Business24 ePaper Mar 9-2020

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Banks show strong growth in 2019

By Patrick Paintsil

GH¢6bn Consolidated Fund cash for energy sector ….as Bill is laid before Parliament

A Business24 analysis of financial statements of six banks that have been made public so far— out of the total of 23 banks—showed strong performance in all the key indicators, signaling the robustness and resilience of an industry that has undergone extensive “cleansing”.

The banks, CAL Bank, Zenith Bank, GT Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Republic Bank and Societe Generale, posted healthy operating income and net profit growth while expanding their deposit and asset bases.

Aggregate profit after tax of the six banks jumped 36.1 percent from GH¢809.5 million to GH¢1.1 billion, after operating income experienced a 21.2 percent increase from GH¢2.8 billion to GH¢3.4 billion. Operating income growth was driven by net interest income, which improved by 25.2 percent to GH¢2.4 billion.

The banks’ loan books grew by 28.9 percent, rising from GH¢7.7 billion to GH¢10.0 billion. CAL Bank had the largest stock of outstanding loans of GH¢2.9 billion, after achieving loan growth of 20.3 percent. Societe Generale,

MORE ON PAGE 2

Invest in research, modernize agric to create jobs —Titi-Ofei MORE ON PAGE 11

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Delay in ‘processes’ hold up US$600m COCOBOD facility

By Eugene Davis

The Ghana Cocoa Board’s (COCOBOD) ability to access a US$600 million facility it has borrowed from the African Development Bank(AfDB) is hinged on ‘processes’ that both parties have to meet, Bright Okogu, Dean of AfDB Executive Directors has said.

Mr. Okogu stated that and

I believe very shortly the processes would be completed on both sides and whatever releases that will be done, will be done,” he told Business24 after the Executive Directors of AfDB called on the management of COCOBOD in Accra. He also maintained that he does not envisage the delay to “take a long time” for the monies to be released.

Bright Okogu, Dean of AfDB Executive Directors

The African Development Bank, Credit Suisse AG, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited and Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) signed a US$600 million syndicated receivables-backed term loan in November last year to boost cocoa production in Ghana.

However, the disbursement of the money is yet to materialize given key processes that have to

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

FEATURE

FEATURE

TACKLING OBESITY: THE SUCCESS OF THE PORTUGUESE APPROACH

ATTRACTING MORE WOMEN TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

On World Obesity Day, 4 March, we highlight the success Portugal has had in tackling childhood obesity – one of the main health challenges in the WHO European Region MOREONPAGE22

Globally, there have been ripple effects and an immense magnetic pull of women into nuclear science and technology and Ghana definitely has her share of the ‘Marie Curies’... MOREONPAGE32

*EXCHANGE RATE (INT. RATE) EXCHANGE RATE (BANK RATE) *POLICY RATE

be met, which both parties are striving to iron out.

The Executive Directors of AfDB called on the management of COCOBOD, as part of their visit to Ghana, to engage different stakeholders, private sector, government institutions and NGO’s on the impact the bank’s activities have had on MORE ON PAGE 2

INTERNATIONAL MARKET

USD$1 =GH¢5.4371*

BRENT CRUDE $/BARREL

USD$1 =GH¢5.4800*

NATURAL GAS $/MILLION BTUS

16%*

GOLD $/TROY OUNCE

-0.75 ($51.88) +0.01 ($1.82) -5.00 ($1,640.10)

GHANA REFERENCE RATE

16.11%

CORN $/BUSHEL

*INFLATION RATE

7.8%*

COCOA $/METRIC TON

PRODUCER PRICE INFLATION:

13.3%

COFFEE ¢/POUND:

-3.8 ($118.40)

SUGAR ¢/POUND

-0.29 ($13.47)

91 DAY TREASURY BILL INTEREST RATE

14.6898%

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

+2.50 ($383.5) -27.00 ($2,626.00)

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News/Editorial GH¢6bn Consolidated Fund cash for energy sector

By Eugene Davis

Government through the Ministry of Finance has laid a Supplementary Appropriation Bill, 2020 before Parliament.

The Bill seeks to withdraw sums of money from the Consolidated Fund, through government expenditure for the financial year ending December, 2019.

The Bill, which has been read for the first time, has subsequently been referred to the Finance Committee for consideration and report by the Speaker of Parliament, Prof.

Aaron Mike Oquaye.

Government last year, sought for approval of Parliament for GH¢ 6 billion to be spent from the consolidated fund to address challenges in the energy sector. This was part of the 2019 supplementary estimates which was not utilised in accordance with Articles 179 (8) and 179 (9) of the constitution.

Ghana’s energy sector has been challenging, with government renegotiating existing powerpurchasing agreements which require that the country pays for power it does not consume.

Finance Minister, Ken OforiAtta, indicated that the country pays over half a billion U.S. dollars or over GH¢2.5 billion annually for power generation capacity that is not needed.

The wasteful expenditure in the energy sector are one of the main causes of increases in end-user electricity tariffs; making Ghana uncompetitive for manufacturing.

ESLA PLC Furthermore, government in its quest to resolve the energy sector debt set up the Energy Sector Levies Act PLC (E.S.L.A PLC) in 2017, which primarily is authorised to carry on the following business among others: to issue debt securities backed by receivables collected under the Energy Sector Levies Act, assigned to the Company by the Government of Ghana acting through the Ministry of Finance for the purpose of servicing the debt securities and related expenses.

Also to enter into such other arrangements and transactions in relation to the issuance of debt securities as may be necessary or required by the Government of Ghana acting through the Ministry of Finance.

ESLA PLC in December last year opened a 12 year GHC denominated bond which represents Tranche E4 under the GHC 10 billion bond programme.

Editorial: Banking reform yielding good results Business24 analysis of financial statements of six banks that have been made public so far shows that the banking reforms undertaken by the Bank of Ghana is yielding the desired results.

The six banks analysed showed strong performance in all the key indicators, signaling the robustness and resilience of an industry that has undergone extensive “cleansing”.

The banks, CAL Bank, Zenith Bank, GT Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Republic Bank and Societe Generale, posted healthy operating income and

net profit growth while expanding their deposit and asset bases.

Stanchart, CAL Bank and Zenith Bank commanded the biggest asset sizes, recording GH¢7.6 billion, GH¢7 billion and GH¢6.7 billion respectively, which reflected growth rates of 27.8 percent, 30.2 percent, and 20.1 percent.

The six banks mobilised GH¢21.4 billion in deposits, reflecting a growth rate of 27.7 percent from GH¢16.8 billion in 2018.

What is good to see is that an indigenous bank, CAL Bank, performed creditably alongside other foreign-owned banks.

Indeed, this likely represents an industry-

wide trend and shows that the clean-up of the banking sector did not hurt the industry’s performance as some had feared.

This seems to confirm what the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo recently noted: “Thanks to the banking sector cleanup, today I am happy to say that Ghana’s weak banking sector that we inherited is now well-capitalized, better managed, sound and liquid, and the banks are now increasing their lending to the private sector to help propel the transformation of the economy beyond aid.”

Delay in ‘processes’ hold up US$600m COCOBOD facility continued from page 1

Ghana.

The Head of Public Affairs of COCOBOD, Fiifi Boafo, briefed the media on the meeting between management and the bank.

He indicated that they have being engaging the African Development Bank with the aim of raising a facility of US$600m to undertake a number of activities.

These activities include the rehabilitation of farms to ensure processing, conduct a farmer census and to promote the consumption.

“One other thing that came out of the meeting is cocoa going beyond production into processing. The CEO has indicated that it will be the wish of government to get funding and support for entrepreneurs to go into

processing and into artisanal chocolate manufacturing in our country.

“It is our expectation that when proposals are made before the bank, it will be given the necessary consideration because it is accepted by both sides that in order to realize the full benefit of the cocoa industry, just producing cocoa would not be enough. There is the need to go into processing. What we accept is that there is the need for entrepreneurs who want to go into semi-finished or to the tertiary level to be supported with,” he explained.

On when the funds would be released, he stated “per the conversation that have taken place, our expectation is that pretty soon it would be done”.

The Bank, as Original DFI Lender and Initial Mandated Lead Arranger, has partnered with Credit Suisse as Original Commercial Lender, Global Commercial Coordinator, Co-

“The facility of US$600m is one of those engagements with the AfDB. There are processes you go through before we release the [funds] Mandated Lead Arranger.

Credit Suisse is also acting as Joint Commercial Underwriter and Bookrunner to structure and fund a dual-tranche facility comprising a US$250 million, 7-year DFI tranche with the Bank, as well as a US$350 million, 5-year commercial tranche.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, London branch joined as an Original Commercial Lender, CoMandated Lead Arranger and Joint Commercial Underwriter and Bookrunner ahead of syndication.

The document that requested

approval for the loan revealed that US$140 million would be used to fight Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease(CSSVD), US$50 million to build more cocoa warehouses, US$200 million to promote the domestic processing of cocoa and US$10.6 million to establish a database of cocoa farmers in the country.

It further showed that US$40 million would be invested in irrigation services, US$68 million in COCOBOD’s hand pollination initiative and US$7.5 million to promote the domestic consumption of cocoa products.

The AfDB has extended the same credit amount to Cote d’Ivoire under an initiative meant to improve cocoa production in the world’s two biggest growers of the crop.

AfDB’s total portfolio in Ghana so far amounts to US$900m which ranges from agriculture, infrastructure, capacity building support as well as social sector areas.

Banks show strong growth in 2019 continued from page 1 which increased its loans by 58.7 percent, had the second-largest loan book of GH¢2.6 billion.

Stanchart, CAL Bank and Zenith Bank commanded the biggest asset sizes, recording GH¢7.6 billion, GH¢7 billion and GH¢6.7 billion respectively, which reflected growth rates of 27.8 percent, 30.2 percent, and 20.1 percent.

The six banks mobilised GH¢21.4 billion in deposits, reflecting a growth rate of 27.7 percent from GH¢16.8 billion in 2018.

The impressive perfor-

mance, which likely represents an industry-wide trend, shows that the clean-up of the banking sector by the central bank did not hurt the industry’s performance as some had feared.

Rather, analysts will view the results as attesting to claims by policymakers and financial experts that the clean-up of the banking sector has placed banks in a more liquid and robust position to drive economic growth.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in his State of the Nation address on February 20, said although the financial sector intervention has caused some loss to the public purse, it has resulted in a sound and

Stanchart, CAL Bank and Zenith Bank commanded the biggest asset sizes, recording GH¢7.6 billion, GH¢7 billion and GH¢6.7 billion respectively, which reflected growth rates of 27.8 percent, 30.2 percent, and 20.1 percent. liquid banking sector to drive national economic aspirations.

“Thanks to the banking sector clean-up, today I am happy to say that Ghana’s weak banking sector that we inherited is now well-capitalised, better managed, sound and liquid, and the banks are now increasing their lending to the private sector to help propel the transformation of the economy

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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

beyond aid,” he had noted.

According to figures from the Bank of Ghana, total assets of the banking sector grew by 22.8 percent to GH¢129.1 billion in 2019, compared with a growth rate of 12.3 percent to GH¢105.1 billion in 2018.

Banks’ deposits also saw an annualised growth of 22.2 percent to GH¢83.5 billion in 2019, compared with an annualised growth of 17.3 percent to GH¢68.3 billion in 2018.

Private sector credit meanwhile has recovered, growing by 18.3 percent to GH¢44.5 billion, up from the previous growth rate of 10.6 percent to GH¢37.6 billion.

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

BUSINESS24 | MONDAY MARCH 9, 2020

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NEWS

NSS boss awarded for dedicated service and innovation

By Dominick Andoh

The Executive Director of the Ghana National Service Scheme, (NSS) Mr. Mustapha Ussif, has been awarded by the Voiceless Media and Consult for leading the Scheme to embark on many operational initiatives and innovations that have made national service stress-free and attractive to national service personnel.

The award, consisting of a citation and a Personal insurance cover of up to GH¢ 40,000 for a year from Best Assurance Company, was presented to Mr. Mustapha Ussif in the company of Management and Staff at a brief ceremony at the headquarters of the National Service Scheme last week.

Speaking at the brief award ceremony, Chief Akilu Sayibu, Managing Director of The Voiceless Consult, disclosed that the award was informed by research and monitoring activities conducted by his

Mustapha Ussif (left) Executive Director of the Ghana National Service Scheme (NSS) receiving a certificate from Chief Akilu Sayibu Managing Director of The Voiceless Consult

organisation over the past six months to identify and recognise welldeserving appointed public officials who are leveraging on their capacities to push the frontiers of the organisations they lead.

“The factors we considered include but not limited to his leadership style, relationships with staff, personnel and

Ms. Philomena Sam appointed onto GOIL Board

Ms. Philomena Sam

GOIL has announced the appointment of Ms. Philomena Sam as a Board Member of the company effective November 17, 2019.

Ms. Sam replaces Mr. Patrick A.K Akorli who resigned from the Board on 31 st May 31, 2019, a released published by the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) last week said.

Ms. Sam is a business executive and private entrepreneur with over 30 years combined experience running business in both Ghana and the USA. She has held the position of Managing Director in over five

(5) companies and has built diverse teams over the period.

She has also developed the capacity to provide excellent team leadership and organizational management at a very high level.

The one-time Executive Member of East Orange Economic Development Committee and the Ministerial Advisory Board of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, possess a solid experience in business policy development and execution of environments.

other Chief Executive Officers, the corporate culture of the organisation as well as personal achievements and contributions as a former Member of Parliament of Yagabo-Kubori Constituency,” he said.

Appointed Executive Director in 2017, Mustapha Ussif has since turned the fortunes of the Scheme. The Scheme under his

watch, has received a boost in it public image due to the laudable operational innovations such as the introduction of new modules, digitization enrolment system, paperless registration system, certificate delivery system among many others.

Mustapha Ussif, upon receipt of the award, thanked Voiceless Media and Consult for the

honour and its dedication to the entire staff and personnel of the Scheme for their hardwork and dedication. He also expressed gratitude to his two able deputies Gifty Oware-Aboagye (Deputy Executive Director, General Services) and Kwaku Ohene Gyan (Deputy Executive Director, Operations) for their unflinching support towards the realization of the organisational dream.

“This award will serve as a wind in our sail and will propel us to deliver more to exceed expectations. We will therefore not relent on our effort to ensuring that the service experience is enhanced,” he said.

This recognition follows two other awards the Scheme has recently won under the leadership of Hon. Mustapha Ussif including the 2019 Inspirational Public Sector Leadership Award by Imani Ghana, Best Young CEO of The Year-Public Sector by the

More collaboration needed to counter transnational crime—CJ

By Kwaku Anku

Chief Justice, Kwesi Anin Yeboah, has said Africa’s weak IT infrastructure makes it vulnerable to threats like ransomware, malware and social media scams.

He said it is imperative to develop proactive mechanisms and deepen collaboration between security agencies on the continent to counter the threat of transnational crimes in its various forms.

The Chief Justice said this in a speech read on his behalf by Justice Nene O. Amegatcher, a Judge of the Supreme Court, at the opening of the second Annual Attorney Generals Alliance-Africa (AGA-Africa) Conference in Accra.

The two-day conference, held under the theme: “Tackling the Reality of Transnational Crime in Africa,” brought together stakeholders to address modern trends in transnational crime and ways to tackle such crimes across the borders.

The conference’s primary goal was to call to action the visiting attorney generals and their African counterparts to find new approaches to combat transnational crimes with a focus on regional and international collaboration.

The conference attracted AGA-Africa stakeholders from across Africa, AGA-Africa country representative, subject matter experts and representatives from African Justices, law and diplomatic corps and NGOs. The Chief Justice said what should be done in this quick evolving environment was for African states to increase cooperation amongst nation states and concentrate on the promulgation and ratification of laws to deal with this menace.

“Crime can no longer be fought on a State by State bases but rather we all need each other and this is the reality of transnational crime in Africa,” he added. He said Africa’s rapid technological development

has been both a blessing and a source of some level of trepidation for Africans States.

He said the increased use of mobile technologies and high internet penetration has come with a proliferation of cyber-crime and illicit online activities.

He said the introduction of e-technology into the judicial trial process has eased prosecution of transnational crime cases with access to videos and footages.

“E-technology’s advent also means that nationally there is the ability to conduct trials and take evidence by Video link, flash drives, CCTV footage, emails, VCD, DVD etc,” he said.

He said Ghana’s legislature is helping to deal with transnational crimes by the passage of the relevant laws, with the latest effort being the Anti Money Laundering Bill to improve on the current Anti Money Laundering Act 2008 (Act 749).

He said adherence to a uniform regime in legislation and ensuring that domestic legislation was responsive to the ever changing face of transnational crime, and ratification of international conventions aimed at fighting the menace of transnational crime would deepen cooperation between crime fighting agencies on the continent.

“Adoption of a unified vision and approach were some of the practical initiatives to be taken

by African states in dealing with the specter of transnational crime in Africa,” he added.

He said Transnational organised crimes were cross border in nature which covered illicit activities such as Cybe-rcrime, Drug trafficking, environmental crime, smuggling of cultural artifacts, wild life, crime and weapons trafficking.

Mr. Godfred Odame, the Deputy Attorney General, said government continues to maintain a ban on recruitment for jobs in the Middle East following reports of sex and labour trafficking, and serious physical abuse

of Ghanaian women recruited for domestic work and hospitality jobs.

He said technology has generally transformed life around the world and its benefits were not lost on criminal organisations.

“It has resulted in what I term organised criminal exploitation of digital technology,” he said.

He said, contemporary transnational criminals had taken advantage of globalization, trade liberalization and exploding new technologies to perpetrate diverse crimes to move money, goods, services and people more easily for the purposes of committing violence and other crimes.

He said it was noted long ago by the leaders of the G8 in a statement issued in 1998 in Birmingham, that, “globalization has been accompanied by a dramatic increase in transnational crime.”

He said this did not pose a threat to only citizens and their communities but undermined the democratic world economic basis of societies through the investment of illegal money by international cartels, corruption, a weakening of institutions and loss of confidence in the rule of law. He said the financial crimes corruption and its related offences- money laundering and illicit financial flows-- constitute the most serious and urgent transnational offences Africa is faced with.

Madam Karen White, the Executive Director, AGA-Africa said AGA-Africa Alliance Partnership collaborated with African Justice and law enforcement agencies and other State and non-State actors to share knowledge and experience in the fight against transnational crimes.

She said they were currently working with justice and law enforcement bodies such as the Office of the Attorney General, Department of Public Prosecutions, Solicitors General, the Police, Academic bodies and other transnational actors on the continent.

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F E AT U R E

Will the Coronavirus Topple China’s One-Party Regime?

By Minxin Pei

It may seem preposterous to suggest that the outbreak of the new coronavirus, COVID-19, has imperiled the rule of the Communist Party of China (CPC), especially at a time when the government’s aggressive containment efforts seem to be working. But it would be a mistake to underestimate the political implications of China’s biggest public-health crisis in recent history.

According to a New York Times analysis, at least 760 million Chinese, or more than half the country’s population, are under varying degrees of residential lockdown. This has had serious individual and aggregate consequences, from a young boy remaining home alone for days after witnessing his grandfather’s death to a significant economic slowdown. But it seems to have contributed to a dramatic fall in new infections outside Wuhan, where the outbreak began, to low single digits.

Even as China’s leaders tout their progress in containing the virus, they are showing signs of stress. Like elites in other autocracies, they feel the most politically vulnerable during crises. They know that, when popular fear and frustration is elevated, even minor missteps could cost them dearly and lead

to severe challenges to their power.

And “frustration” is putting it mildly. The Chinese public is well and truly outraged over the authorities’ early efforts to suppress information about the new virus, including the fact that it can be transmitted among humans. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the uproar over the February 7 announcement that the Wuhan-based doctor Li Wenliang, whom the local authorities accused of “rumormongering” when he attempted to warn his colleagues about the coronavirus back in December, had died of it.

With China’s censorship apparatus temporarily weakened – probably because censors had not received clear instructions on how to handle such stories – even official newspapers printed the news of Li’s death on their front pages. And business leaders, a typically apolitical group, have denounced the conduct of the Wuhan authorities and demanded accountability.

There is no doubt that the authorities’ initial mishandling of the outbreak is what enabled it to spread so widely, with health-care professionals – more than 3,000 of whom have been infected so far – being hit particularly hard. And despite the central government’s attempts to scapegoat local authorities – many health officials in Hubei province have been fired – there are likely to

be more questions about what Chinese President Xi Jinping knew.

Not surprisingly, Xi has been working hard to repair his image as a strong and competent leader. After the central government ordered the lockdown of Wuhan in late January, Xi appointed Premier Li Keqiang to lead the coronavirus task force. But the fact that it was Li, not Xi, who went to Wuhan seemed to send the wrong message, as Xi realized in the subsequent days.

On February 3, at a Politburo Standing Committee meeting, Xi took an unusually defensive tone in a speech that smacked of damage control. While Xi admitted that he had learned of the outbreak before he sounded the alarm, he emphasized his personal role in leading the fight against the virus.

Moreover, on February 10, Xi made a series of public appearances in Beijing, aimed at reinforcing the impression that he is firmly in command.

Three days later, he sacked the party chiefs of Hubei province and Wuhan municipality for their inadequate handling of the crisis. And two days after that, in an unprecedented move, the CPC released the full text of Xi’s internal Politburo Standing Committee speech.

Though Xi has apparently regained his aura as a dominant leader – not least thanks to CPC propagandists, who are working overtime to restore his image

Minxin Pei

– the political fallout is likely to be serious. The profound uproar that marked those fleeting moments of relative cyber-freedom – the two weeks, from late January through early February, when censors lost their grip on the popular narrative – should be deeply worrying to the CPC. Indeed, the CPC may be highly adept at repressing dissent, but repression is not eradication.

Even a momentary lapse can unleash bottled-up anti-regime sentiment. One shudders to think what might happen to the CPC’s hold on power if Chinese were able to speak freely for a few months, not just a couple of weeks.

The most consequential political upshot of the COVID-19 outbreak may well be the erosion of support for the CPC among China’s urban middle class. Not only have their lives been severely disrupted by the

epidemic and response; they have been made acutely aware of just how helpless they are under a regime that prizes secrecy and its own power over public health and welfare.

In the post-Mao era, the Chinese people and the CPC have adhered to an implicit social contract: the people tolerate the party’s political monopoly, as long as the party delivers sufficient economic progress and adequate governance. The CPC’s poor handling of the COVID-19 outbreak threatens this tacit pact. In this sense, China’s oneparty regime may well be in a more precarious position than it realizes.

“The Chinese public is well and truly outraged over the authorities’ early efforts to suppress information about the new virus, including the fact that it can be transmitted among humans”

Minxin Pei is Professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College and a non-resident senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2020. www.project-syndicate.org

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BUSINESS24 | MONDAY MARCH 9, 2020

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MARKETS STRUCTURE

USDCAD

•

ABC Zigzag corrective wave

PREVIOUS/FORECAST •

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

•

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

** Current price @ time of analysis: 1.32523

EURUSD

STRUCTURE •

Bullish shark pattern, abc Corrective wave

PREVIOUS/FORECAST •

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

•

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

**current price @ time of analysis: 1.08137

STRUCTURE • Bullish shark pattern, abc Corrective wave

GBPUSD

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

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

**current price @ time of analysis: 1.08137

STRUCTURE

XAUUSD

•

Bearish Harmonic Butterfly Pattern

PREVIOUS/FORECAST •

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

•

Expecting sell to around 1591.468 price region

**current price @ time of analysis: 1632.365

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

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

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

And get the same results!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Trading!

Louis Boah, CEO of Gold Forex Institute

www.goldforexinstitute.com Call: (+223) 302906626 | Email: customerservice@fxgoldtrading. com GFI services include: Forex training & mentorship for (but not limited to) individuals, hedge fund institutions, and money and asset managers.

Pro Chart Analysis MAM/ PAMM Premium Signal (With Entry & Exit price) Premium Floor Trading Seminars & Online Webinars Market Watch;

By Agyei Samuel Ofosu

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F E AT U R E

That 1970s Feeling

By Kenneth Rogoff

It is too soon to predict the long-run arc of the coronavirus outbreak. But it is not too soon to recognize that the next global recession could be around the corner – and that it may look a lot different from those that began in 2001 and 2008.

For starters, the next recession is likely to emanate from China, and indeed may already be underway. China is a highly leveraged economy, it cannot afford a sustained pause today anymore than fast-growing 1980s Japan could. People, businesses, and municipalities need funds to pay back their out-size debts. Sharply adverse demographics, narrowing scope for technological catch-up, and a huge glut of housing from recurrent stimulus programs – not to mention an increasingly centralized decision-making process – already presage significantly slower growth for China in the next decade.

Moreover, unlike the two previous global recessions this century, the new coronavirus, COVID-19, implies a supply shock as well as a demand shock.

Indeed, one has to go back to the oil-supply shocks of the mid-1970s to find one as large.

Yes, fear of contagion will hit demand for airlines and global tourism, and precautionary savings will rise. But when tens of millions of people can’t go to work (either because of a lockdown or out of fear),

global value chains break down, borders are blocked, and world trade shrinks because countries distrust of one another’s health statistics, the supply side suffers at least as much.

Affected countries will, and should, engage in massive deficit spending to shore up their health systems and prop up their economies. The point of saving for a rainy day is to spend when it rains, and preparing for pandemics, wars, climate crises, and other out-ofthe-box events is precisely why open-ended deficit spending during booms is dangerous.

But policymakers and altogether too many economic commentators fail to grasp how the supply component may make the next global recession unlike the last two. In contrast to recessions driven mainly by a demand shortfall, the challenge posed by a supply-side-driven downturn is that it can result in sharp declines in production and widespread bottlenecks. In that case, generalized shortages – something that some countries have not seen since the gas lines of 1970s – could ultimately push inflation up, not down.

Admittedly, the initial conditions for containing generalized inflation today are extraordinarily favorable.

But, given that four decades of globalization has almost certainly been the main factor underlying low inflation, a sustained retreat behind national borders, owing to a

COVID-19 pandemic (or even lasting fear of pandemic), on top of rising trade frictions, is a recipe for the return of upward price pressures. In this scenario, rising inflation could prop up interest rates and challenge both monetary and fiscal policymakers.

It is also noteworthy that the COVID-19 crisis is hitting the world economy when growth is already soft and many countries are wildly overleveraged. Global growth in 2019 was only 2.9%, not so far from the 2.5% level that has historically constituted a global recession. Italy’s economy was barely starting to recover before the virus hit.

Japan’s was already tipping into recession after an ill-timed hike in the value-added tax, and Germany’s has been teetering amidst political disarray. The United States is in the best shape, but what once seemed like a 15% chance of a recession starting before the presidential and congressional elections in November now seems much higher.

It might seem strange that the new coronavirus could cause so much economic damage even to countries that seemingly have the resources and technology to fight back. A key reason is that earlier generations were much poorer than today, so many more people had to risk going to work. Unlike today, radical economic pullbacks in response to epidemics that did not kill most people were not an option.

What has happened in Wuhan, China, the current outbreak’s epicenter, is extreme but illustrative. The Chinese government has essentially locked down Hubei province, putting its 58 million people under martial law, with ordinary citizens unable to leave their houses except under very specific circumstances. At the same time, the government apparently has been able to deliver food and water to Hubei’s citizens for roughly six weeks now, something a poor country could not imagine doing.

Elsewhere in China, a great many people in major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing have remained indoors most of the time in order to reduce their exposure. Governments in countries such as South Korea and Italy may not be taking the extreme measures that China has, but many people are staying home, implying a significant adverse impact on economic activity.

The odds of a global recession have risen dramatically, much more than conventional forecasts by investors and international institutions care to acknowledge. Policymakers need to recognize that, besides interest rate cuts and fiscal stimulus, the huge shock to global supply chains also needs to be addressed. The most immediate relief could come from the US sharply scaling

back its trade-war tariffs, thereby calming markets, exhibiting statesmanship with China, and putting money in the pockets of US consumers.

A global recession is a time for cooperation, not isolation.

Kenneth Rogoff

“…unlike the two previous global recessions this century, the new coronavirus, COVID-19, implies a supply shock as well as a demand shock. Indeed, one has to go back to the oil-supply shocks of the mid-1970s to find one as large.”

Kenneth Rogoff, a former chief economist of the IMF, is Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Harvard University. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2020. www.project-syndicate.org.

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Nigerian border closure: No end in sight—Ahenkorah A Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah has stated that there seem to be no end in sight for the ongoing border closure by the Nigerian government.

Having led a delegation to Nigeria to negotiate the opening of that country’s borders to truckers that are carting goods from Ghana and neighbouring countries to Nigeria.

Carlos Ahenkorah has therefore advised truck owners and traders whose trucks are stranded at the Nigerian border to allow the truckers to come back to Ghana.

“The truckers must be willing to move because the border will not be opened anytime soon,” he said.

He said the President, Nana Addo has devoted some amount of money for the over 50 trucks stranded at the border to be brought back.

“President Nana Addo decided that we should go and bring

back all the over 50 trucks.

He doesn’t want us to leave anybody behind. He has devoted some amount of money that he doesn’t want to hear they don’t have money for fuel,” he revealed.

Speaking on Eye on Port’s live interactive platform on the impact of border closure and national economic policies on the African Continental free trade area implementation, he said it doesn’t appear the Nigerian government will open the border soon because of major revenue gains made as a result of the closure of the border.

“When they closed the border the realisation of duties and taxes that they got from the port actually incensed their desire to keep the border closed. They were able to improve their duty collection 4 times,” he disclosed.

GPHA’s boat operators sensitised on port regulation

The Tema Port Security Manager, Colonel Joseph Punamane has met with boat operators within the fishing community to educate them on the rules and regulations governing the sea ports.

According to the Port Security Manager, the sensitisation has become necessary due to the fact that many fisher folk flout the ports’ regulations out of ignorance.

The fisher folk were schooled on the various GPHA laws, permits and fines apportioned to each regulation when flouted.

“The reason why we are asking you not to fish at the

anchorage is that when you throw the net and it entangles the propellers you will be creating danger for yourselves because the propellers will drag you under the vessel,” he warned.

Colonel Punamane cautioned the boat operators to be circumspect in dealing with foreigners on the high seas since they are at risk of contracting the deadly coronavirus disease and spreading it to their family and the country at large.

The canoe operators expressed their gratitude to GPHA and promised that they will do their possible best in spreading the information to their compatriots

Coalition pushes for enhanced trade environment

Representatives of the private sector have been deliberating on how to enhance the country’s trade and business environment.

The forum, which was facilitated by the Ghana Trade Coalition, brought together participants from organized private associations, think tanks, academia and advocacy groups, to take stock of the recent successes and ongoing challenges in creating a conducive trade and business environment in the country.

Participants called for interest rates to be reduced so Ghanaian businesses can be competitive with the coming on board of the African Continental Free Trade Area.

The country head for CUTS International, Appiah Kusi Adomako, said there can’t be a strong AfCFTA if the regional integration is very weak.

“You talk of regional integration, we seeing ourselves as one market such that goods and services can move across the country and so the private sector has to take advantage of the regional integration that has been created under the ECOWAS, AU and AfCFTA, so that whenever you are producing goods and services you don’t have to see ghana as your only market. You need to look at your products and services beyond Ghana,” he advised.

Participants had appeals and advice for governments within

Africa and Ghana in particular.

The Executive Secretary of the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana, Samson Asaki said “if you compare Ghana to our counterparts in South Africa who are borrowing at 5% per annum and our people are borrowing between 20 to 25% per annum to do same production, it will obviously increase the cost of our products event though they are of high quality.”

The forum concluded by adopting a joint position paper, which includes a few recommendations to decisionmakers: to enhance private sector participation in policymaking among others.

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NEWS

National Cathedral construction takes off

Invest in research, modernize agric to create jobs —Titi-Ofei who graduate from tertiary institutions don’t find jobs until after about three (3) years of graduation.

Speaking on how industry can also support the government and universities to develop graduates for the job market, Bishop Titi-Ofei said industry should be interested in funding research, saying: “industry should be interested to say that in the next ten years this will be our human resource need and we are deliberately funding people who will go into such areas.”

Work on the construction of a National Cathedral in the heart of Ghana’s capital Accra, has begun.

The building of the cathedral, which when completed will be used for various major national events and the attached bible museum opened to the public, is one of the key projects with significant backing from the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and the Christian community in the country.

Presenting the 2020 budget in Parliament Wednesday, November 13, 2019, the Finance Minister, Ken OforiAtta said: “Mr. Speaker, the interdenominational National Cathedral that will be located in the heart of the capital stands to help unify the Christian community as a place

of worship and promote the national conversation on the role of faith in building Ghana.

With the participation of various churches in the administration of the Cathedral, collective ownership of the project by the churches is envisioned.

“The Board of Trustees and the Secretariat have been established, and preparatory works for the construction of the Cathedral have begun.

Procurement processes to select a contractor are expected to conclude by the end of the year and construction is expected to begin in March 2020,” he told Parliament.

The full cost of the National Cathedral project, which will also have chapels, baptistery, a music school and an art gallery, is yet to be made known.

ishop Gideon Titi-Ofei,

President of the Accra Business School, Bishop Gideon Titi-Ofei, has called for a deeper collaboration between all stakeholders in the education sector, increased investment in agriculture and a rethinking of the National Service strategy in order to create more jobs for the youth.

Ghana has a young populations that are relatively well-educated. The country’s current population, according to the Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data currently stands at 30,854,690, with an average age of 21.5 years.

However, hundreds of those

Modernize agriculture One of the ways he thinks the country can also create employment for it youth is to modernize agriculture and get young people interested in it.

He said government should give the same incentives that it gives to nurses and teacher trainees to agricultural students to encourage many young people to study agriculture in school.

“So when they are in school they are given allowances and are assured of job when they leave school. So, that will be our direction if we want to become a modernized agricultural state where we can export agricultural produce.

“We should make it so prestigious and give young

people incentives to go into agriculture and while you are studying agricultural science in school, you will be given allowances as well as an assurance for employment.

“Let’s go back into the concept of state farm and the produce buying companies and also build silos to ensure that food can be stored. When we are able to do this then we will be on our way to solving this graduate unemployment problem,” he said.

Let’s rethink NSS strategy Bishop Titi-Ofei believes there should also be a rethink of how the National Service Scheme (NSS) does their annual posting of tertiary students into various sectors of the economy.

“I don’t think national service should just be posting our young people anywhere at any point regardless of what they learnt in the university. Students are being posted without any help and after the service they come to join the pool of unemployed graduates in the country.

I believe the one-year period of national service, even if our universities fail to get the students ready for the job, the government should be interested to say let us use national service to get these guys ready for the job market,” he added.

Bringing value through football It is often said that “Football is like a religion in Africa” and StarTimes made football content a priority since it started to offer pay-TV services on the continent in 2008. And since, football worshippers have been able to witness StarTimes’ efforts as the media group built quite a solid football offering along the years.

During the last couple of months, StarTimes went one step further. The last good news was when StarTimes started to broadcast ESPN and ESPN 2. Apart from NBA, the US channels broadcast several football championships, Dutch Eredivisie, English EFL, Turkish Süper Lig, Scottish SPFL or the US MLS, that both Messi and Ronaldo have been recently rumored to join.

At the end of 2019, StarTimes acquired The Emirates FA Cup broadcasting rights until 2021.

StarTimes Sport Director Shi Maochu said that “this is a significant step for StarTimes.

The Emirates FA Cup and the FA Community Shield are among the most competitive national football events”.

In terms of European football, StarTimes is the exclusive broadcaster of the three other high-profile competitions, the Coppa Italia, the Bundesliga and the UEFA Europa League.

“StarTimes has always been looking to bring the best value to its subscribers. This has been our priority and we will keep adding high quality content to enrich subscribers’ experience,” explained Shi Maochu. This

sponsors that will invest in clubs and eventually raise the level of the game, making it again more appealing to fans and sponsors.

This commitment towards local African football is not unique. StarTimes is successfully broadcasting the Uganda Premier League and aims at building a sustainable development model to help African football fulfill its potential.

That is also what pushed StarTimes to hold the Football School Project in partnership with Bundesliga last December in Ghana. During five days, young players and coaches from all the country participated in training sessions and workshops ran by professional Bundesliga coaches.

Acquiring highly popular European competitions didn’t keep StarTimes from investing in African local football which is often underrated and lacking of financial support and media visibility. By combining both grassroots and elite events, StarTimes is able to offer high value TV services.

year, all football fans are looking forward one event, the UEFA Euro 2020. StarTimes will broadcast all matches live and HD across the continent through its TV network as well as on its streaming mobile app, StarTimes ON. But in Ghana, football fans

have been closely following the bid for the Television Rights of the Ghana Premier League and the FA Cup. On January 8th, it was announced that StarTimes has won the rights. It is the second time of winning the bid for StarTimes, the first coming in 2016.

StarTimes has invested heavily in the latest sports broadcast solutions in order to bring the quality of productions as well as the image of the Ghana Premier League to international standards. StarTimes aims to create a virtuous circle in which better visibility will attract

“StarTimes has always been looking to bring the best value to its subscribers. This has been our priority and we will keep adding high quality content to enrich subscribers’ experience

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AV I AT I O N

African air cargo carriers post fastest growth of any region The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released data for global air freight markets showing that demand, measured in cargo tonne kilometers decreased by 3.3% in January 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. However, African cargo see an increase in demand of 6.8% ” January marked the tenth consecutive month of year-onyear declines in cargo volumes.

The air cargo industry started the year on a weak footing.

There was optimism that an easing of US-China trade tensions would give the sector a boost in 2020. But that has been overtaken by the COVID-19 outbreak, which has severely disrupted global supply chains, although it did not have a major impact on January’s cargo performance. Tough times are ahead. The course of future events is unclear, but this is a sector that has proven its resilience time and again,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO. Cargo capacity, measured in available cargo tonne kilometers (ACTKs), rose by 0.9% year-on-year in January 2020. Capacity growth has now outstripped demand growth for 21 consecutive months.

It is unlikely that the COVID-19 outbreak had very much

to do with January’s weak performance. Lunar New Year in 2020 was earlier than in 2019.

This skewed 2020 numbers towards weakness as many Chinese manufacturers would be closed for the holiday period.

February performance will give a better picture of how COVID-19 is impacting global air cargo.

African carriers posted the fastest growth of any region for the 11th consecutive month in January 2020, with an increase in demand of 6.8% compared to the same period a year earlier.

Growth on the smaller Africa-

Asia trade lanes (up 12.4% in 2019) contributed to the positive performance. Capacity grew 5.9% year-on-year.

Other regional performance Asia-Pacific airlines saw demand for air cargo contract by 5.9% in January 2020, compared to the year-earlier period. This was the sharpest drop in freight demand of any region for the month. Capacity growth was flat. Seasonallyadjusted cargo demand rose slightly however, following the thawing of US-China trade relations. The impact from

COVID-19 is expected to affect February’s performance.

North American airlines saw demand decrease by 1.3% in January 2020, compared to the same period a year earlier.

Capacity increased by 3.4%.

Seasonally-adjusted cargo demand rose slightly however, amid a more supportive operating environment and following the thawing of USChina trade relations.

European airlines posted a 3.7% decrease in cargo demand in January 2020 compared to the same period a year earlier

– more than double the 1.3%% drop in year-on-year demand in December. Seasonally-adjusted demand also dropped sharply, disrupting the positive trend that started mid-2019. Capacity decreased by 3.0% year-on-year.

Middle Eastern airlines’ cargo volumes decreased 1.4% in January 2020 compared to the year-ago period. Capacity increased by 2.9%. Against a backdrop of operational and geopolitical challenges facing some of the region’s key airlines, seasonally-adjusted freight volumes ticked down in January, but a modest upwards trend has been sustained.

However, given the Middle East’s position connecting trade between China and the rest of the world, the region’s carriers have significant exposure to the impact of COVID-19 in the period ahead.

Latin American airlines experienced an increase in freight demand in January 2020 of 1.4% compared to January 2019 – reversing the 2.5% decrease in December.

Seasonally-adjusted freight volumes in the region also ticked upwards, underpinned by new route connections, which is a positive development for the region’s carriers. Capacity increased by 2.4% year-on-year.

African aerospace

Covid-19 could cost global Nigeria: Dana Air Introduces More Routes, Puts New Fleet in Service airlines US$113 billion

The global spread of Covid-19 could cost airlines up to $113 billion as the airline industry group International Air Transport Association scrapped its $29.3 billion estimate from last month. *The International Air Transport Association estimated last month that coronavirus could cause global airlines revenues to drop by $29.3 billion, but those estimates were based on the pneumonia-like virus being confined to China. *Cases of the coronavirus have now been reported in around 80 countries, meaning the impact of travel restrictions, flight cancellations and lower demand could now cost commercial carriers up to $113 billion this year, IATA predicts. *In the best case scenario, a drop in passenger demand in markets with at least 100 cases of coronavirus could cost global airlines $63 billion, mostly in Italy and China, but also in Singapore, Japan, South Korea, France, Iran and Germany.

*Airlines could get some relief from low oil prices helping to pare back global fuel bills by $28 billion, IATA said.

Crucial comment: IATA CEO Alexandre de Juniac said: “The turn of events as a result of COVID-19 is almost without precedent. In little over two months, the industry’s prospects in much of the world have taken a dramatic turn for the worse.

“It is unclear how the virus will develop, but whether we see the impact contained to a few markets and a $63 billion revenue loss, or a broader impact leading to a $113 billion loss of revenue, this is a crisis.”

Key background: Airlines have been one of the businesses worst affected by the Covid-19 outbreak as travel restrictions, and demand to travel have cut into ticket sales. IATA’s revised outlook comes as British airline Flybe, a critical regional carrier, collapsed due to falling demand and its long-running financial difficulties. (Source: Forbes)

As Nigeria’s domestic carrier Dana Air puts the aircraft it acquired recently into service, the airline has introduced new destinations as part of its route consolidation and route expansion project.

The company said it secured additional flights on its Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Uyo routes.

The additional flights which would be operated by the airline’s latest Boeing 737 aircraft, would bring the total number of flights operated by the airline to 36 daily.

Speaking on the route consolidation efforts of the airline, the Media and

Communications Manager of Dana Air Kinglsey Ezenwa said, “We have created additional flights in commitment to our strategic route expansion program, and our promise to our guests to provide seamless connectivity and altruistic options to meet their travel needs.

“The additional flights include: Lagos –Port Harcourt at 6.48 and 12.06 daily, Port Harcourt to Lagos at 17.01 and 13.50, Abuja to Uyo at 8.37am and Uyo to Abuja at 10.35am, Lagos to Abuja at 19.11 and Abuja to Lagos at 7.20am and these flights will be operated by the 2 newest aircraft addition to our fleet –

The Boeing 737-300.

“We are happy that our guests can now choose from the multiplicity of flight options available at Dana Air and currently, we are reviewing other destinations. Very soon we would introduce more routes as part of our consolidation efforts.”

Dana Air is one of Nigeria’s leading airlines with a fleet size of nine aircraft and daily flights from Lagos to Abuja, Port Harcourt, Uyo and Owerri.

The airline is reputed for its innovative online product, world -class in-flight service and unrivaled on-time performance.

(This Day).

Royal Jet flies in with Royal Eswatini partnership deal Royal Jet, the Abu Dhabi based VVIP aircraft charter operator, flew into the Aviation Africa Summit and Exhibition in Addis Ababa and announced a joint venture with Royal Eswatini National Airways Cooperation (RENAC).

This collaboration will see a Royal Jet Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) based in King Mswati III airport in Sikhuphe, Eswatini.

A VIP configured MD 87 aircraft will also join the fleet and the two companies will jointly market both aircraft.

The aircraft is on display at Bole International Airport during the two-day industry summit and delegates from African governments, airlines and high-net-worth individuals

are visiting the aircraft during the event.

The strategic partnership between Royal Jet and RENAC is keenly eying a new market segment for generating interest in private jet safaris and is actively seeking to leverage its connections with world class tour operators and high-end boutique resorts to bring a revolutionary luxury product to market.

Royal Jet’s CEO Rob Di Castri said ‘This joint venture demonstrates Royal Jet’s commitment to the Kingdom of Eswatini and to Southern Africa in general. As of 2020 Royal Jet has been operating head of state missions within Africa for 15 years, however we

are taking our commitment to the region to another level. We are very proud to be partnering with RENAC in this project and are honoured that His Majesty selected Royal Jet.’ Royal Jet’s Commercial Director Simon D’Oyly added ‘We will begin with one 30Seat Boeing Business Jet, but the intent of both parties is to create jobs, transfer skills and build up maintenance and operational capability locally.

We believe this will lead to increased opportunities for Royal Jet to serve its core heads of state from an African base and we look forward to serving a greater range of clientele, from business people, to sports teams and high-end tourism.’

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E N E R GY

Global Automotive Fuel Tank Market Projected to Reach USD 26.5 Billion By 2026

Facts and Factors report has revealed that the global automotive fuel tank market in 2019 was exceeded USD 19.5 Billion. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 4.5% and is anticipated to reach close to USD 26.5 Billion by 2026.

The automotive fuel tank is a robust and insulated container used to store the flammable fluids safely. It is an essential component of a vehicle’s propulsion system, which stores the fuel and slowly releases it into an engine for combustion.

Some of the key drivers escalating the growth of the global automotive fuel tank market are the considerable increase in the production rate

of gasoline vehicles across the different regions along with the phenomenal increase in the demand for vehicles in several countries from the last few decades owing to the rising disposable incomes.

Moreover, the rapidly escalating industrialization along with the escalating global trade has propelled the commercial vehicles market, which in turn is offering opportunities for the automotive fuel tank manufacturers to expand their businesses, thereby driving the global automotive fuel tank market. However, the swift emergence of the electric vehicles market is likely to impede the growth of the automotive fuel tank market.

Goil sponsors Kwahu Marathon

GOIL has again supported the Annual Kwahu Marathon as part of its social responsibility to unearth young talents in sports.

GOIL’s support to the annual Kwahu Marathon is the third since its inaugural launch in 2018. The partnership involved the provision of funds, branded souvenirs and other incentives At the launch of the 2020 edition, the Bamuhene of Mpraeso who represented the Omanhene of Kwahu and President of the Kwahu Traditional Council, Nana Obeng Akrofi Darteh the first, expressed support assuring the people and the contestants the traditional council will lend full support to the ensure the success of the marathon.

The marathon which takes place on April 11, 2020, will cover a distance of 21 kilometers beginning from the GOIL service station at Mpraeso, and end at the forecourt of the Kwahu traditional council.

Organizers of the marathon, Medivent Consult announced that winners will run home with handsome prizes including GOIL-branded Souvenirs and Certificates.

Some of the Personalities present at the launch included, the General Secretary of the Ghana Athletics Association, Bawah Fuseini, Kweku Amevor Wilson, Director of Sports at the NSA, Dr. kwaku Ofosu Asareand Joseph Hammond of GOIL.

Oil drops as OPEC agrees on massive oil supply cut OPEC has agreed to impose a deeper round of production cuts in order to support oil prices, paving the way for crunch talks with non-OPEC leader Russia, who still has to agree to the plan.

The 14-member group, led

by Saudi Arabia, decided on Thursday to cut production by 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) through the second quarter of the year.

OPEC added the group would review this policy at its next meeting on June 9.

The proposed cuts, which were at the top end of analyst expectations, are believed to be conditional on approval from Russia.

It means energy market participants will now turn their attention to a meeting of both OPEC and nonOPEC members, sometimes referred to as OPEC+, on Friday.

Ahead of the OPEC+ meeting, analysts were concerned a long-standing energy alliance between Saudi Arabia and Russia would come under intense scrutiny.

That’s because Russia’s appetite for deeper production cuts has been far from certain in recent weeks. Moscow is reportedly in favor of an extension to the

current level of cuts rather than a further reduction.

Oil prices reversed early gains to move lower on Thursday.

International benchmark Brent crude fell below the key $50 level, sliding 2.4% to $49.93, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate fell 88 cents, or 1.88%, to settle at $45.90 per barrel.

Speaking shortly after the OPEC meeting on Thursday, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said that Tehran would remain exempt from the proposed reduction.

How did we get here?

OPEC and non-OPEC producers first committed to curtailing their collective oil production policy back in 2016 in an effort to bolster prices, with the deal coming into force

in January 2017.

In December 2019, it was extended and the alliance agreed to curb oil output by approximately 1.7 million barrels per day. Saudi Arabia then opted to cut its own production voluntarily by an additional 400,000 b/d for three months, should fellow members stick to their commitments.

In February, OPEC’s joint technical committee ( JTC) reportedly recommended a 600,000 bpd reduction in oil production, and an extension of the cuts to end-2020, to alleviate downward pressure on oil prices.

Russia said at the time that it had not yet decided whether to sign up to the additional cuts, however, and that position appears to have continued.

African producers decide of further cooperation within APPO on the sidelines of OPEC meeting

Several African petroleum and energy ministers met in Vienna this week, including OPEC Members Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville and Angola to join OPEC efforts in stabilizing the market in light of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

They were joined by additional members of the African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO), forming part of OPEC+ to support the OPEC Resolution and materialize Africa’s support to the Organization’s actions to stabilize global

energy markets.

African petroleum producers also met on the sidelines of the OPEC Meeting to discuss the deepening of the pan-African energy cooperation within APPO. The discussions centered around the conclusion that the APPO headquarters should return to Brazzaville from Abuja following the Republic of Congo’s assurances that it could host the Organization’s dignitaries and provide the environment required for APPO’s functioning and expansion.

Jean-Marc Thystere-Tchicaya, Minister of Hydrocarbons of

Congo, expressed his satisfaction over the decision, assured all ministerial delegations of Congo’s determination to keep working towards the growth of APPO and committed to host an APPO Heads of States Conference in Congo in June 2020.

As African ministers congratulated the delegation of Congo, all participants agreed on the need to work harder to elevate APPO’s debates and reach to the same level as OPEC’s in order to maximize Africa’s energy cooperation and give the continent a stronger voice on the international stage.

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Gold Fields reconstructs 2.4km road in Tarkwa-Nsuaem Gold Fields Ghana has reconstructed the 2.4 kilometre Angu-University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) road in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem municipality of the Western Region at the cost of GH¢1.6 million.

The project is aimed at easing traffic from the Angu-UMaT corridor to the township (market circle), the Angu-Post Office corridor and also on the Bogoso end of the TarkwaTakoradi highway.

Speaking at the inauguration on Wednesday, the Executive Vice President and Head of Gold Fields West Africa, Alfred Baku said the road, which was previously dusty and virtually inaccessible, had improved traffic in the municipality.

He also noted that the tarred road helped stakeholders to access the residence of the Apintohene and president of the Apinto Divisional Council, Nana Kobina Angu II. Mr Baku said infrastructure was key to attaining the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda, and pledged Gold Fields’ commitment to help improve the social and economic conditions of the people in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem municipality.

Since 2005, he said, the Gold

Fields Foundation had invested about 67 million dollars in development projects, including the 33-kilometre Tarkwa-Damang road, which was constructed at the cost of 27 million dollars.

Mr Baku appealed to the municipal authorities to ensure the proper maintenance of the road to sustain it for a longer time, so that Gold Fields could use their resources in other areas that need development.

He said “We have a firm belief that our host communities will take ownership of the project and ensure unborn generations benefit from it. Let us always remind ourselves that, the road belongs to all of us. It is,

therefore, our responsibility to maintain it, so that we will continue to derive maximum benefits from it for many years to come.”

The Municipal Chief Executive for Tarkwa-Nsuaem, Gilbert Asmah applauded Gold Fields for initiating the project, which, he noted, had reduced traffic in the area, whilst the Gyasehene of the Apinto Division, Nana Dr Bediako Adarkwa III, described the rehabilitation of the Angu-UMaT corridor as a good investment, adding that the roles Gold Fields played in the development of TarkwaNsuaem municipality were significant.

Copper rebounds on stimulus hopes after dire factory data The Company has entered into zero cost collars on an additional 12,600 ounces with a floor price of $1,500 per ounce and a ceiling of $1,992 per ounce.

The additional positions will mature at a rate of 4,200 ounces per month from October to December 2020. Together with the existing zero cost collars, the Company currently has gold price protection in place for 45,933 ounces at an average floor price of $1,427 per ounce and an average ceiling price of $1,816 per ounce.

Copper and other industrial metals bounced on Monday on hopes that global central banks will inject stimulus into sagging economies shaken by the coronavirus outbreak.

The extent of the impact on top metals consumer China emerged when data showed factory activity suffered the sharpest contraction on record in February while other Asian manufacturing sectors also took a beating.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development warned that the virus is plunging the world economy into its worst downturn since the global financial crisis.

“The worse the situation becomes, the bigger response the market is looking for.

We’re basically pricing in an imminent rate cut in the U.S., and another two over the coming three months,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank in Copenhagen.

“But we don’t have a mortality crisis, we have a confidence

crisis, and whether one or two rate cuts will have any impact on that in the short term remains to be seen,” he added.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) had gained 0.6% to $5,668.50 a tonne by 1500 GMT after sliding to a low of $5,533 on Friday.

Copper has shed 10% since touching an eight-month peak of $6,343 in mid-January. * NICKEL: LME nickel climbed 2.1% to $12,515 a tonne, rebounding from an eightmonth low hit on Friday.

Prices gained support after top nickel producer Indonesia reported its first coronavirus cases, creating uncertainty over ore supply.

“If the situation gets out of control (in Indonesia) then production of nickel ore and nickel pig iron will decrease,” said one nickel analyst. * CHINA: Nearly 300 million people have gone back to work

in China since the Lunar New Year break as more companies restart business and coronavirus travel restrictions ease, though many smaller businesses are still struggling to find enough workers to run plants. * AUTOMOBILES: Two more Chinese cities heavily reliant on car manufacturing plan to offer incentives to bolster auto sales hit by the outbreak. * ALUMINIUM OPTIONS: There is heavy open interest in LME aluminium option strikes ahead of the expiry on Wednesday, Alastair Munro at broker Marex Spectron said in a note.

There are 5,400 lots at $1,700 and 5,900 lots at $1,750, he added. * PRICES: LME aluminium advanced 1.1% to $1,712.50 a tonne, zinc added 0.2% to $2,025.50, lead was up 1% at $1,867 and tin climbed 2.5% to $16,700. Reuters

Euro Manganese’s Chvaletice Feasibility Test Work Returns Positive Results

Euro Manganese Inc. has announced feasibility study test work for its Chvaletice Manganese Project has returned positive results and the Company has received increased interest for samples from its Demonstration Plant.

The Project’s feasibility study test work has been underway since October 2019 at the laboratory facilities of lead process plant engineers, BGRIMM Technology Group. Test work is progressing well, with both magnetic separation and deep purification confirmation tests now substantially complete.

Magnetic separation test results verified those previously reported in the Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”)1 with results of approximately 85% tMn (total manganese) recovery and a 15% tMn concentrate grade, supporting the viability of this important step in the proposed process flow sheet.

Deep purification tests have also verified previous test findings, with the successful removal of target product impurities. These tests have the ultimate objective of supporting and optimizing the Project’s capability to deliver ultra-high purity electrolytic manganese metal (“HPEMM”) and manganese sulphate monohydrate (“HPMSM”).

As part of the verification of the project reagent supply chain, samples have been obtained from various European suppliers in order to verify reagent suitability and to ensure the Company’s stringent product quality targets are met, as well as to optimize dosage, with the objective of reducing operating costs.

Chvaletice Demonstration Plant Capacity allocated to Prospective Customers reaches 55% As reported on February 3, 2020, the Company has received considerable interest from potential customers in procuring high-purity manganese products from its Chvaletice Manganese Project demonstration plant, for testing and supply chain qualification.

The Company recently signed another memorandum of understanding with a global

chemical and specialty materials company for testing and qualification of the high-purity manganese products from its Chvaletice Manganese Project demonstration plant.

The intended use is the production of precursor materials for ferrite permanent magnet manufacturing.

As a result, approximately 55% of the demonstration plant’s planned first year production has now been allocated to five potential customers for testing and supply chain qualification.

The demonstration plant will produce HPEMM and HPMSM. The supporting parties and their markets include: a global leading participant in the lithium-ion battery supply chain, for use in NMC cathodes; a company focused on large scale lithiumion battery manufacturing, for use in NMC cathodes; two global chemicals and specialty materials companies; and a major steel producer, for use in specialty steel applications.

Upon successful completion of testing and evaluation by these and other parties, and subject to a production decision being made based on the results of the feasibility study, the Company anticipates entering into offtake agreement negotiations with some or all of these parties to support financing of construction.

Discussions and negotiations are ongoing with several parties in Europe, Asia and North America. EMN expects to allocate the remainder of the demonstration plant’s initial year of production in the near term.

Euro Manganese Inc. is a Canadian mineral resource company whose focus is to develop the 100% owned Chvaletice Manganese Project in the Czech Republic. The Project will re-process historic tailings which contain the largest manganese deposit in Europe which is a major emerging electric vehicle manufacturing hub. EMN’s goal is to be the preferred European supplier of ultra-high-purity manganese products for the lithiumion battery industry with secondary markets that include producers of specialty steel, high-technology chemicals and aluminum alloys.

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Don’t approve Anadarko-Total SA Deal- RM Africa …unless all taxes are paid Ministry of Energy should not approve the Anadarko–Total SA deal until all taxes owed are paid in full, Revenue Mobilisation– Africa (RM-Africa), a not-forprofit organization working to ensure effective revenue mobilization and efficient application of tax resources in Africa has said.

RM-Africa in a press release issued last week said: “We find the situation to be disturbing because we expect the Ministry of Energy to be fully transparent and voluntarily share with citizens, information of such significant interest to the public.

“The Anadarko deal with Total SA deserves high national attention and priotisation because at stake is about 24% of the Jubilee Oil Field and 17% of the Tweneboah-EnyeraNtomme (TEN) project.”

The sale of multinational petroleum company Anadarko’s operations in Ghana to French oil company Total SA, as at last week, according to Business24 sources, was being held up by a US$500m tax demand by the Government of Ghana.

While the government insists Anadarko must pay the amount to pave way for the conclusion of the sale, Anadarko says it doesn’t owe the state any outstanding taxes.

Revenue Mobilisation–Africa (RM-Africa), however, insists that there has been “procedural breach and potential financial loss”.

“Information from the Ministry

of Energy that was presented by the current Deputy Minister of Energy indicates that Anadarko petroleum has met majority of the requirements that will guarantee their sale transaction with only tax clearance outstanding.

“Sardonically as we probed further, reliable information indicates that Anadarko Petroleum has already sold its assets in Ghana to Total SA at an amount of US$2.5 million in 2019. The sale has clearly preceded the laid down process of acquiring approval from the Ministry of Energy. Aside from

the procedural breach, there is a higher risk of financial loss to Ghana, and this is highly possible than impossible as it stands. While the ministry awaits information on tax clearance obligations of Anadarko from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) before it possibly grants permission for any sale (transfer of ownership), Anadarko has completed the sale of its assets to Total SA, a move which the deputy Minister was adequately informed about and ironically expressed hope that Total SA operating in Ghana will bring a significant boost to our oil and

Post banking crisis …let’s pay attention to education, internship

Mr. Victor Asante, FBN Bank

The Chief Executive Officer of FBN Bank, Mr. Victor Asante, has made a strong case for the banking sector to pay more attention to industrial internship as the future of the financial sector will largely depend on how the country educates and trains its human resources and fully utilizes apprenticeship in the process.

“The education framework that produces bankers in this country focuses less on internship and apprenticeship.

Even though internship will guarantee a job opportunity, it provides a great advantage by creating the platform to acquire experience,” he said this at a

lecture organised by the Opoku Ware Old Boys Association in Accra.

Mr. Asante also advised that the country focuses on the role the professional bodies, universities and the bank training institutions play, as stakeholders discuss the gaps in the current educational framework of these institutions, and how that may have led to the role some of their qualified members played in the financial sector crisis, together with what needs to be done to fill the gaps.

He said it is time the banks take internship critical as in some cases internship can be used to nurture capability, fill skill gaps and aid succession planning for existing staff.

“Internship enhances one’s value, ethics and professional attitudes which are important ingredients in addition to other capabilities.

For employers, it is a way of assessing a pool of talent to identify the talent the business will require in the future,” he said.

The scale of Ghana’s banking crisis came to the fore when the central bank started an industry cleanup in August 2017 to remedy years of poor governance and weak regulatory oversight. It left the government with little choice but to safeguard the savings of about 4.6 million depositors with public funds and protect

jobs at insolvent banks and scores of second-tier lenders.

But Mr. Asante believes the efficiency and stability of financial markets rely on the assumptions of trust and ethical behavior by corporate managers, however, he said ethics education in the country’s various schools do not receive the level of importance it ought to.

“Therefore, it is up to professional bodies to integrate fully the method of internship into their training program.

Also, they must ensure that students who go on internships are not used as glorified messengers who buy lunch for their supervisors but they do actually learn on the job and gain useful, relevant skills and experience.

Analysis of the banking crisis shows that all key stakeholders contributed to causing the crisis, by way of their actions or inactions. So, we can name the government, the central bank, shareholders, the boards of the financial institutions, the CEOs and other employees and even customers in some cases.

The banking system was brought down on its knees from what started as weakness in training and education that became compounded when ethics were thrown out of the window, perhaps emphasizing that the training failed in that aspect also, he said.

gas industry,” the release signed

by Geoffrey Kabutey Ocansey, Executive Director of RM Africa added.

The organization further called on government to ensure all taxes are paid. “Our expectations of Government Based on the foregoing issues raised, we demand that the Ministry of Energy refrains from any planned approval of the Anadarko-Total SA deal and work with the GRA to acquire and share a status report on the current tax situation of Anadarko and to ensure that all taxes owed the country are fully

recovered ahead of approving the sale and take-over of assets of Anadarko by Total SA to avoid the occasion of financial loss to the country.”

Sale of Anadarko’s Africa operations Anadarko Petroleum Corp. is an independent exploration and production company that has interest in oil and gas fields in US, Gulf of Mexico, East and West Africa, Algeria, China, Alaska, and New Zealand among others.

Last year, the decision to sell its high quality but less strategic African operations-Algeria, Ghana, Mozambique and South Africa--to Total S.A for $8.8 billion was part of the process for the acquisition of the company by Occidental Petroleum Corporation.

Anadarko has been operating in Ghana since 2006 and owes 24 percent of the West African country’s first oil field, Jubilee Field, discovered in 2008. It also has 17 percent stake in the Tweneboah-Enyera-Ntomme (TEN) oil and gas project, which poured its first oil in August 2016.

Anadarko is estimated to have realized to US$4.4 billion from its operations in both fields so far.

The Ghana Revenue Authority, which part of the team assessing the Anadarko-Total S.A. deal, notes that it translates into about US$1million per day for the number of years the oil giant has been operating in the country.

Container-load of infested gizzard destroyed

The one forty-footer salmonella-infested gizzard, which was impounded at the Port of Tema following a tip-off from the Brazilian embassy, has finally been destroyed.

A joint team comprising the Customs division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Veterinary services, GPHA Intelligence, Ports Health Services, National Security, Bureau of National Investigation and other stakeholders in the import and export chain destroyed the infested salmonella infested gizzard with at the Kpone Dumping Site on Wednesday.

In addition to the destruction of the infested gizzard, four other containers of unwholesome animal products were also destroyed in the joint effort of the agencies.

Dr. Asiedu Baah, Director

of Veterinary Services said although they are able to bury the unwholesome gizzard infested with salmonella, certain impediments hindered their ability to destroy the products which was scheduled to be destroyed o February 17, 2020.

He praised the security agencies involved and their effort in ensuring that the impounded container was not tempered with at the time it was taken for the destruction.

Dr. Asiedu Baah also reiterated that the importers of the infested gizzards were able to clear the three containers ahead of the officials and succeeded in selling the products to the citizenry because of the late alert obtained by the agencies from the Brazilian authorities.

Dr. Stephen George Bonnah, Head of Regulatory Unit, Veterinary Services Directorate, at the Port of Tema reiterated that going forward, there should be coordination among stakeholder agencies on the Joint Inspection Management Information System platform which gives approval for the clearance of goods at the port.

He said that the public should be reassured that the unwholesome animal products have been destroyed and going forward, veterinary and its allied services are going to effectively regulate all animal products that enter the country.

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BMW confirms new logo 2021 VW Atlas Got an Update but will NOT appear on cars Will Keep Last Year’s Base Price

BMW has unveiled a new logo that follows the trend for ‘flat’ 2D designs – but it is NOT going to replace the current roundel on its cars. A BMW spokesman confirmed to Motoring Research that the redesigned logo is intended only for use in communications.

“It won’t be deployed physically on cars… the existing logo remains in use there.” BMW’s new logo is intended for media branding and will be used in addition to the existing classic logo.

The new design is described as better suited to the digital age: it is “pared-down… [which] conveys openness and clarity”.

It is more transparent, deleting the black ring surrounding the ‘BMW’ lettering, which the company says future-proofs its

online and offline identity.

“With visual restraint and graphic flexibility, we are equipping ourselves for the vast variety of touchpoints in communication at which BMW will be present,” said senior vice president Jens Thiemer.

The transition to the new logo will take place between now and the end of May 2021. All online and offline communications will switch to it, including at trade fairs, motorshows and events.

Last year, Volkswagen revealed its redesigned logo, which is also a 2D ‘flat’ design.

The brand said it helped make digital communications more consistent.

In 2018, Mini also updated its logo with a two-dimensional design.

Chevy’s Electric Pickup will go toe to toe with Ford F-150 and Tesla Cybertruck GM announced that Chevy will launch an all-electric pickup truck by 2025.

• It won’t be identical to the upcoming GMC Hummer EV, as GM says it’ll be more utilitarian.

• The new pickup won’t necessarily be named Silverado, Chevy says.

Add Chevrolet to the alreadylong list of automakers planning to sell an electric pickup in the near future.

The automaker recently showed Car and Driver concept sketches of the truck that it says will go into production by 2025.

By then, the market could be full of alternatives such as the Ford F-150 Electric, the Tesla Cybertruck, the Rivian R1T, the Bollinger B2, the Lordstown Motors Endurance, and GM’s own GMC Hummer EV SUT, which goes on sale in the fall of 2021.

The electric Chevy truck— which won’t necessarily be named Silverado (pictured)— should be significantly different than the electric Hummer pickup. The Hummer is being billed as a lifestyle vehicle. It will only be available in a single body configuration with a fourdoor crew cab and a five-foot bed and will feature removable roof panels. We expect the Chevy truck to hew closer to the traditional truck formula with a

• The 2021 VW Atlas starts at $32,565, the same price as the outgoing model year.

• The higher two trim levels see price bumps of $200 and $1500 for the SE and SEL trims, respectively.

• The Atlas will go on sale in the second quarter of this year.

Brandishing a facelift that helps it look more like the two-row Atlas Cross Sport, the 2021 Atlas has a commanding presence—and an unchanged price. The three-row SUV starts at the same $32,565 as the 2020 model, but VW does make all-wheel drive a cheaper option through expanding its availability to Atlas models with either of the two engine choices.

The new Atlas comes standard with a 235-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter fourcylinder engine, and there’s an optional 276-hp 3.6-liter V-6. Both are paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission. The 2020 model only offers VW’s 4Motion all-wheel drive on models with the V-6, but new for 2021 is all-wheeldrive availability on the fourcylinder. The change to the powertrain configuration

drops the starting price for allwheel drive to $34,465 from $35,765, the cost of getting AWD with the VNew interior features include a new steering wheel, optional contrast stitching on leather interiors, and an 8.0-inch infotainment system on all but the base S model that’s new for 2021.

Although the price for the base

Atlas S is unchanged, the higher two trim levels, SE and SEL, see slight price bumps. The SE starts at $35,915, a $200 increase, and the highest trim, the SEL, starts at $43,315, a $1500 price jump.

The highest price for a 2021 Atlas is for the SEL Premium R-Line model, which is priced at $51,715.

The 2021 Atlas will go on sale in the second quarter of 2020.

Volvo using renewables, automatic lighting to reduce impact of major production site

•

greater emphasis on utility.

To maximize range on a big and heavy workhorse vehicle like the Chevy pickup, GM’s new electric-vehicle platform allows the company to stack battery modules two high.

Fitting 24 modules between the frame and under the body results in a battery pack that can store as much as 200.0 kWh of electricity on board. That much juice—Tesla vehicles currently top out at 100.0 kWh—should easily get the Chevy truck to a range of more than 300 miles.

Chevrolet also showed off an electric crossover that will go on sale by 2025 as part of GM’s eleven-vehicle onslaught. The unnamed vehicle appears to be about the size of a Chevrolet Equinox, but features a highly stylized design similar to that of the Chevy Blazer.

Operations at a Volvo facility in Sweden are now running only on renewable energy, according to the firm.

The Volvo Buses plant in the city of Boras — which has the capacity to produce around 10,000 bus chassis annually and a workforce of roughly 300 — is using sources including biofuels and hydropower.

“We are of course very proud that we have reduced our climate impact by only using renewable sources and all the energy we purchase is fossilfree,” Joakim Wretman, the plant’s production manager, said in a statement issued

earlier this week.

“The electricity comes from hydropower, our district heating is provided by biofuels, and the fork-lift trucks in the factory run on electricity or HVO, which is a renewable fuel,” Wretman added. HVO refers to hydrotreated vegetable oils.

Wretman went on to explain that a number of other changes have been made to reduce the site’s energy use by 15%.

These include replacing fluorescent lightbulbs with LED fittings and the site’s lighting being automatically regulated to ensure it is only being used when production is taking place.

“We also ensure that no electricity-consuming equipment remains switched on when it is not needed,” Wretman added.

Lighting has a big impact on the way buildings operate and use resources. According to the Carbon Trust, it uses roughly 20% of electricity generated in the U.K. The organization has described lighting controls as being “the key to managing the use of light and to ensure that the right light is provided in the right place and at the right time.”

Automatic controls, it adds, can include movement sensors and light sensors. CNBC

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The advent of IMO 2020

By Adam Imoru Ayarna

The most significant regulation for air emissions is the IMO Global Sulfur Cap. SOx emissions are based on the level of sulfur content in the fuel used by vessels. To achieve a reduction of SOx and particulate matter in the environment, the use of low sulfur fuel is now globally mandatory as of January 2020, unless alternative technology such as an Exhaust Gas Cleaning System (scrubber) is being used.

As agreed at the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) 70, the sulfur cap came into effect beginning January 1, 2020.

All vessels that operate outside Emission Control Areas (ECAs) are required to use fuel oil with a maximum sulfur content of 0.5% while vessels operating within ECAs will be required to use fuel oil with a maximum sulfur content of 0.10%.

Shipowners and operators have various options to meet the IMO sulfur cap requirements.

These options include the use of compliant low sulfur fuels

or alternative fuels such as liquified natural gas (LNG), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), compressed natural gas (CNG), biofuel, solar power or fuel cells.

SOx also can be controlled by using an alternative technology such as an exhaust gas cleaning system.

Vessel owners and operators will have to consider a widevariety of factors when choosing their compliance solution including the vessel age, operating and capital costs, fuel availability, technology solution availability and reliability and the primary trading areas.

Such measure we all agree dwells on cost and this cost will be shared with the shipping community being shippers and consignees. Shipper/Consignees should expect the introduction of a cost line which will generally be described as Low Sulphur Surcharge, however there may be other name description given by the different shipping lines, but they all point to one and the same thing. This cost will be known at time of booking as such shippers/

Adam Imoru Ayarna

Consignees should coordinate and share information amongst themselves to ensure a stressfree shipping environment.

We should desist from the old adage where consignees will most times state that they had no idea of the agreement by the shipper and the shipping line.

This cost is legitimate and it is

important for those who have considered and who are in the business on international cargo trade to know that without this charge the lines cannot operate to their areas or port of call and destination for imports and exports as such we should expect such charges to be rolled out by all shipping

lines. This is not a cartel charge, but a legitimate and necessary charge all towards saving our environment we live in.

When we all think of global warming, it goes without question that shippers/ consignees should be an interested and concerned that lines adhere to this policy for the good of mankind, and as already stated we share the cost otherwise we all perish earlier than we should, by suffering under some rather harsh weather conditions. Let us do our bit by supporting this noble initiative.

And am very excited that majority of all commercial vessel plying Ghana are fully adhering to the agreed regulation without compulsion.

Let us thus continue to monitor and dialogue to join forces and make the environment a better place for all.

Adam Imoru Ayarna is the mgfdVice President of the Shipowners and Agents Association of Ghana (SOAAG), the umbrella body of shipping lines trading in Ghana

Tackling obesity: The success of the Portuguese approach On World Obesity Day, 4 March, we highlight the success Portugal has had in tackling childhood obesity – one of the main health challenges in the WHO European Region – with their sugary drinks tax.

Childhood obesity is a complex public health issue – caused by many factors, it intersects significantly with socioeconomic status. As obesity can establish behaviours at a young and vulnerable age, countries have a duty to protect children from a phenomenon that can become a health burden for the rest of their lives.

In Portugal, the combination of unhealthy diets and a rise in sedentary lifestyles has precipitated a public health struggle with childhood obesity.

The consequences of this have implications for Portugal to achieve the wider targets for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) by 2030.

The importance of monitoring health trends However, one monitoring programme, the WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI), has attempted to take a firm hold on the crisis. COSI has been tracking the trend in childhood obesity for 12 years and has seen the numbers in Portugal slowly but surely turn around.

COSI is an initiative that has surveyed the weight of schoolaged children every 2–3 years in over 40 Member States of the European Region since 2008. It has delivered invaluable data to governments across the Region in that time.

Dr. Ana Rito, Portugal’s Principal Investigator for COSI, walks us through the component parts of this critical monitoring initiative. “Between 2008 and 2016 we can see a drop in overweight children [in Portugal] from 37.9% to 30.7% and in obese children from 15.3% to 11.7%. However, it remains one of the highest

rates in Europe,” she explains.

Thanks to COSI, it is not just prevalence that can be assessed but also the behavioural aspects of healthy lifestyles, including diets and physical habits. It also goes beyond the children themselves to assess their environments, such as schools and family. This detailed level of analysis showed that despite the decreasing rates of obesity overall, dietary patterns seemed resistant to change.

Healthy lifestyles Most importantly, COSI identified one of the main culprits. It seemed that the number of children who regularly drink soft drinks – a significant influence on weight gain – had increased over time to reach over 80.1% of children aged 6–8 years in 2016.

“This data provided scientific evidence essential to support the implementation of the

sugary drinks tax,” Ana tells me.

Taxation is often an effective way of nudging behaviour change and is far more successful than targeting or shaming individuals. However, building political momentum for such legislative change often proves challenging, particularly when it tackles an industry which puts profit before the health priorities of young people. Nonetheless, leading public health institutions in Portugal helped drive taxes on sweet beverages up the agenda and in January 2017, Portugal brought into force a sugary drinks tax.

Big steps forward The results are impressive.

Many companies have radically reduced the amount of sugar in their products and sales of sugary drinks have fallen overall. Future rounds of the COSI Portugal study will be able to track the full impact

on children’s consumption patterns, but the initial plunge in high-sugar beverage sales and the significant reformulation of products is impressive.

Dr Francisco Goiana Silva was in the cabinet of the Ministry of Health of Portugal when the sugary drinks tax was implemented and is confident about the tax: “this policy intervention is estimated to have had a far greater impact on the population’s diet than all the education and self-regulated mechanisms combined. The tax also serves as a measure to tackle health inequalities”. Unhealthy diets and obesity are strongly related to social determinants of health in Portugal – people at lower income and education levels are the most vulnerable to developing NCDs. “By promoting transfer of consumption to healthier choices, such as water, which is not more expensive, this policy will reduce the risk

of developing NCDs among the most vulnerable population groups,” added Dr Silva.

Dr Silva also stresses the importance of investing revenue raised by the sugary drinks tax in health promotion initiatives.

“It allows the creation of a multiplier effect,” he said. “It brings to light the positive impacts of the tax and prevents criticism from stakeholders in the industry arguing that the tax serves only to generate revenue.”

Surveillance systems such as COSI are clearly not just monitors of change – they have a huge amount of agency in driving through reforms and building change themselves.

When policy-makers, politicians and academics collaborate flexibly, they can have a significant impact on influencing the healthy behaviour of populations.

COSI is just one of the WHO tools that Portugal has adopted to tackle childhood obesity and other NCD risk factors.

National-level stakeholders have recognized the importance of such tools and resources.

“Having tools which can be readily used by policy-makers and ministries of health to assess the potential impact of policy scenarios is extremely useful. In the past, we have also used WHO tools to estimate the potential health impact of the Portuguese Sweetened Beverages Tax and we are currently considering their application in other policies,” commented Dr. Maria João Gregório, Director, Portuguese National Programme for the Promotion of Healthy Eating.

Portugal’s fiscal measures are taking on entrenched challenges and defending the right to health for all – including children.

Although there is more work to be done on healthy behaviours, these measures offer a guide to best practice in turning the tide of the childhood obesity epidemic.

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The impact of coronavirus on tourism By: Kofi Akpabli

There has been Ebola and there has been SARS. However, there is something about Corona, the current global scourge makes it appear like the mother of all viruses. Maybe because it is China. Maybe it is because of the confusion around the plague but Corona has a way of making everyone freeze. From what we are hearing and seeing, it is like a replay of the Egyptian plagues of Biblical times.

Following the outbreak of the deadly disease that originated in China, many Chinese are cancelling or delaying their travel plans, as authorities impose travel restrictions. With the numbers of deaths and infections climbing, some tour operators in Asia say about the only thing that is travelling right now is the virus itself.

But, it is not only Asia that is feeling the heat. Several major airlines in the United States, for example, have suspended flights to and from mainland China and Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s main carrier, Cathay Pacific Airways, has asked its 27,000 employees to take three weeks of unpaid leave after the airline cut about 30 percent of its overall capacity, and 90 percent of its flights to the mainland.

One question, though. How does an epidemic in China affect tourism round the world? You see the way Chinese are out and about all over the world? So are they also influencing tourism.

It is true that in Ghana, their presence is more to do with the dark side of economics i.e. galamsey but there are Chinese who are also serious tourists influencing the industry. Actually, over the last two decades, Chinese tourists have become increasingly adventurous. They now make up the largest contingent of foreign tourist arrivals in many parts of Asia, and are also travelling in increasing numbers to Europe and North America.

Still on the question of how CORONA affects tourism, between 2002 and 2004, as a result of SARS, Hong Kong saw a 41 percent reduction in the contribution of tourism to gross domestic product, with a 43 percent decline recorded in Singapore and a 25 percent drop in China, according to a report by the World Economic Forum.

With Corona, it could be dramatically more. This time, the effects of a slowdown in tourism are most likely to be felt not only across many other Asian countries - which have long been popular holiday destinations for Chinese tourists - but much farther afield.

Global tourism, which relies heavily on Chinese tourists, could experience a negative growth of more than 30 percent.

Already, Thailand, one of the top international destinations for Chinese tourists, stands to lose 109.3 billion Thai baht ($3.51bn) in tourism revenue due to the virus outbreak, tourist economist have projected.

Since the break of the disease, other Asian countries have already felt the pinch from the dearth of Chinese tourists over the Lunar New Year holidays that began on January 25 and

lasted more than a week.

According to experts at Oxford Economics, the drop in outbound tourism from China alone could lead to a 50 percent decline in imported services in the first quarter of 2020, according to a report shared with Al Jazeera.

Naturally, the global aviation industry is also facing a crunch as international airlines suspend flights to and from China, especially in areas where high numbers of corona virus cases have been reported.

Under the guidance of government advice, airlines such as British Airways, Qantas and United Airlines have suspended around 25,000 flights collectively.

If these suspensions continue for a prolonged period, some of the world’s busiest air routes will be severely disrupted. This may leave some airlines with significant revenue deficits.

Meanwhile, a number of cruises have been cancelled and hotel groups with properties in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are waiving cancellation fees.

Much like airlines, hotels and cruises may have to start looking at alternative locations away from the Far East.

This prospect would be extremely damaging to Far East tourism but may present an opportunity for up and coming locations in South America and Africa.

Certainty these developments create a large economical cost.

However, a real long-term impact may be felt if consumers lose confidence in the stability after Corona. But is Corona going soon? More importantly, how should the tourism industry deal with it?

China’s battle with the virus has dire implications for the global tourism industry. What makes this significant is the numbers and economic value.

The impact of the pneumonialike disease caused by the virus, called Covid-19, is already being felt across the Asian continent,

where leisure and business travel contributed $884 billion to gross domestic product in 2017, the most recent year for which data has been compiled by the World Travel and Tourism Council. (Projections for 2018 are about $1 trillion.)

For China alone, inbound tourism brought in $127.3 billion in 2019, according to the country’s tourism bureau.

But as diagnoses tick upward again, travel agents, operators, and hoteliers are bracing for at least months, if not a full year, of economic disruption from the outbreak, with long-term effects that may ripple well into 2021. The numbers of trip cancellations—not just to China but to the entire continent of Asia—is growing every day. The sense is that many potential travelers are scared and are telling themselves to hold on.

Perhaps travel in 2021 instead of now with all the uncertainties.

So far, almost 75% of his travelers have canceled their February and March departures to Southeast Asian countries, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still considers to have a lower, level one risk for corona virus.

China is the fifth-largest inbound market in the world, welcoming 62.6 million tourists in 2019. At the rate of the plague, a reduction in tourism from western nations would likely see this figure fall substantially.

Figures show that China has grown from the fourth largest source market globally, with 47.7 million outbound tourists in 2009 to become the largest, with 159 million tourists in 2019.

It seems unlikely that there will be a long-term decline in outbound tourism once the virus is contained, meaning China will maintain its place as the largest source market in 2020.

Furthermore, the Chinese outbound market was the second-highest spending in 2019, with an expenditure of $275bn.

This figure highlights the importance of the Chinese

market on the tourism industry and is a stark warning of the economic impact the corona virus could have.

Naturally, the most disturbed are neighbouring countries to China. Since last month, the Singapore Government has implemented a series of measures to reduce the risk of imported cases and community transmission of the 2019 novel corona virus (2019-nCoV).

For instance, All new visitors with recent travel history to Mainland China within the last 14 days will not be allowed entry into Singapore, or to transit through Singapore.

As of now several Immigration and Checkpoints Authorities around China have suspended the issuance of all forms of new visas to those with Chinese passports. Indeed, Singapore’s status as a visa-free transit facility for those with PRC passports has also been suspended.

If the Corona scare does not die down in the coming weeks, these measures towards China might spread beyond the Asian region. And the consequences for travel and tourism would be catastrophic.

Businesses are advised to obtain health and travel declarations from employees on whether they have travelled to China recently, or if they have any upcoming travel plans to China. Businesses are also advised to defer all travel to Hubei Province and nonessential travel to mainland China.

It is advised companies with international interfaces (diplomatic services, shipping agencies, etc) exercise necessary precautions at the workplace to prevent spread of the novel corona virus. Employers and employees should adopt additional precautions such as stepping up the cleaning of the workplace and avoiding contact with persons who are unwell, particularly for businesses which have front line workers serving customers.

All employers should require

employees to conduct regular temperature taking and check whether they have respiratory symptoms such as cough and runny nose.

Temperature should be taken at least twice daily, and anyone with fever or is unwell should leave office immediately to see a doctor.

Meanwhile, a few tips for those who are in travel motion or contemplating to travel: a. Avoid contact with live animals including poultry and birds, and consumption of raw and undercooked meats; b. Avoid crowded places and close contact with people who are unwell or showing symptoms of illness; c. Observe good personal hygiene; d. Practise frequent hand washing with soap (e.g. before handling food or eating, after going to toilet, or when hands are dirtied by respiratory secretions after coughing or sneezing); e. Wear a mask if you have respiratory symptoms such as a cough or runny nose; f. Cover your mouth with a tissue paper when coughing or sneezing, and dispose the soiled tissue paper in the rubbish bin immediately; and g. Seek medical attention promptly if you are feeling unwell.

Kofi Akpabli

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F E AT U R E

On Generational Wealth

By Dr. Suzy Aku Puplampu

In January 2020, I wrote a piece in which it will suffice to say I was checking out on freebies on technical information on investing and investment. But then, I was quickly reminded of “equity brandâ€? and the fact that I must complete what I started đ&#x;˜Š. That if pensions sounded so far off in the future, I am wondering how the concept of generational wealth will sound like, especially when I am proposing that the creation of generational wealth begins with us, if there are no such histories in our families đ&#x;¤Śâ€?♀.

In simple terms, generational wealth means wealth (accumulation of assets) handed over from one generation to another, that follow them.

Between the 1970s to the early 2000s, there were several businesses in Ghana named “father & sonsâ€?. I did wonder about their daughters though ( Just for đ&#x;˜€; don’t think deep on this đ&#x;˜?). Truth is, it was refreshing to see our grandfathers and fathers create such business legacies. Sadly, most of these inheritances were either not passed on in the form and shape required to ensure continuity or they died their natural deaths even before our grand-parents or parents passed on.

However, some names that stand out for me and are still operating include Dan Morton Tailors, Kwashie Tailors, Robert & Sons and Lee Shoes. I am sure my Ghanaian friends can equally recall several of such names that have outlived the lifetimes of their founders.

Sadly, generations after generations appear not to be focusing on creating legacies or building wealth, but rather spending all we accumulate.

The musician Sarkodie did a song he titled “hand-to-mouth�.

I guess he was right! You think about it. Generations after generations are rather depleting the little that was handed down as family inheritance. What is the result? We have nothing to own, transform and grow. Â We also find ourselves in an era that is experiencing longevity in age.

Simply put, our parents and grandparents are living longer, primarily due to advancement in medical technology, among others. With parents who worked and lived off everything they owned, there are no surpluses but to begin to depend on their children at a very early age. Need I remind you again on why you need to take retirement planning seriously? Need I! A typical example is a young graduate, who right after school has to begin to care and provide for their parent. This is good as there are blessings in caring for our parents. That I believe.

However, on the contrary, such life-starters can hardly save enough to begin any venture that could impact and transform the communities within which they find themselves. When can we begin to have an avalanche of businesses named after our families? Wait a minute! How about Puplampu and Children Limited? (oh, how cute đ&#x;˜ƒ).

Please don’t be jealous. Simply name your entity as well and let’s dream and work on generational wealth together.

woman in giving out her wealth.

Based on family-related hurts and pains, she vowed that no family member will ever have access to her properties. I told her, they will, the moment you die, so make all your decisions now that you are alive or your wealth will end up in the wrong hands and you may not be remembered by the people who should remember you.

She retorted “Oh I am not dying now�. But somehow, as we all know too well, we shall all go to the other world one day.

Sadly, as I write, this woman in question is gone. And how sad it is to see the same family members that she never wanted close to her properties, take possessions even before she was buried. It hurts as we were discussing Endowment and Trust Funds for some of her assets and the social interventions she wanted to initiate. None ever happened.

The truth is, some decisions in our lives must just be taken when they have to be taken.

No delays. No! One of such is the bigger conversation about writing a ‘Will’. Question: Have you ever attempted to ask anyone if they have a “Will�. “Why, do you think I am going to die now�? is the question most likely to be thrown back at you. I have lost count of the number of times I have had to hear such comments. I do hear these that frequently. Because in our line of work, as part of our client profiling, it is a basic requirement that clients list their next-of-kin and beneficiaries, among other things.

Reflections When I speak with my clients on wealth creation, management, and building generational wealth, I ask them to think about wealth beyond themselves. To pass our wealth on, we must ensure that the legacies we are passing on can sustain the next set of generations beyond us.

Dr. Mensa Otabil Chancellor of Central University explains a generational thinker is one who can sow seeds for the future.

This implies that our wealth creation efforts must bear fruits after we are gone. Legacies or generational wealth are the only way we can be remembered in this world. Our wealth should not be about us or for us alone.

Likewise, our riches must not terminate with our demise, to a large extent. And our interventions in our societies must outlive generations after generations. We must all be remembered – alive or dead.

My dear friends, let’s think ‌on generational wealth.

Another interesting twist to generational wealth is what I have observed in my field of work as a finance and wealth management professional.

That gradually, wealthy people appear not to have comfort in handing down their wealth, especially their investments. It is even sadder when clients have challenges with naming their next-of-kin and beneficiaries.

Some will blatantly tell you “my investment is solely for me�. “I know that�, as I will usually

retort. Then further add “what if something happens to you?â€?. “You mean, when I die?â€?. “Yes, kind of‌â€?. “Oh, don’t worry I will not die nowâ€?. Of course, like pensions, death is something we do not ever want to hear of or have a conversation about in a casual way. It has been noted many times in literature, and I repeat here: death is inevitable.

Honestly, I keep wondering: why do we work so hard, when we have a challenge with people living off our wealth when we

no longer exist? I cannot help but reflect on the last sentence in William A. Ward’s quote on money and wealth. That “Before you die, give�. Put differently, without losing the core message, “go ahead and die but first give�.

Give, because on that day, it is only the cloth we have on and maybe our favourite ‘teddy bear’, if our grandchildren run over in good time.

Perhaps, I should indicate here that this piece was inspired by the late decision of a rich

Dr. Suzy Aku Puplampu is the Chief Executive Officer of OctaneDC Limited, a fund management and advisory company approved by SEC. A fellow of ACCA (UK), Suzy has two decades experience in the Finance industry, and holds a Doctorate in Business Administration with specialisation in Wealth Management from Walden University, USA.

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H E A LT H & P H A R M A C E U T I C A L S

Incentivize industry to produce more personal protective equipment—WHO The World Health Organization has warned that severe and mounting disruption to the global supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) – caused by rising demand, panic buying, hoarding and misuse – is putting lives at risk from the new coronavirus and other infectious diseases.

Healthcare workers rely on personal protective equipment to protect themselves and their patients from being infected and infecting others.

But shortages are leaving doctors, nurses and other frontline workers dangerously ill-equipped to care for COVID-19 patients, due to limited access to supplies such as gloves, medical masks, respirators, goggles, face shields, gowns, and aprons.

“Without secure supply chains, the risk to healthcare workers around the world is

real. Industry and governments must act quickly to boost supply, ease export restrictions and put measures in place to stop speculation and hoarding.

We can’t stop COVID-19 without protecting health workers first,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Since the start of the COVID-19

outbreak, prices have surged.

Surgical masks have seen a sixfold increase, N95 respirators have trebled and gowns have doubled.

Supplies can take months to deliver and market manipulation is widespread, with stocks frequently sold to the highest bidder.

WHO has so far shipped nearly half a million sets of personal protective equipment to 47 countries,* but supplies are rapidly depleting.

Based on WHO modelling, an estimated 89 million medical masks are required for the COVID-19 response each month.

For examination gloves, that figure goes up to 76 million, while international demand for goggles stands at 1.6 million per month.

Recent WHO guidance calls for the rational and appropriate use

of PPE in healthcare settings, and the effective management of supply chains.

WHO is working with governments, industry and the Pandemic Supply Chain Network to boost production and secure allocations for critically affected and at-risk countries.

To meet rising global demand, WHO estimates that industry must increase manufacturing by 40 per cent.

Governments should develop incentives for industry to ramp up production. This includes easing restrictions on the export and distribution of personal protective equipment and other medical supplies.

Every day, WHO is providing guidance, supporting secure supply chains, and delivering critical equipment to countries in need.

UN releases US$15 million to help vulnerable countries battle the spread of the coronavirus UN Humanitarian Chief Mark Lowcock today released US$15 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to help fund global efforts to contain the COVID-19 virus.

The announcement came as the World Health Organization (WHO) upgraded the global risk of the coronavirus outbreak to “very high” – its top level of risk assessment. The WHO has said there is still a chance of containing the virus if its chain of transmission is broken.

The sudden increases of cases in Italy, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Korea are deeply concerning. There are now cases linked to Iran in Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait and Oman, along with cases linked to Italy in Algeria, Austria, Croatia, Germany, Spain and Switzerland.

The UN funding has been released to the WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). It will fund essential activities including monitoring the spread of the virus, investigating cases, and the operation of national laboratories.

The WHO has called for US$675 million to fund the fight against coronavirus. There is a window of opportunity to contain the spread of the virus if countries take robust measures to detect cases early, isolate and care for patients, and trace contacts.

Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock said: “We do not yet see evidence that the virus is spreading freely. As long as that’s the case, we still have a chance of containing it.

“But swift and robust action must be taken to detect cases early, isolate and care for patients, and trace contacts. We must act now to stop this virus from putting more lives at risk.

“This grant from the UN’s Emergency Fund will help countries with fragile health

systems boost their detection and response operations. It has the potential to save the lives of millions of vulnerable people.”

This is a critical juncture in the outbreak. The focus is on containing COVID-19 by strengthening surveillance, conducting thorough outbreak investigations to identify contacts and applying appropriate measures to prevent further spread.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said: “The potential spread of the virus to countries with weaker health systems is one of our biggest concerns. These funds will help support these countries get ready for detecting and isolating cases, protecting their health workers, and treating patients with dignity and appropriate care. This will help us save lives and push back the virus” UNICEF is leading on preventative actions in communities across the affected countries with risk communication, providing hygiene and medical kits to schools and health clinics and monitoring the impact of the outbreak to support continuity

of care, education and social services.

“At this pivotal moment, every effort must be made to push back against the outbreak,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “These crucial funds will support our global efforts to bolster weaker health systems and inform children, pregnant women and families about how to protect themselves.”

Since it was launched in 2006, CERF has provided more than $6 billion to over 100 countries and helped hundreds of millions of people.

UN Humanitarian Chief Mark Lowcock today released US$15 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to help fund global efforts to contain the COVID-19 virus.

The announcement came as the World Health Organization (WHO) upgraded the global risk of the coronavirus outbreak to “very high” – its top level of risk assessment. The WHO has said there is still a chance of containing the virus if its chain of transmission is broken.

The sudden increases of cases in Italy, the Islamic Republic of

Iran and the Republic of Korea are deeply concerning. There are now cases linked to Iran in Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait and Oman, along with cases linked to Italy in Algeria, Austria, Croatia, Germany, Spain and Switzerland.

The UN funding has been released to the WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). It will fund essential activities including monitoring the spread of the virus, investigating cases, and the operation of national laboratories.

The WHO has called for US$675 million to fund the fight against coronavirus. There is a window of opportunity to contain the spread of the virus if countries take robust measures to detect cases early, isolate and care for patients, and trace contacts.

Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock said: “We do not yet see evidence that the virus is spreading freely. As long as that’s the case, we still have a chance of containing it.

“But swift and robust action must be taken to detect cases early, isolate and care for

patients, and trace contacts. We must act now to stop this virus from putting more lives at risk.

“This grant from the UN’s Emergency Fund will help countries with fragile health systems boost their detection and response operations. It has the potential to save the lives of millions of vulnerable people.”

This is a critical juncture in the outbreak. The focus is on containing COVID-19 by strengthening surveillance, conducting thorough outbreak investigations to identify contacts and applying appropriate measures to prevent further spread.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said: “The potential spread of the virus to countries with weaker health systems is one of our biggest concerns. These funds will help support these countries get ready for detecting and isolating cases, protecting their health workers, and treating patients with dignity and appropriate care. This will help us save lives and push back the virus” UNICEF is leading on preventative actions in communities across the affected countries with risk communication, providing hygiene and medical kits to schools and health clinics and monitoring the impact of the outbreak to support continuity of care, education and social services.

“At this pivotal moment, every effort must be made to push back against the outbreak,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “These crucial funds will support our global efforts to bolster weaker health systems and inform children, pregnant women and families about how to protect themselves.”

Since it was launched in 2006, CERF has provided more than $6 billion to over 100 countries and helped hundreds of millions of people.

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F E AT U R E

Globalizing the AI Revolution in Health Care

By Dominik Ruettinger

Machine learning and big data promise to make the process of discovering and applying new cancer treatments faster and more effective than ever. But to realize these technologies’ potential, we will need pragmatic, globally standardized policies governing the collection and use of medical data.

We are entering a transformational period in medical science, as traditional research techniques combine with massive computing power and a wealth of new data. Just recently, Google announced that it has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system capable of outperforming human radiologists in detecting breast cancer. And that is merely the latest example of how machine learning and big data are leading to new medical diagnostics, treatments, and discoveries. To realize AI’s enormous potential, however, we must develop a pragmatic and globally agreed approach to governing the collection and use of “realworld data.”

Real-world data includes any information that can help to guide new medical research.

Some of it has been around for quite a while. For example, cancer researchers have long used anonymized health records to select patient candidates who are most likely to respond well to novel and experimental treatments. But other kinds of data have become available only recently, along with the technology for analyzing them at scale.

The new capabilities offered

by AI and related technologies

raise complicated, sometimes controversial questions about privacy and data ownership. But we can meet these challenges by establishing comprehensive rules to safeguard personal information.

Policymakers around the world and within global-governance institutions must not delay. Medical science powerhouses are already forging ahead with real-world data initiatives in the United States, where the wide availability of anonymized patient data is fueling a new wave of innovation.

The National Cancer Institute, for example, is preparing to launch the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative, an ambitious ten-year project that will pool data from every pediatric and young adult cancer patient in the country to find new targets and treatment mechanisms.

Similarly, the Susan G. Komen Foundation has already launched its Big Data for Breast Cancer (BD4BC) initiative, which includes a project using algorithmic analysis to tease out biological processes in some of the most difficult-to-treat breast cancers.

Yet because these initiatives use data gathered strictly from patient populations in the US, their applicability is limited, particularly at the global level. Human biology varies widely both within and between populations, owing partly to genetic differences that are themselves influenced by environmental factors and other long-term trends such as isolation, migration, historic disease burden, and the like. Sickle cell anemia, Ashkenazi genetic diseases, and cystic fibrosis are just three examples of the many diseases

with population-specific correlations.

These variations in individual physiology mean that what works for one subgroup may not work as well for another, and that we should cast the net for real-world data as widely as possible. Nonetheless, Europe has lagged behind the US in making anonymized real-world data available at scale.

This failure stems partly from understandable concerns about patient privacy and data ownership. To address these concerns, we must take every precaution to guard against the misuse of data, by establishing rules that are truly global in scope. Health authorities need to standardize guidance on realworld data collection and use, as well as establish international standards for sharing genomic research.

To that end, pharmaceutical companies and other major stakeholders in the health-care sector are working with EU regulators, the US Food

and Drug Administration, and other health authorities around the world to determine how researchers can use data safely, while upholding the core values of patient privacy and provider accountability.

Recent breakthroughs in medical research offer a tantalizing hint of what is possible if we get the policy mix right. Since acquiring a database with anonymized data for 2.2 million cancer patients, researchers at Roche have developed a prognostic scoring system to predict how patients would respond to different cancer treatment options, based on a range of factors.

Another initiative enables us to predict likely adverse reactions to immunotherapy treatments among patients with autoimmune disorders. That is a remarkable development in the field, given that patients who suffer such reactions represent a tiny percentage of subjects in clinical trials of new treatments.

By deploying new technologies and tapping into the world’s largest cancer genomic databases, we can accelerate the development of personalized treatments and meet the individual needs of people with life-threatening diseases. But along with its great promise, realworld data poses complicated questions about how we share personal data. Simply turning our backs on these issues is neither realistic nor responsible, as it would mean foregoing perhaps the greatest advances in the history of medicine.The global community must come together to tackle these policy challenges. Only then will we be able to realize the full benefits of the technological revolution in health care.

Dominik Ruettinger is Global Head of Early Clinical Development Oncology at Roche. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2020. www.project-syndicate.org

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JOB VACANCY JOB TITLE: CO-ORDINATOR, PROGRAMS Directly Reports to: HEAD, BUSINESS • • DEVELOPMENT POSITION OBJECTIVE AND RESPONSIBILITY The Co-ordinator, Programmes has the responsibility to enhance company’s visibility and image by effectively managing all Company Events as well as designing and publishing promotional materials to support the Company’s Marketing Strategies and overall Business Goals.

SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

•

within various business sectors.

Convert calls to new business leads.

Use event databases to gain potential leads and to be proactive in identifying opportunities for new business.

Identify strong potential prospects using initiative and creativity, to generate outbound lead opportunities.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES • Must have deep understanding of the continuum of marketing and corporate communications.

• Strong analytical ability.

• Ability to lead others by influence and develop strong relationships across the organization (Sales, Marketing, Functional Partners) to achieve departmental objectives.

• Creative thinker and fast learner, ability to communicate ideas effectively.

• Ability to effectively translate company objectives into creative event platforms.

• Ability to effectively communicate company messages across all markets.

• Excellent knowledge of event management environment.

• Ability to deal with confidential tasks, with total discretion.

• Plan and organize quality Corporate Events and Conferences that bring company’s innovation to fruition while upholding the Company’s values at all times • Enhance company’s visibility and ensure a favourable Company image by assuring that event presence, related graphics and promotional activities support the overall Company Mission and Marketing Strategy.

• Develop, manage and control Event/ Conference Budget to ensure that events are delivered in a cost-effective manner.

• Design and publish monthly magazines as a vehicle to improve the Company’s promotional campaigns.

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE • Manage video productions as well as social media and all • A degree in either marketing or communications. outdoor platforms.

• Design both electronic and print marketing and • 6+ years’ experience in event management, public relations and marketing. promotional materials • Coordinate all corporate events/ forums such as road • A minimum of 3 years relevant experience in an Insurance or FMCG industry is an added advantage shows and conferences • Work closely with the Business Development, Sales team Interested applicants should send cvs to: hrrecruitment605@ and sales representatives to ensure leads are generated gmail.com

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AFRICAN BUSINES S

Nairobi, Mombasa among 14 counties on high alert for virus The Health ministry has placed 14 counties on high alert for coronavirus, given their status as points of entry or their proximity to those that are points of entry.

They are Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Kiambu, Uasin Gishu, Kajiado, Busia, Migori, Kilifi, Kakamega, Kajiado, Nakuru, Wajir and Garissa.

Dr Daniel Lang’at, the ministry’s head of disease surveillance, made the announcement on Thursday while giving an update on the country’s preparedness for an oubreak.

SCREENING Dr Lang’at said the country’s surveillance system is robust and that they are confident of no case of the Covid-19 at the moment.

He added that Kenya can test the first 100 samples of any suspected cases at the National Influenza Center or the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

He also annouced that as of

Wednesday, 342,510 travellers had been screened using thermal scanners and guns.

All passengers coming into the country are being screened for the virus, unlike the previous case where only those from China were being examined.

Wuhan, China, is the epicentre of the virus first reported on December 31, 2019.

GLOBAL TOLL So far, the virus has killed at least 3,300 people across the world and infected more than 96,414 in 84 countries and territories.

This is according to AFP’s latest toll at 1100 GMT on Thursday, based on official sources.

South Africa on Thursday confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus, a 38-yearold male who travelled to Italy, health ministry announced.

It is the first case in southern Africa, and the latest confirmed case in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria and Senegal.

Additional reporting by AFP

Stop the Posturing on COVID-19

By Arkebe Oqubay

The COVID-19 outbreak is threatening to become a global pandemic of the type not seen for a century. This new coronavirus has now spread to 77 countries, infecting over 93,000 people and killing more than 3,200; so far, 86% of cases and 93% of deaths have been in China, where the outbreak began.

With the virus now having been identified on six continents, the World Health Organization has raised its threat assessment to its highest level. And Bill Gates, who previously has been vocal about the danger of a global pandemic, says COVID-19 “has started behaving a lot like the once-in-a-century pathogen we’ve been worried about.”

The outbreak quickly became a highly politicized topic. Senior WHO officials, for example, were criticized both for applauding the Chinese government’s efforts to contain the virus and for their own delay in declaring it an epidemic. Moreover, despite repeated calls for more resources to tackle the virus, the WHO has received only a small amount of the support pledged by the international community, forcing it to rely instead on its internal lending mechanisms. And at a time when governments should be taking coordinated action to contain the virus, many airlines have suspended flights to China, even though the WHO and the International Air Transport Association have not advised such a move.

The response to the Chinese government’s unprecedented and largely successful measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, including travel and movement restrictions within infection hotspots, has been mixed. While Western mainstream media have tended to describe the lockdown of Wuhan and other Chinese cities with a total population of about 60 million as “draconian,” former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

expressed a supportive message for the bold and necessary measures.

By so far restricting the overwhelming majority of COVID-19 cases and deaths to Hubei province, the Chinese authorities have given the international community additional time to take precautionary measures. The heroes of China’s response, of course, are the frontline medical personnel who risked their lives – and, in some cases, died – to protect their fellow citizens.

COVID-19 is the fourth major virus outbreak since 2000.

The 2002-2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic killed 774 people; the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) spread to 27 countries, with 2,494 laboratory-confirmed cases and 858 deaths; and repeated Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have so far resulted in 3,444 total cases and 2,264 deaths. (The death toll from the West African Ebola outbreak in 2014-2015 was far higher.)

Besides the deaths and

significant psychological effects, COVID-19 also is causing major damage to the global economy by disrupting production and value chains in almost all industries. The outbreak is costing the global shipping industry $350 million per week, primarily owing to the slowdown in Chinese goods manufacturing. Global aviation demand has fallen significantly since the beginning of the year, with Asian carriers particularly hard hit: Cathay Pacific, for example, expects to scale back flights by 40% during the remainder of the first quarter.

And many countries’ tourism and hospitality sectors have shrunk.

The COVID-19 contagion has spread to financial markets, with global stocks recently losing $6 trillion in value in six days – the sharpest decline since the 2008 financial crisis. The unexpected global economic slowdown, which comes at a time when growth is much needed, will affect both advanced and developing countries and raise fears of a global recession.

No country is immune from the

threat posed by COVID-19 and other fast-spreading viruses. In fact, climate change, increased global mobility in business and tourism, and demographic shifts are likely to increase the risks, uncertainties, and costs associated with similar outbreaks in the future.

Moreover, national health systems are underprepared to cope with this imminent global emergency.

A new global approach is therefore needed to deal with such crises. For starters, a swift response and international mobilization of resources and expertise are essential, together with sympathy and compassion.

The Chinese people deserve the world’s moral support at this most difficult time. Events such as the COVID-19 outbreak should not be occasions for politicized responses: A sense of shared humanity must take precedence over politics when a disease threatens to become a pandemic.

In addition, policymakers should use technological advances (including artificial intelligence and biotechnology)

for the betterment of our common future. As well as the introduction of improved early-warning systems, a renewed focus on research into prevention options such as vaccines is critical. Rather than leaving research and innovation to the profit-driven global pharmaceutical industry, governments should build national health systems that will put them in a stronger position to prevent and contain outbreaks.

Finally, the WHO’s capability should be strengthened and its international emergency capacity expanded so that viruses can be fully contained where they originate.

COVID-19 is a sharp reminder that epidemics can quickly wipe out economic advances.

Moreover, the difficulty of measuring the full impact of such outbreaks makes the global economy more vulnerable.

Governments and international organizations therefore need to implement recovery measures that have the least negative economic impact, and support the poorer citizens and small firms that ultimately will be most affected by any outbreak.

Above all, world leaders must refrain from political posturing and unite to defeat this deadly global threat.

By Arkebe Oqubay

Arkebe Oqubay, a senior minister and special adviser to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, is a distinguished fellow at the Overseas Development Institute.

His recent publications include Made in Africa, How Nations Learn, and The Oxford Handbook of Industrial Hubs and Economic Development. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2020. www. project-syndicate.org

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NEWS

Attracting more women to nuclear science and technology

By Sheila Victoria Gbormittah, Nuclear Regulatory Authority

The name Marie Curie brings to mind the enviable picture of the first woman who won the first Nobel Prizes in both Physics and Chemistry. Her name is also an impressive undeniable name as a pioneer in the study of nuclear science, for her groundbreaking discovery of radium in 1984 that has evolved into the diverse beneficial applications of radiation in health, agriculture, research, education and for the generation of electricity for socio-economic development today.

Globally, there have been ripple effects and an immense magnetic pull of women into nuclear science and technology and Ghana definitely has her share of the ‘Marie Curies’.

As we celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD 2020) on the theme: ‘I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights’; and the year long campaign theme: ‘An Equal World is an enabled World’; we pay tribute to the Ghanaian women in nuclear science and let’s all collectively be #EqualforEqual to attract more women and young girls to nuclear science.

Since the beginning of the use of radiations in Ghana, women as research scientists, nuclear regulatory inspectors, radiation protection experts, nuclear security professionals, nuclear engineers, managers, oncologists, radiographers, radiotherapists, radiation protection officers, lawyers and nuclear communicators have been part of the success stories of her nuclear industry.

Notable Ghanaian Women in

Nuclear Science and Technology Notable personalities like Prof. Mrs Aba Bentil Andam, the immediate past President of the Ghana Academy of Arts & Sciences and current Board Chairman for the Nuclear Regulatory Authority and Prof.

Mrs Victoria Appiah, a former Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission and the only woman to hold that position so far are worth praising to the skies.

In addition, Prof. Josephine Tabiri, a former Director of the Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute (BNARI); Prof. Mary Boadu, the current Director of the Radiological and Medical Sciences Research Institute (RAMSRI) and Dr. Delphina Adabie Gomez are all women in nuclear science and technology and we celebrate them too this day.

Currently, there are one hundred and forty-four (144) women in various disciplines in the nuclear profession at the postgraduate level, with seventeen (17) at PhD degree levels. The establishment of the Graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences (SNAS) in 2006 as a collaboration between the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, the University of Ghana and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been a major contributor to this increased number of women in nuclear science in the country.

Out of this number, eighty (80) are working in various fields of nuclear and related techniques of which seventy (70) are Research Scientists at the Ghana Atomic Energy

Commission and ten (10) are Nuclear Regulatory Officers and Safeguards Inspectors at the Nuclear Regulatory Authority.

Although a major achievement, this number is woefully inadequate when compared to the number of men in nuclear science and this certainly means, there must be intentional efforts to attract more women into nuclear science and this also means the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 which aims at achieving gender equality and empower all women and girls.

The Way Forward The challenge has always been that few young women study Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, known as ‘STEM’ subjects in secondary and higher education as compared to the humanities and social sciences.

This can be attributed to the simple fact that, all over the world, the STEM subjects including nuclear science are supposed to be the domain of men.

Nonetheless, the story is changing as some countries with the IAEA’s support to the Women in Nuclear Global (WiN Global) and their Educational Youth Programmes on nuclear science and technology. These supports aim at introducing nuclear science to high school students with a particular emphasis on girls. In some member states like the Philippines, science especially nuclear science and technology education programmes have been introduced into several schools. This simply means that in some few years to come the Philippines would have a higher

number of women in nuclear science and it should not come as a surprise.

So how do we increase the number of women in the nuclear sciences in Ghana?

We can start by encouraging more women in science to volunteer to be facilitators for the STEM subjects at all levels of the educational ladder. There is also the need to introduce nuclear science and technology education programmes and to girls at an early age. Finally, there is the need to equip more science laboratories with the resources to carry radioactivity experiments, which is the basis of nuclear science to make the theory come alive for these young girls. Most importantly, these nuclear science experiments should be made more practical, exciting and fun.

Career Opportunities Working as a Woman in Nuclear Science is fascinating and makes the acceptance of some of these ‘hard’ technologies easier for other women as they can relate to their fellow women in the industry.

Some of the career opportunities that are available in the nuclear sciences are radiation protection expert, nuclear security professional, nuclear engineers, nuclear lawyer, a Safeguards Inspector, Nuclear Researcher, Medical Physicist, Environmental Radiation Protection Officer and many more.

To be a woman in nuclear science, you need to have a background in the pure sciences (biological or physical); engineering and mathematics and then you apply the Graduate

School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences (SNAS) which offers postgraduate courses (at the Masters and PhD levels) in the nuclear and allied science for now. If you are a young woman reading science, why don’t you join us now? You would be glad you did.

Women in Nuclear (WiN) WiN Global is a non-profit organization with about 35,000 members in 109 countries with Dr. Gabriele Voigt as President.

She used to be a manager of nuclear facilities and laboratories in Germany and at the IAEA. WiN Global has been advocating for stronger roles for women in nuclear science and technology; and to increase awareness of the importance of gender balance in the nuclear sciences and promotes these areas to women making career choices.

It is worthy to note that plans are underway with the support of the IAEA to launch WiN Ghana soon.

In summary, just as Dr. Janez Potočnik, a former Director General for Research, European Commission said “let us keep up the good work done so far while continuing to push towards the full inclusion of women in scientific life. Women deserve it and science will benefit from it.”

Strike the #EqualforEqual Pose just like these Women in Nuclear Science who are research scientists, engineers, inspectors, nuclear security professionals and nuclear communicators to encourage the move for attracting more women to nuclear science and technology. #IWD2020 #EqualforEqual #WomenInNuclearGhana

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F E AT U R E THE FUTURE OF WORK CAPSULES

The future of work. Is Ghana prepared for the change?

By Baptista Sarah Gebu (Mrs.) How would work be for us all in the future? What will be the future role of our businesses in Ghana? What do you think could be some of the ways in which talents could be attracted by businesses in the future? Is Ghana prepared for the change?

One of the newest topics since 2017 leaving plenty of room for deliberation from various expects is on what impact automation technology like artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics will have on jobs, skills, and wages in the future.

It appears the future of work leaves us with more questions than answers.

We’re having an interesting time in our history due to the concept of the future of work.

This tête-à-tête comes up in almost every conversation whether with professionals, entrepreneurs, students, workers, CEO’s, and or policymakers. It’s the topic of the day. And typically, when this topic comes up, there are three or four issues embedded within it.

First is on the impact artificial intelligence and automation will have on work and jobs, and weather Ghana will have enough work and jobs left?

Secondly, the changing models for work and work structure, involving around independent work, the gig economy, and what people sometimes refer to as fissure work, whether people work as outsourced services or not. Which of these kinds of evolved work models are going to become the future, and would people work effectively and sustainability earning living wages with enough support, in that kind of world or with more varied type of work as

put forward by James Manyika, chairman and director of the McKinsey Global Institute.

Since the start of my career I’ve witnessed considerable changes in the way we work and how we manage our people. I’ve been lucky to work and experience some very different and contrasting industries, but I’ve generally found that whatever the nature of a business or organization, they are rarely immune to change.

And change is happening faster than ever, right across the globe: environmental pressures, population growth, massive advancements in technology, and significant shifts in the demographic of the workforce to name just a few. In step with these, people’s aspirations and desires for their work are also changing. Of course, this presents challenges, but many organizations also see it as a wonderful opportunity to create positive change and to start to build purpose-driven organizations that priorities people and planet alongside profit as put forward by Anna Gowdridge , Virgin Unite’s Head of People in the B -Team report.

The future of work suggests incomparable prospects, as well as substantial challenges.

Globalization, technological progress and demographic change are having a thoughtful influence on society and labour markets. It is critical that strategies and policies are map up to help workers and society at large to manage the transition with the least possible disruption, while maximizing the potential benefits thereof.

There are new technologies emerging in our time and age contributing to helping us do our jobs much more efficiently

and effectively now than before.

For now, most workers are finding work to do through many online platforms which hitherto was not the case.

Most organizations are getting mindful of the climate change discourse and are doing away with paper applications as much as possible. We are caring for the environment and as such do print only documents we really need printed during meetings, interviews, events and at other gatherings while soft-copy documents are heavily been circulated and used. Most job advertisements demand applicants to apply through an e-mail or online portal as against massive paper documents few years back.

We are learning great and better ways of collaborating with colleagues and families across the globe in new ways of doing things as these benefits are shared and enjoyed by everybody across the globe.

These new ways of doing things is causing many to experience some negative effects of growing inequality in wages, opportunities and risks. These are worrying trends of what the ideal future of work looks like leaving room already for unresolved challenges and fear.

The answer to our identified challenges and fear the future of work poses to the economy lays with our perspective and the lens at which we peruse the subject matter on the future of work and possible steps we take to address the future from today.

In seeking and contributing to a positive future of work, we looking forward to considering the future of workers or the future of work. What do we mean when we talk about the future of work? Are we not already

working into the future? Is work not expected to be a continuous process? These remind me of my basic accounting 101 lessons on business concepts and conventions. The “going concern concept’ have it that businesses must operate indefinitely into the future and make plans for it. The going assumption states that businesses should be treated as if they will continue to operate indefinitely or at least long enough to accomplish their objectives. In other words, the going concern concept assumes that businesses will have a long life and not close or be sold in the immediate future.

Companies that are expected to continue are said to be a going concern. Hence the future of work addresses the future of work itself and that of workers as well.

Our perspectives and ideas about work and fostering solution-oriented conversations across sectors and countries will help us manage our expectations and fears of what the future of work holds for all of us. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), together we can build a better world of work for all through collaborative efforts.

In Ghana this collaborative effort is demonstrated already by the telecommunication, financial and service sectors just to mention but a few. We are in the digital age in Ghana and this is a welcoming news. Hitherto, most activities and transactions were conducted manually including but not limited to banking, payment for goods and services including, purchases of mobile credit for voice and data bundle use, payment for services such as Ghana Water, Electricity

power, sewage collection, ticket for events amongst others.

Seeking the services of, for instance the Ghana Registrar General’s department to register a business was a very herculean task then. With digitization coming our way most of our systems have been improved promoting efficiency and effectiveness to work systems and transactions across board. Massive technological advancement is shaping the way we work now and for the future. But is Ghana ready and prepared for this wholistic change?

Mobile money payments interoperability has been a huge success for us in Ghana. The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS), the Telecos and financial institutions have ensured that mobile money platforms were interoperable to make banking services more accessible to the large unbanked population estimated to be 70% by the World Bank. Interoperability is the ability for customers to undertake money transfer between two accounts at different mobile money companies. This has enhanced transfer of money between mobile money accounts and bank accounts very successful and now customers can move money from their bank accounts to mobile money accounts as well. Ghana now has a financial transactions engine that is multipurpose, efficient and robust. Our next focus will be for Ghana to venture into cross border arena, to enhance an effective and efficient payment system to support sub-regional and intra Africa trade especially now that Ghana will host the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) secretariat in

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Accra.

The mobile phone is offering competitive advantage in our time. With just a mobile phone, a Ghanaian depending on the model and functionality is able to operate his/her office from the comfort of the palm anywhere.

We manage our office work on the mobile phone using it as a desktop computer or laptop, as an information gateway system as most news breaks first on our phones through various social media portals before hitting our television screens as news headlines. Most mobile phones are used for checking and sending emails, processing (word), formulation (excel), presentation (power-point) and archival (scanning and record keeping) functions. All these are supporting workers to working remotely now which hitherto wasn’t the case.

Working in the future will mean a mastery use of these and many more work-related equipment digitized to offer efficiency and work effectiveness. But will this affect the way we work in Ghana. Yes, people’s desire for work and work processes and systems will change. Let me tell you how; most businesses work the standard eight (8) hours commencing at 8:00am and closing at 5:00pm offering one-hour break for lunch.

Going forward, employees will demand more freedom and opportunities. The focus may be shifting from an employer market to an employee-focused market. Interestingly enough, that change may be slow-paced but will happen as per research.

This freedom and opportunity will promote the employee wellbeing. The employee well-being will drive engagement helping to manage individual, team and organizational performance, meaning and purpose, well designed jobs and an enabling environment. The engagement will assist manage stress issues as many can work remotely, cut down on long hours work as the rush hour traffic could be avoided amongst others.

The concept of a permanent job may not exist anymore as many employees may prefer working on several projects and on contract with several employers at varied times for their income.

That being said the future of work will address the future of leadership.

The future of leadership will see employees being given far

more freedom and opportunity.

The days of successful leaders being overly controlling are numbered as new ways of working means flexibility and empowerment will become central to businesses large and small”. It’s interesting to note from the B-Team report that the future of work will offer five things we can learn from.

1. Working with an organisation with purpose 2. Expectation of lifelong growth 3. Management of the ‘always on’ culture caused by technology 4. Need for ‘Hybrid leaders’ in high demand.

5. The concept of a job for life won’t exist.

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People will want to work with an organisation that has purpose. As Tim Brown (CEO and President of IDEO) observes, only organisations with a ‘reason for being’ will be sustainable and successful in the future and attract the next generation of talent. This is because the new generation of people coming into the workforce want to work for businesses that are innovative, creative, fun and that are inspiring change.

Not sure what this communicates to you yet?. Pause and smile and activate your thinking lenses .

People will expect lifelong growth.

People are constantly curious, and keen to learn and develop their skills and knowledge.

Technology has made learning available at the click of a button and that means we need to continue to develop new approaches to developing our people so that they can stay relevant and feel that they are growing.

We will have to help manage the ‘always on’ culture caused by technology. It’s interesting to note that at Virgin Unite, amongst other things, unlimited leave has been already introduced, which support personal development goals. That is not all; the Virgin Pulse programme is in place

as well to help support employees to sustain their own health and wellness.

Maternity leave duration offers direct benefit to the family, the organization and subsequently the nation. Currently the Ghana Labour Act 200, Act 651 article 57 clauses number one to nine spells out the maternity leave provisions in the law and offers at least three months (twelve weeks) maternity leave for Ghanaian employees with full pay in addition to the person’s annual leave. The World Health Organization (WHO, 2003) has recommended among other things that mothers exclusively breastfeed their new born babies up until six months on breast milk only; a recommendation which can be attained with greater support from government, employers and family.

This policy directive can only be effective in Ghana when a policy change is considered to reflect this change.

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Interestingly enough, although the country’s statutory laws propose three months maternity leave, in contrast, the World Health Organisation and medical experts call for six months exclusive breastfeeding for the new born to enhance good health and prevent future health related diseases. Conversely, how do we juxtapose Ghana’s legislative provision of three months leave duration to the proposed and globally accepted six months exclusive breast feeding? It appears we envisage a future where we applaud policy makers for building bigger hospitals and not wholistic centers to support us nurture and promote healthy living.

The fact remains that once these health facilities are built, the facilities need to work. These facilities will need sick Ghanaians to patronize their services.

These sick Ghanaian may include our families, coworkers and friends.

Think about it.

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Hybrid leaders will be in demand. Hybrid leaders are leaders who can work collaboratively across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors and use business solutions to tackle the world’s social and environmental problems.

According to the B-Team report, the Unite team includes former consultants, lawyers, accountants, public servants and entrepreneurs, all of whom add diverse and innovative ideas and approaches to the mix. The New Year just commenced and barely two months old, perhaps this article may offer some perspective for your consideration in constituting your team for the year and beyond.

Remember change is the only constant.

The concept of a job for life won’t exist. Changing workforce expectations, the ability to use technology to perform more project or portfolio work and skills shortages in many industries have all transformed the jobs market and the way people approach their careers.

This has all brought greater expectations of the ability to move between projects, organisations and roles and a radical shift in the traditional models of attracting and retaining talent. Therefore, the concept of a job for life won’t exist. Do you agree?

What do you think?

Not having a job for life prompted my curiosity to research for skills needed in the workplace for the future.

According to the B-Team report, people with a novel and adoptive thinking, cross cultural competency, new media literacy, design mindset, sense making skills amongst others will drive innovation and the top tier skills will be in very high demand. New media ecology, rise of smart machines and systems, extreme longevity, computational world et al.

As a country, it’s imperative we prepare. This preparation should excite and involve the government, the business

leaders, the entrepreneurs, students, families and churches.

Let’s not perceive these conversations taking place in policy and business circles as been too early for us. Let’s all be forward looking as most policymakers have commenced the rethinking and restructuring process and the engagement fora to consider the right ways to approach the future of work as a people.

As Ghanaians, we need to start preparing for choices, have an embracing conversation as a people, face up to the transitions and challenges we envisage. In subsequent features, we will be discussing the subject matter in relation to how these will impact our educational system, government and the way civil servants work in Ghana, the banking sector, the law profession, medicine, TVET and other professions in Ghana. You can join the discussion. Let’s hear from you.

Hashtag #theFutureofWorkCapsules, #FoWC.

Baptista Sarah Gebu (Mrs.)

Baptista is a human resource professional with a broad generalist background. She is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management and SHRM Forum Ghana. Building a team of efficient & effective workforce is her business. Affecting lives is her calling! She is an HR Generalist, strategic planner, innovative, professional connector and a motivator. You can reach her via e-mail on bap.tista@ outlook.com You can follow this conversation on Linked-In: Baptista Sarah Gebu and on twitter @SarahTista.

Call or WhatsApp: +233(0)262213313.

Follow the hashtag #theFutureofWorkCapsules #FoWC

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NEWS S CAM-BAITING

Case study: The Scammer in the refugee camp (Part 2) At the end of Part 1, the bank requested for authentic documents. I contacted Wendy and she sent me the first three documents (Deposit Certificate, Death Certificate and Will Certificate).

Together with edited copy of my passport, I sent it to the invisible bank, after which I ignored them.

Remember: The entire goal of scam-baiting is to waste the scammers’ time. That made Wendy worried so she wrote to me.

Wendy: Please I am worried because I have not heard from you for a long time please since I sent the documents to you.

Kaunda: Sorry for the delay, was having delay in accessing my email. You know recently, there was a cable break. The West African Cable System together with the SAT3/ WASC — lying in the Atlantic Ocean, it had a problem and that affected many networks in Ghana. Please ask Malam Yayha, I’m sure he also experienced that.

Please, I’ve sent all the documents to the bank, hopping to hear from them. But I’m a bit worried about the passport copy I sent them. I hope they will handle it with care so that it won’t fall into the hands of bad people like scammers.

Once again, I’m sorry for the

delay. I really care about you and I pray always so that this deal will go through. Such a beautiful lady should not be in refugee’s camp.

Who is Malam Yahya?

MAKE THE PAYMENT WITH THE BELOW INFORMATION, THROUGH WESTERN UNION OR MONEYGRAM TRANSFER, THROUGH OUR BANK TREASURER INFORMATION

I will be glad if you can link up with the bank to get me the proof of Payment document ASAP before I leave for Marbella, Spain. I will be attending 3 days conference of Publishers starting Friday, 7 Feb 2020.

“He is one of the Managers of the Refugee camp …he permitted me to access my email in his office computer twice a day, Please you can call me with the office number of Mallam Yahaya (+226 63 05 82 65) here in the refugee camp and ask of Miss Wendy Kipkalya Kones that stays in the female hostel room 12, block C.” -Wendy said in one of her emails.

Receiver Name: Eshagha Magdaline Country: Burkina Faso City: Ouagadougou Address: Avenue Dimdolobson, 01 BP 362, Ouagadougou Burkina Faso

I have not gone to any bank, and I am not going to any conference. I just need to create the impression that they are dealing with a tycoon. Just to lift their hopes high.

The bank acknowledged receiving the documents but there were few conditions to be met. This is captured in the bank’s response below: 1. That account of our late customer Mr. Kipkalya Kones, must be reactivated from been dormant to active because, it is discovered that the account have been abandoned for a long time without movement of cash.

2. Note the reactivation of the account will be done in the name of the trustee.

3. The reactivation of the account will cost you any amount of your choice from $100.

Please note that this type of fraud is called advance fee fraud. The scammer will first present to you mouth-watering offer (in this case USD 5.5 million) but before you get it, you must pay a commission fee, or activation fee or commitment fee or whatever new name they prefer to call it (In this case USD 100.00). All they need is that small token, and then they disappear.

Now, let us get back to Wendy.

I informed her about what happened when I went to the bank.

Kaunda: Hi Wendy, I just came back from Barclays Bank premises. I went to make the deposit but they are requesting proof of Payment.

I gave them the recipients’ details but that a transaction to activate account must be paid to bank directly, not individual.

Once again, I told Wendy what happened when I visited EcoBank to make the payment.

Before I could even pull my chrome browser and write to Dr. Faith, he himself wrote to me, as captured below:

Kaunda: Hi Wendy, I just came out from Ecobank premises. They are also asking for the National ID of the recipient. Kindly inform Dr Faith to do that that asap. I can wait 45min more around the bank before they close.

Alternatively, do you use mobile Money account? I could have sent the money via Mobile Account without going through any traditional bank.

Kindly plead with Malam Yahya to give you access to his computer, so we can complete this transaction before the [day] ends. As I said, will be leaving for Accra this evening.

Thank you.

Wendy replied: My dear I just told him as you instructed me now and he said he will do that immediately I am so sorry for stressing you

NOTE …they are trying to prevent scam, which is the normal duty of a banker, note to avoid much question move to another bank and make the payment with the name Magdaline Kaunda

On this note, we end the part 2 of this series. Watch out for part 3.

Wendy replied: I called the bank manager and he said that you should contact him through his private email address dr.faith.eguabor@ dr.com Note: That brings another character into the equation, Dr. Faith.

...Tell them that you wish to send this money to your sister or your wife so that they will not disturb you again ok.

Author: Kaunda Ibn Ahmed (Online President, Republic of Ghana) Remote.com.gh (Member, Institute of ICT Professionals, Ghana) For comments, contact Kaunda@outlook.com or Mobile: +233 234 80 90 10