestic and international transactions.

It is reckless to exempt Withholding tax for international transactions; this is akin to surrendering taxing rights to a foreign state because the foreign state will apply tax on its worldwide income and will result in permanent revenue loss for Ghana. Additionally, exempting Withholding tax on domestic transactions may lead to tax

evasion as the trail is lost; eventually resulting in large scale tax loss due to avoidance.

The non-resident companies having established a Permanent Establishment (PE) status for tax purposes would be liable for full corporate tax. Sadly, the amendments make it possible for non-residence Permanent Establishment (PE) to be exempted from the payment of tax at the domestic rate. This will cause a substantial tax loss as the tax exemption is for 7 years.

Transactions between Sub-contractor to sub-contractor is also not subjected to Withholding tax in the case of AGM and a reduced withholding tax rate of 5% instead of the 15% withholding tax for any work or services or supply or use of goods, both to domestic and international transactions.

The amendments to exempt transactions between Sub-contractor to sub-contractor are unacceptable as it would have similar consequences as said above.

Aker and AGM will be exempted from import duty, VAT and all sorts of other taxes. However, the indirect taxes are not a cost to the Aker and AGM as it avails input credit.

Conclusion This government has bestowed on all Ghanaians massive historical damage to our oil and gas sector and our economy for future generations – damage that at least in financial terms far exceeds the damage of the PDS scandal.

May God help us all as we embark on a mission to reset and rescue Ghana from corruption and state capture in 2020!!!

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BUSINESS24 | WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2020

BUSINESS24 | WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2020

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TOURISM

Remembering the impact of the Great ones as we celebrate Black History Month Part 1

By Philip Gebu Black people have achieved great things in this world and our country is no exception.

Someone sent me a what’s app message recently which highlighted the great works of some black people. Sometimes the impression is created as if black people have not had any impart in this world. The message reminded us that the richest person in the history of the earth was Mansa Musa of Mali.

The greatest pop musician Michael Jackson was back. Other great blacks include- Aretha Franklin who is the greatest Jaz singe, the great Pele, the greatest footballer of all time, the greatest boxer- Mohammed Ali, the greatest and richest golferTiger Woods, the greatest basketball player- Michael Jordan.

The greatest 100 meter runner and world record holder- Usain Bolt, the greatest tennis player – Serena Williams, the biggest Hip Hop artist- 2Pac Shakur, the greatest President of all time- Nelson Mandela, the most famous general- Collin Powell, the greatest medical inventionthe revolutionary robot used in brain surgery by Franco-Beninese Bertin Nahum and so on. You may agree or disagree with the list but one thing that remains a fact is that black people have achieved great things which cannot be denied. In our history as Ghanaians, we all know the work of some of our great men and women. We take a look at some of the great Ghanaians our land has produced their work, courage, zeal and legacy worth emulating.

Yaa Asantewaa Yaa Asantewaa was queen mother of Ejisu in the Ashanti/Asante Empire. Inducted queen mother by her brother, Nana Akwasi Afrane Okpese, the ruler of Edwesu, she nominated her grandson as Ruler of Ejisu following her brother’s demise. The King of the Ashanti Prempeh I and grandson of Yaa Asantewaa were exiled to Seychelles in 1896 by the British.

British governor, Sir Frederick Mitchell Hodgson demanded that the Golden Stool, the royal and divine throne of the Ashanti people be handed over to the British. A conference of the chiefs of the Asante kingdom was held. Disgusted with attitude of some chiefs who were scared to fight the British, Yaa Asantewaa, Gatekeeper of the Golden Stool, asserted that if the men don’t come forward, then women will fight. This charged up the men initiating the War of the Golden Stool, also known as the Yaa Asantewaa War that marked last war in a series of Anglo-Ashanti Wars. The British won the war and Yaa Asantewaa was exiled in the Seychelles where she died after two decades. Today she is remembered for her bravery and any lady named after her is expected to be bold and courageous.

James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey He was born in Chorkor the son of Kodwo Kwegyir, a friend of the then master chieftain Amonu IV. In June 1883, he was baptized in a municipality in the Gold Coast and accepted his

Christian first name James. He attended Wesley Boys Senior High School (now Mfantsipim School) Cape Coast, where the teachers noted that he was precocious, already studying Greek and Latin, and he subsequently rose to become the school’s headmaster. In 1898, at the age of 23, he was selected due to his education to be trained in the United States as a missionary. On July 10, 1898, Aggrey agreed and left the Gold Coast for the United States, where he settled in Salisbury, North Carolina, and attended Livingstone College. He studied a variety of subjects at the university, including chemistry, physics, logic, economics and politics. In May 1902 he graduated from the university with three academic degrees.

Aggrey was very talented in language and was said to have spoken (beside English) French, German, Ancient and Modern Greek, and Latin. In 1912 he earned his doctorate in theology, and in 1914 followed a doctorate in osteopathy. In the same year he transferred employment to a small municipality to North Carolina. Between 1915 and 1917 he took up further studies at what is now known as Columbia University, where he studied sociology, psychology and the Japanese language.

Dr Aggrey delivered a lecture that persuaded Governor Guggisberg that Achimota College should be co-educational: “The surest way to keep people down is to educate the men and neglect the women. If you educate a man you simply educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate a whole nation.” In South Africa he delivered a lecture which used the keys of the piano as an image of racial harmony: “I don’t care what you know; show me what you can do. Many of my people who get educated don’t work, but take to drink. They see white people drink, so they think they must drink too. They imitate the weakness of the white people, but not their greatness.

They won’t imitate a white man working hard ... If you play only the white notes on a piano you get only sharps; if only the black keys you get flats; but if you play the two together you get harmony and beautiful music.” In 1924 Aggrey was appointed by the governor of the Crown Colony Gold Coast Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg as the First Vice Principal of Achimota College in Accra.

He designed the emblem of Achimota College. He resettled with his wife and children at the college, north of Accra.

Philip Comi Gbeho Philip Comi Gbeho was a musician, composer and teacher.

He was best known for his composition of the Ghana National Anthem. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Arts Council of Ghana and was a Director of Music and conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in Ghana. Philip Gbeho was born on Saturday, 14 January 1904, in Vodza, a fishing village in the suburb of Keta in the Volta Region. He attended Keta Roman Catholic Boys School, where he was introduced to the organ, which he learnt to play

in a short time and even became a pupil organist until he left the school. His father, Doe Gbeho, was a fisherman. His mother, Ametowofa, from the Gadzekpo family, was a trader who was also reputed to have musical talent and was a leader of the female singers in the village drumming and dancing group. In January 1925 Philip Gbeho gained admission to the newly opened Achimota Teacher Training College in Accra.

While studying to become a teacher, he took advantage of the tremendous facilities that the college offered in music to upgrade his own knowledge and practice of music. He was a pianist and violinist, both of which he excelled in because he developed his skills under the tutelage of expatriate teachers in Achimota College who were also very versatile in music. Gbeho was also an accomplished indigenous musician, ever since childhood.

He played nearly all the drums of the Ewe Agbadza orchestra as well as teach traditional Anlo songs. Achimota College encouraged the performance of traditional drumming and dancing from all parts of the country and so Gbeho had the opportunity of keeping up with his indigenous music by performing and teaching it. Upon graduating as a teacher in December 1929, Gbeho returned to Keta to teach at the Roman Catholic Boys School. Since he was imbued with a strong passion for music, he immediately resumed the role of organist at the St. Michael’s Catholic Cathedral in Keta where he also founded the St. Cecilia’s Choir (which is still in existence) and brought it to an unusually high performance standard in the District. He also started an informal school of music in Keta that prepared students for the external examinations of London’s Victoria College of Music.

Philip Gbeho’s indefatigable efforts in music in and around Keta caught the attention of the authorities of Achimota College who invited him in 1938, when an assistant music master was needed, to teach music at the college. Gbeho accepted and began a new career as a music master at Achimota that same year. In 1949, he was offered a one-year scholarship by the British Council to study for the Licentiate diploma at the Trinity College of Music in the United Kingdom. While studying in London, Gbeho soon caught the attention of the cultural community of that city by holding frequent lectures and demonstration sessions on African, especially Gold Coast, music. His dancing group, made up essentially of West African students, soon became very popular and performed in many halls, parks and on British television. Gbeho also became a regular broadcaster on the BBC overseas radio programmes, especially the then very popular “Calling West Africa” programme. In 1950, Gbeho was granted a Gold Coast government extension scholarship to continue to study at Trinity College of Music for the Graduate of Trinity College (GTCL) degree in music. He continued simultaneously with

his lectures, broadcasts and African music performances at various venues in London, including the Artists International Centre in Piccadilly, the West African Students’ Union (WASU) Secretariat, Strawberry Hill College, the Royal Empire Society, the Royal Geographical Society, and Royal Kew Gardens. At the same time, Gbeho also took the exams of the Royal Academy of Music privately and earned himself the L.R.A.M in the teaching of music. He returned to the Gold Coast upon graduation to resume the teaching of music at the Achimota Secondary School. By now, his imagination had been fired sufficiently by the cultural experiences in the United Kingdom to embark on a campaign to popularize indigenous music in schools and colleges all-round the country, but especially in the missionary schools. He also became a strong advocate of the establishment of an Arts Council and the building of a National Theatre.

He also gave several talks on national radio in which he led a renaissance in traditional music in the face of obstacles placed in its way by colonial missionary overlords. On his return to Ghana from his studies abroad, Gbeho dedicated his life to the teaching of music in Achimota School and, more importantly, to the reawakening of his countrymen and women about their cultural heritage, especially in music. He, together with his colleague teachers and friends like Ephraim Amu, fought hard to have the teaching of indigenous music inculcated in pupils especially in the first and second cycle schools. Even though this put him on a collision course with the Missions, which associated indigenous music with pagan worship, he persevered in his bid to gain acceptability and respect for African music and culture generally. He gave several talks on Radio Ghana on indigenous music and the need to preserve it. “Think well of these things” was the regular phrase with which he often concluded his broadcast. The broadcast helped in leading a renaissance in traditional music in a country that had been brainwashed by its colonial overlords to regard their own culture as Primitive.

In the promotion of Ghanaian culture, Gbeho was outstanding.

When in 1954, the government decided on setting up a statutory body to “foster, improve and preserve the traditional arts and culture of the Gold Coast”, Gbeho was appointed the Chairman of the Interim-Committee for the Arts Council of the Gold Coast.

The Committee through its reg-

ular arts and crafts exhibitions and regional festivals organized at Ho, Tamale and Cape Coast whipped up interest in Ghanaian culture. The first National Festival of the Arts took place in Accra in March 1957 – the week of Ghana’s independence. As part of the festival, 269 exhibitions were mounted from 27 February to 9 March at the Information Services Department show-room in Accra. A pageant which included the La Kpa dance of the Gas, the Akan Fontomfrom, the Yewe and Atsiagbekor of the Ewes, among other traditional dances, were also put up. Three other performances staged at the pageant depicted the installation of an Akan Chief, the Birth of Highlife music and a visit at the turn of the century of a District Commissioner. Two plays, Zuchariah Fee in English and Papa Ye in Fante, were also presented by two amateur groups. More than 15,000 people watched the cultural dancing and drumming performed by 500 artistes on the night of Ghana’s independence. Credit for the successful organization of the cultural events went to Gbeho, who had travelled all over the country to pick the best 500 dancers and the possible dances for presentation. The other notable contribution of Gbeho to the music and cultural life of our country was the creation in 1963 of a National Symphony Orchestra and Choir to promote the understanding and enjoyment of western classical music. Today our youth seem to be more into dance hall music and hiplife which I think is a deviation from the great works of people like Philip Gbeho and others.

Philip Gebu Philip Gebu is a Tourism Lecturer. He is the C.E.O of FoReal Destinations Ltd, a Tourism Destinations Management and Marketing Company based in Ghana and with partners in many other countries. Please contact Philip with your comments and suggestions.

Write to forealdestinations@gmail. com / info@forealdestinations.com.

Visit our website at www.forealdestinations.com or call or WhatsApp +233(0)244295901/0264295901.Visist our social media sites Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: FoReal Destinations

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BUSINESS24 | WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2020

BUSINESS24 | WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2020

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19

AFRICA BUSINESS

Africa Isn’t Ready for Currency Unions

By Célestin Monga West African political leaders recently announced that the CFA franc – a currency created

by France in 1945 for its colonies and still used by 14 African countries – will be replaced this year by a new currency pegged to the euro called the eco. But lessons from the CFA franc zone’s own experience and from the eurozone raise serious doubts about the region’s preparedness for the challenges this new monetary union will bring.

Critics of the CFA franc zone have long focused on France’s perceived dominance, which many believe has resulted in what the late Cameroonian economist Joseph Tchundjang Pouemi called CFA Africa’s “monetary servitude.” New reforms will aim to change that by loosening ties with France, including by ending the requirement that member states deposit half of their foreign reserves there. (Previously, that rule included France’s guarantee of the convertibility of the CFA franc.)

But the real challenges facing African monetary unions have nothing to do with political sovereignty. They relate, instead, to economics.

Despite 75 years of existence, the CFA franc zone is still home to some of the world’s poorest countries (Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic). Even in the richest and most advanced of the CFA franc countries (Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire), real incomes per capita in 2019 were lower than they were some four decades ago.

That is why the eco – and other regional currency projects, such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and East African Community (EAC) – represents one of the biggest economic policy challenges in Africa’s history. The continent comprises small, open economies that rely on trade as their main engine of growth. Because of their production structure and export portfolios, policymakers’ choice of exchange-rate regimes and policies directly determines growth prospects, sectoral and employment dynamics, structural transformation, and institutional development.

And a monetary union of poor countries with a common currency pegged to a strong euro will jeopardize the external competitiveness that is so critical to their growth.

Equally worrying, in several crucial respects, the CFA franc countries currently do not meet the economic criteria for joining a monetary union. First and foremost, trade volumes among CFA franc members, and within the future eco zone, are too low to make a monetary union desirable. The greater the volume of trade within a group of countries, the larger the potential gains from a single currency, and the smaller the incentive for members to seek adjustments through unilateral monetary strategies and flexible exchange rates.

But intra-African trade represents less than 15% of regional commerce. By contrast, when the euro was adopted in 1999,

Célestin Monga, former Vice President and Chief Economist of the African Development Bank Group

intra-European commerce already represented about 60% of French and German foreign trade.

Political leaders in Africa and France have stated that one of their main motives for creating the eco zone is to foster economic integration. That is the wrong way around: Countries do not adopt a common currency because the trade level among them is low, but because they already trade with one another to such an extent that they can substantially reduce their transaction costs by eliminating exchange-rate risk.

A second major shortcoming is the divergence in industrial structure among the eco zone’s members, which means that they react to external shocks, such as changes in commodity prices, in conflicting ways.

While some of the current CFA franc zone countries (Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea) are oil exporters and benefit from a rise in the oil price, others (Central African Republic, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso) are oil importers and would suffer. When members of monetary unions face such asymmetric shocks, the institutional architecture becomes unbalanced and unstable.

Third, despite many treaties and agreements, the free move-

ment of goods and people across national borders – an essential requirement for a well-functioning monetary union – is heavily constrained within the existing CFA franc zone. This “factor mobility” is the best guarantee against external shocks, because people can migrate freely across borders to take advantage of employment opportunities.

In the eurozone, for example, free movement of labor enables Greek workers to work in Berlin or Paris. By contrast, a Cameroonian worker who wants to migrate to neighboring Gabon has little chance of getting a work permit – and even if they did, they would encounter open, if not violent, hostility from local workers embittered by years of unemployment.

Lastly, there is no common fiscal policy within the CFA franc zone and no credible enforcement mechanism to deter excessive indebtedness by individual member states or to manage sovereign debt collectively.

Moreover, deeper integration of the national banking and financial systems would be needed to facilitate the monitoring, supervision, and containment of financial-contagion risks posed by interdependence.

But Africa’s track record on institution building, especially for overseeing sensitive governance issues involving sover-

eign states, is poor. Even when rules are adopted and exist on paper, the lack of credible monitoring and enforcement means they stay there. Countries in the SADC and EAC also fail to meet the criteria for optimal currency areas with well-functioning transnational public-finance and banking systems.

African political leaders view monetary unions as a stepping-stone toward continental political unity. But a common monetary policy is not adequate to achieve such a goal. No regional integration strategy can survive, much less overcome, pervasive poverty and social tensions. Economic development is a precondition for stable societies.

A more appropriate monetary strategy for African countries would be to redesign Africa’s monetary integration project and implement it through concentric circles, with smaller groups of countries that have similar production structures and factor mobility, along with credible transnational fiscal and banking policies. A shared currency pegged to a basket of currencies or with a flexible exchange-rate regime would ensure external competitiveness and yield more economic benefits.

Another option is to follow the paths of former CFA franc zone

members such as Morocco, Tunisia, and Vietnam (Indochina).

By reclaiming national control over monetary policy, they were able to ensure their external competitiveness, connect their industries to global value chains, and take advantage of the benefits of world trade.

A well-functioning monetary union requires supranational fiscal institutions and rules that can be enforced to help members respond to asymmetric shocks. The free movement of goods and labor should be a reality, not a goal. Deficits and debt policies should be consistent across the currency union and be monitored by a credible central authority. And the financial and banking sectors should be under careful supervision by a union-wide institution capable of enforcing strict prudential rules. Short of meeting these prerequisites, the proposed eco zone in West Africa will be a challenging, risky, and possibly painful venture for all involved.

Célestin Monga, former Vice President and Chief Economist of the African Development Bank Group and former Managing Director at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, is Senior Economic Adviser at the World Bank. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2020. www.project-syndicate.org

BUSINESS24 | WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2020

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NEWS

HMD demonstrates commitment to Ghana with ultra-modern office complex

HMD Africa, Ghana’s leading distributor of heavy-duty machinery and equipment has demonstrated its commitment to doing business in Ghana with the commissioning of an ultramodern office complex in Tema.

The new complex, in addition to housing close to one hundred employees, has a well-stocked warehouse to service the heavy machinery needs of the Mining, Construction and Manufacturing markets in Ghana.

Addressing guests at a commissioning ceremony on February 7, 2020, Mr. Matthew Khoury, the Chief Executive Officer of HMD, said the facility was a sign of the company’s commitment to continue to do viable business in Ghana.

“This facility is our testimony of the immense gratitude we have for all of you who have contributed to our success. It’s our way of saying thank you.

It’s a sign of our commitment to continue delivering the best and most innovative products and services.”

In a speech during the inauguration of the complex, the Deputy Greater Accra Regional Min-

ister, Madam Elizabeth Sackey, observed that, with such infrastructure, industrial growth would be boosted over time and this would lead to the transformation of the economy in Ghana, and “this requires a lot of investments in the Construction and Manufacturing sectors.”

“I would therefore urge private investors to partner Government agencies especially the MMDAs to help grow this sector to make it more profitable and give the youth the opportunity to penetrate into the Construction and Manufacturing industries as well as the export markets,” the Deputy Minister said.

Other facilities in the building include a fully-equipped workshop with four work bays for higher servicing capabilities, a high capacity two-story part warehouse, a modern showroom and a cash counter with various brands of heavy machinery spare parts on sale to the general public.

The company, as part of its corporate social responsibility, revealed it has initiated steps to institute an academy geared towards enhancing the skills of

the youth to fill jobs roles that require high technical skills such as mechanics, operations technicians, heavy truck operations etc. The academy will offer theoretical courses from international suppliers (Korea, Germany and Italy) as well as practical classes within its facility.

HMD is a leading multi-brand distributor of heavy machinery and spare parts, serving the Quarrying & Mining, Construction and Roadworks, Concrete, Warehousing and Logistics and Manufacturing industries in West Africa.

Its comprehensive portfolio of premium brands is the industry reference. Founded in Lebanon in 1976, HMD evolved from a one-stop shop for used machinery & parts to an international distribution company with a footprint in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and USA. Since its introduction unto the Ghanaian market in 2013, the company has prided itself in meeting client needs and market demand in heavy machinery supply and unparalleled aftersales support.

Dr. Akinwumi Adesina to run for AfDB President for second term

The Executive Council of the African Union has backed Dr. Akinwumi Adesina’s candidacy for a second term as President of the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The African Union Executive Council comprises 55 ministers of foreign affairs representing the member states of the African Union.

The decision was taken during the thirty-sixth Ordinary Session of the AU Executive Council, held during the AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 6-7 February 2020.

Adesina was elected to his first term as President by the Bank’s Board of Governors at its Annual Meetings in Abidjan on 28 May 2015, as the eighth (8Th) President of the African Development Bank Group and the first Nigerian to occupy such a post.

During his first term, the

Bank’s shareholders approved a landmark $115 billion capital increase in late October. The increase in the capital base, from $93 billion to $208 billion, signaled strong support from the Board of Governors in the continent’s foremost financial institution.

Adesina is a renowned development economist who has held a number of high-profile international positions, including with the Rockefeller Foundation, and as Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2011 to 2015.

In December 2019, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) also endorsed Adesina for a second term as Bank chief. The election will again take place at the Bank’s Annual Meetings in May in Abidjan.

IFAD and Tunisia invest in improving the livelihoods of poor rural families The International Fund for Agricultural Development of the United Nations (IFAD) has extended support for a new project that aims to reduce rural poverty in the region of Kairouan, one of the most disadvantaged in the country.

At least 16,800 highly vulnerable Tunisian families will benefit from activities to improve their living conditions, incomes and resilience in the face of climate change.

In Tunisia, although the poverty rate fell from 20 per cent in 2010 to 15 per cent in 2018, there are still significant inequalities: in urban areas, the poverty rate is 10 per cent versus an average of 26 per cent in rural areas.

A statement issued in Accra and copied to the Business24 said the region of Kairouan, in the centre-west, is home to almost 35 per cent of the country’s vulnerable poor people.

Like many developing countries, Tunisia is also experiencing the effects of climate change with higher temperatures and lower average rainfall. This is affecting the agriculture sector dominated by arboriculture – olives in particular— cereal crops and livestock.

The financing agreement for the Economic, Social and Solidarity Project (IESS-Kairouan) was signed by Donal Brown, Associate Vice-President of IFAD, Programme Management Department of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and Samir Taïeb, Minister of Agriculture, Hydraulic Resources and Fisheries of the Republic of Tunisia.

This US$51.2 million project will aim to improve resilience and livelihoods of rural producers and help Tunisia achieve several Sustainable Development Goals, particularly the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger (SDGs 1 and 2).

Funding includes a $23.1 million loan and $0.7 million grant from IFAD and a $9.2 million grant from Adaptation Fund. In addition, $15.8 million is provided by the Government of Tunisia, $0.6 million from the Tunisian Union of Social Solidarity and $1.7 million from beneficiaries themselves.

“IESS-Kairouan is designed to test at full scale the ‘graduation’ approach to support vulnerable families who are already receiving the government assistance, and to assess the extent to

which it will contribute to their economic and social mobility,” said Philippe Rémy, Country Director for Tunisia.

“In short, this project will move these families out of extreme poverty into sustainable livelihoods.”

The project will support the integration of small-scale farmers into the broader economy, and will help vulnerable families adapt to climate change. Water networks will be rehabilitated to improve access to drinking water and to increase agricultural water with improved rainwater collection systems.

IESS-Kairouan will also provide poor families with nutritional and financial education, and basic literacy training. In addition to strengthening income-generating activities, it will connect the small producers with private value chain actors. At least half the beneficiaries of the project will be women and 30 per cent will be young people.

Since 1980, IFAD has invested more than $215.6 million in 14 rural development programmes and projects in Tunisia worth a total of almost $504.3 million.

These interventions have directly benefited 142,650 rural families.