The International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday opened a technical assistance office, AFRITAC West 2, in Accra to serve its member-Anglophone countries in West Africa. The establishment of Regional Technical Assistance Centres (RTAC) is the IMF‘s regional approach to technical assistance and training and allows for better tailoring of assistance to the particular needs of a region, closer coordination with other assistance providers, and enhanced ability to respond quickly to emerging needs. Opened

Malaysia's prime minister has announced that missing flight MH370 crashed in the southern Indian Ocean. Najib Razak said this was the conclusion of fresh analysis of satellite data tracking the flight. Malaysia Airlines had told the families of the 239 people on board, he said. The BBC has seen a text message sent to families by the airline saying it had to be assumed "beyond reasonable doubt" that the plane was lost and there were no survivors. There were 227 passengers on flight

One of the world’s leading suppliers of marine equipment and services, Fendercare Marine UK, has formally opened its Ghana office to offer support to the marine and oil and gas industries in the country. Fendercare Marine Ghana is a joint-venture between Ghanaian company Bayfield Oil Services and the United Kingdom-based company. According to Mr. Phillip Yebesi, the relationship between two companies started when Bayfield sought the services of Fendercare to execute a diving contract it had won

President Mahama has indicated that his government will do everything within its power to stop the disposing of faecal matter into the sea in the coastal areas. He gave the assurance when he inspected the proposed Mudor faecal treatment plant at Lavender Hill near Korle Lagoon in Accra. In the view of this Paper, it is long overdue though the assurance is welcome. Admittedly, the current situation where faecal matter is disposed into the sea/ocean is unacceptable and shameful, and the practice is

Last Saturday, March 22, was World Water Day and this year the theme is “Water and Energy”, drawing international attention to the fact that water is an energy issue and energy is a water issue. The two are closely interlinked and interdependent -- it takes a great deal of energy to supply water, and a great deal of water to supply energy. With demand rising for both resources and increasing challenges from climate change, water scarcity can threaten the long-term viability of energy projects

Dear Readers, we started a series on the people-risk factor in financial institutions, which if not controlled eventually results in fraud and losses to the institution. The startling statistics in the case of the US shows why fraud is really no “respecter” of persons. Anybody regardless of status, age, class, gender is capable of committing fraud. However the only thing that stops people from committing fraud is the honesty factor that is inbuilt within one’s self. It is an inner beauty that

It only took a look at the financial statements of the world's largest maker of spirits to convince Larry Seruma that Africa was the place to go. Seruma was then running a long-short hedge fund and had a position in Diageo Plc, the company behind the Johnnie Walker, Guinness and Captain Morgan brands. While African alcohol consumption lagged Europe or the Americas, Diageo's rapid expansion on the continent was such that, by 2013, the region accounted for 13 percent of global revenue. "Africa

Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited (GGBL) has inaugurated an Integrated Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (I-WASH) project for the Krowor Cluster of schools and the immediate communities within the Nungua Township in commemoration of World Water Day. The GH₵208,000 project comprises a 60,000-litre capacity overhead and underground storage facility connected to a network of nine standpipes dotted across the cluster. The facility also includes a newly-constructed 10-seat water closet block and a refurbished

Alhaji Asuma Banda, Chairman of Antrak Airlines -- an indigenous domestic operator, has said Antrak is prepared to support the government in constructing the Wa airstrip to open up the area for economic activity. “I am prepared to finance the rehabilitation of the Wa airstrip. The Wa people want the airstrip to be constructed,” Alhaji Banda told the B&FT. There are currently five operational domestic airports in the country -- Kotoka International Airport’s Terminal One and the Kumasi,

The European Union (EU) says it has adopted a broad-based strategy on the Gulf of Guinea to support the efforts of the region and its coastal states to address the challenges of maritime insecurity and organised crime. Challenges of countries in the Gulf of Guinea region include increasing piracy and armed robbery, violence, widespread organised crime in the forms of trafficking and smuggling drugs, people, arms, money-laundering and illegal fishing. These challenges, the Union said, threaten stability

While Nigeria’s own increasing demand for gas has often been cited, the price Ghana offers for the commodity is fast becoming significant to why the Nigerians are being tight-fisted, as the contractual price is said to be uncompetitive. Although the B&FT is yet to ascertain the figures, indications are that the supplier N-Gas, a consortium made up of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Shell and Chevron, is considering better prices offered elsewhere. The Energy Minister’s

The National Insurance Commission (NIC) has directed insurance companies to clear their books of all debts by the end of this year, as it begins implementation of the “No premium, No policy” directive next week. The Commissioner of the NIC, Lydia Bawa, said insurance companies that fail to collect outstanding premium debts incurred since 2012 will be compelled to write them off since the regulator wants to ensure that insurers begin the next financial year on a clean slate to protect the industry’s

Incentives, not coercion, are a better way of getting multinationals operating in the country to list on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), two of Ghana’s distinguished citizens have stated. They are the Chief Executive Officer of the Telecoms Chamber Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, and Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, Chairman of the Databank Group Mr.Sakyi-Addo whose industry has been targetted by proponents of this local content policy for the stock exchange, has warned of the consequences of coercing companies to list.