SARPONG'S BLOG

The World Bank’s Board of Directors today approved a record investment of US$700 million in guarantees for Ghana’s Sankofa Gas Project. The Sankofa project will help address the country’s serious energy shortages by developing new sources of clean and affordable natural gas for domestic power generation. The Board approved a unique combination of two guarantees for the Project. These are an IDA payment guarantee of US$500 million that supports timely payments for gas purchases by Ghana National Petroleum Corporation and an IBRD Enclave Loan guarantee of US$200 million that enables the project to secure financing from its private sponsors. Together, the guarantees are expected to mobilize US$7.9 billion in new private investment for offshore natural gas, representing the biggest foreign direct investment in Ghana’s history. Ghana, with a population of 25 million people, has suffered macroeconomic shocks in recent years – partly due to challenges being faced by the c...

MTN Ghana has partnered the Ghana Prison Service in its “Effiase” project, an initiative to raise funds to improve upon the existing conditions of prisons across the country. Project “Effiase” is an initiative by the Prisons Council to draw attention to the plight of the Prison system in the country and also to call on civil society, faith-based organizations, companies, philanthropists and the general public, to support government’s efforts to improve the conditions of prisons across the country.                                                Madam Cynthia Lumor of MTN   As part of the fund mobilization, MTN Mobile Money has partnered with the Ghana Prisons Service to create a code on its General Payment platform with the name “prisons” to facilitate donations to the Ghana Prison Trust Fund to support the initiative. To donate to the Prisons ...

                                         Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Ghana's Trade Minister By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express The Minister for Trade and Industry, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Gabrah has lament that the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has failed to produce single evidence on foreigners who have been accused of engaging in petty trading activities illegally in the country. “We have told GUTA to bring evidence that shows these particular foreigners are engaging in petty trading illegally, so that we can use that evidence and prosecute them. But the association has not been able to do that,” Dr. Spio-Garbrah noted.                                               Some Shops in Accra Central Market               ...

Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Seth Terkper has described as sustainable Ghana's ballooning public debt which has risen from GHc9 billion GHc90 billion in seven years. Ghana's public debt has risen from GHc9 billion to GHc90 billion as of May this year - a rate economic analysts and opposition politicians say is simply unsustainable. But the Finance Minister has parried the criticisms, saying the loans taken thus far have been invested into commercial projects that can repay the loans. "We are making progress...  Our debt is sustainable. It is not about whether you take debts. If we are going to resolve 'dumsor', our budget cannot resolve dumsor. Let's face it," he said adding the country must change course if it has to deal with some of the power crisis and some of the difficult challenges facing the economy. He was speaking on Joy FM's Newsfile programme on Ghana's increasing public debt. The Finance Minister on...

By: Mathias Amoah- Daily Express Vivo Energy Ghana, the company that distributes and markets Shell branded fuels and lubricants has organised a capacity building workshop for over 75 oil specialists and lube bay attendants to enable them carry out their duties efficiently. Participants for the workshop were selected from various Shell service stations from the Southern sector including Accra, Volta, Koforidua and Takoradi. The one-day training was developed to equip lube bay attendants in product knowledge and upgrade the expertise of oil specialists. The content of the training included lubrication, lubricant product knowledge, merchandising, stock management and customer service. The Retail Lubricants Category M anager for Vivo Energy Ghana, Mr. Emmanuel Ocran said:“The changing needs and growing awareness of motorists about their vehicles were some of the reasons we decided to run the capacity building workshop for our lube bay attendants and oil specialists.”...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express The Chief and people of Anokyi, a community located near Atuabo Gas in the Elembele District of the Western Region are calling for developmental projects in the community. The Chief, Nana Avo Blay told Daily Express that the community lacks developmental projects and other employable ventures, which will offer the people in the area, especially the young ones job to do.                                                        Nana Avo Blay  The people in the community are mainly farmers and fisher folks. However, Nana Avo Blay said where the Atuabo Gas is located has taken a large portion of their farm lands, and this has really affected the living standards of the people. “This has resulted in a large number of our people not having anything to do. Even though compensation was made to thos...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong The Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Madam Sherry Ayittey is advocating for a National Policy that will allow banks operating in Ghana to set aside 5% of their annual profits and use it to finance farming in the country. The Minister, however called on the Bank of Ghana (BoG), the regulator to initiate the policy that will guide the banks to abide by the policy. The Minister disclosed this at the 1st National Agric Summit held in Accra. The summit was to provide a platform for networking, knowledge exchange and gain insights in the context of youth and women’s involvement in agriculture. The event which was under the theme, “further unlocking the Ghanaian Agricultural sector: The role of Youth and Women” brought together experts across the agricultural sector to discussed some pertinent issues that affect Ghana’s agricultural sector. According to the Minister, the banks are refusing to go into farming due to the risk associ...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong The Enterprise Life has pledged to continue sponsoring the Institute of Finance and Economic Journalists (IFEJ) Flamingo Awards. The Life Insurance Company signed a partnership agreement with the institute to sponsor one of the best business journalists to a summer school in South Africa every year. Already, the company has sponsored two best business journalists to Sanlam Business School in South Africa. This year Enterprise Life will again sponsor another best business journalist to the Sanlam School. The initial partnership between Enterprise Life and IFEJ Flamingo Awards supposed to expire by the end of this year. But, the company has renewed its commitment with the organizers (Institute Finance and Economic Journalists-IFEJ) of the Flamingo Awards to continue to support the awards. The Head of Human Resources at Enterprise Life, Mr. Alex Inkoom announced this at the official launched of the 2015 IFEJ Flamingo Awards. The 2015 Awards, which wil...

FAO and the government of Ethiopia today signed a partnership agreement which aims to reduce youth mobility caused by poverty, through innovative policies that will create jobs and business opportunities for young people in the agricultural sector and in rural areas more broadly. The two-year project is being supported with funds provided by the Italian government and aims to obtain a better understanding of the dynamics that lead rural people - youth in particular - to leave their homes and seek employment elsewhere. The improved evidence on rural migration trends and impacts will help policy-makers, improve agricultural and rural development policies in order to increase employment opportunities, and make rural areas more attractive to young people. The total contribution by the Italian government amounts to US$2.5 million for the project as a whole, which includes a similar initiative with Tunisia. The partnership agreement with the Tunisian government is set to be si...

Nairobi — THE AFRICAN Media Initiative (AMI) welcomes news of the release this week from prison in Ethiopia of three journalists and two bloggers, who had been incarcerated on charges of incitement and terrorism. AMI further welcomes the Ethiopian government's reported decision to drop all charges against the five – Asmamaw Hailegiorgis, Edom Kassaye, Tesfalem Waldyes, Mahlet Fantahun and Zelalem Kibret - all of whom were arrested in April last year. The organization calls on the Ethiopian government to release bloggers Abel Wabella, Atnaf Berhane, Befekadu Hailu, and Natnail Feleke arrested alongside the freed group, and who so far remain in custody. Speaking about the release, AMI’s Chief Executive Officer Eric Chinje said: “In 2013 AMI held its annual event, the African Media Leaders Forum, in Addis Ababa, and seized that opportunity to engage the Ethiopian government on its press freedom violations. It’s our hope that the release of the journalists and b...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express The mining stability agreement signed between the government of Ghana and companies to protect the investment of the companies due to the risk of mining and it being an expensive venture does not guarantee that investors will necessarily put in their money. Government also by its action can disturb the stability agreement by passing new laws, by changing fiscal regime, or by even nationalizing private companies into stable firms. In order to ensure that these investments are protected and companies or investors are not disadvantaged, with a new law, policy or change in a new fiscal regime, companies must ensure that they have stability agreement between them and the government. So any new law the government make which is likely to disturb the economic equilibrium clause in the original investment contract will not be accepted by the companies. It is in view of this that the Government of Ghana announced its intention to review st...