Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) has denied reports that depreciation in the value of the cedi has culminated in the smuggling of some 40,000 tonnes of cocoa beans into Ivory Coast. A report by Reuters said smugglers have trafficked Ghanaian cocoa beans into top grower Ivory Coast since November to take advantage of a drop in Ghana's cedi currency. Spokesperson for COCOBOD, Noah Amenyah, speaking to Accra-based Citi FM denied the report adding that Cocobod is not aware of any such activity. Although the cocoa smuggling between the two countries is common, over the past decade it has mainly involved Ivorian beans being taken illegally to Ghana -- the world's second-largest producer -- where the government buys output at a fixed price. However, Ivory Coast abandoned a decade of sector liberalisation last season and introduced a minimum price for farmers, a measure that has helped to reduce illicit exports. Exporters said the Ivorian price is now seen as more attractive by Ghanaian farmers, who can make bigger profits selling their output to smugglers. The volumes of beans being allegedly smuggled into Ivory Coast currently represent only a fraction of total output.

Government has announced the termination of all service contracts between the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Agency (GYEEDA) and its service providers. Notable among these contracts include rlg Communication’s training modules Asongtaba Cottage Industry & Exchange Programme (ACI&EP) and the Better Ghana Management Services Limited, a subsidiary of Jospong Group of Companies, the parent company of Zoomlion Ghana Limited. A letter written by Ministry of Youth and Sports and addressed to rlg Communications Limited, sighted by the B&FT, said the decision to terminate the contracts was reached following a series of meetings with all the stakeholders. “I am directed to convey to you, Government's decision to discontinue or terminate the contract with immediate effect," the letter, signed by the Chief Director of the Ministry Alhaji Abdulai Yakubu, said. "You are hereby requested to continue to have engagements with the Attorney General's Department and Ministry of Justice on your liabilities to GYEEDA and ensure the refund of same to Government", it added. The latest development comes in the awake of alleged financial malfeasance at GYEEDA prompting a host of investigations to be initiated in the outfit. President Mahama last year, addressing representatives of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and other anti-corruption bodies at the Flagstaff House announced measures to solve the malfeasance including the suspension of contracts of service providers. He further instructed the Sports Ministry to cancel all contracts that do not pass the “value-for-money test” by the close of the year, while a moratorium was placed on the creation of new modules under GYEEDA.

By Richard Annerquaye Abbey The surge in the number of microfinance companies in the country may soon be halted as the Bank of Ghana (BoG) plans to put a ceiling on the number of licences to be issued for the industry. The Central Bank has already licenced over 340 microfinance companies, while close to 600 applications for licences are pending.Regulating the high number of microfinance companies has been a tough challenge for the Central Bank, which recently created the Other Financial Institutions Supervisory Department to deal specifically with this rapidly-expanding financial sub-sector. Apart from concerns over their “outrageous” lending rates, microfinance companies have many times been a conduit for the perpetration of fraud through Ponzi schemes that lure depositors with absurdly lucrative investment interest rates. “Honestly, we will put a cap on the licences at a certain point,” said Raymond Amanfu, Head of the Other Financial Institutions Supervisory Department of the BoG, in an interview with the B&FT. “But let’s deal with those who were in the system initially -- those operating under the old law, the Money Lenders Ordinance (Cap 176). We are giving everybody the opportunity to meet the new regulations.” He further explained: “There have been complaints that our requirements are too strenuous, but we must get the background to these requirements. Until 2008, when the Non-bank Financial Institutions Act was amended, people did what was called money-lending under the ordinance of 1960, which required only police permits. “There were lots of these money-lenders. When they were brought under the law, we had a lot of these individuals who were already taking deposits. We didn’t want to clamp down on them for their clients to lose their deposits; the idea was to migrate them gradually.” According to Mr. Amanfu, the Central Bank is also tightening the entry requirements to ensure that only companies with the right capacities are licenced. “It is quite a tough exercise, but we are tightening the controls so that the people who come in will have the capacity, the know-how and capital to manage the business.” In 2013, the Central Bank revised its operating rules and guidelines for microfinance institutions, categorising the sector into Tier-2 for deposit-taking and Tier-3 for non-deposit taking institutions. According to the revised rules, new entrants applying to operate as non-deposit-taking firms will require a minimum paid-up capital of GH¢300,000, while deposit-taking institutions require a minimum capital of GH¢500,000. The BoG gave existing microfinance companies up to 30th June, 2016 to meet the new requirements. Institutions with up to five branches require an additional paid-up capital of GH¢100,000 for each branch, while those with more than five branches require an additional GH¢200,000 for each branch. “We have a lot of applications we are declining because certain criteria we have set have not been met. For instance, you have to show us the capability of the managers of your business; hitherto, these requirements were not in place. When you don’t have these requirements, we decline the application,” Mr. Amanfu said. “In fact, some have even withdrawn their applications because of the strenuous processes they have to go through under the new regulations. Also, there are those who are merging their businesses to be able to meet the new regulations,” he added.

By Basiru ADAM Former Finance Minister Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei has asked that President John Dramani Mahama goes to his Chinese counterpart to seek a renegotiation of the US$3billion China Development Bank (CDB) loan, of which only some US$600m has so far been disbursed. The president, he said, should seek a total cancellation of the commitment fee attached to the loan and also seek a cutback on the “complicated” disbursement mechanism. “I think the commitment fee should be completely cancelled,” Dr. Akoto Osei said. “It is not typical for commercial loans. They need to also renegotiate the conditions for disbursement. For example, if you go to the capital market to raise money, as soon as the transaction is completed, within two days the money is available. In this case it has not come. The conditions for disbursement are too complicated. They need to renegotiate it, otherwise we are in trouble.” He also worried that government’s capital expenditure plans for 2014 will be derailed if the loan’s disbursement mechanism is not reviewed. “If you look at our domestic expenditure, over US$4billion or so is foreign-financed, and the majority is coming from the Chinese loan. So if it does not come, those investments will not happen,” the Minority MP for Tafo in the Ashanti Region told the B&FT. “And if you look at the experience for the past two years, only US$600million has come and Ghana is expecting about US$1.6billion to come from the Chinese loan this year. Any delay means that all those projects cannot materialise. It does not help us,” he added. Only “a head-of-state to head-of-state negotiation”, he believes, is the way out for the country. A Deputy Minister of Finance, Kweku Ricketts-Hagan, however told the B&FT that much as things could have been better with the benefit of hindsight, “the negotiators [of the CDB loan] did the best they could at the time”, and that the country will have to honour its side of the bargain. “I agree that we need to expedite the loan, but I don’t think renegotiating the agreement is what needs to happen. What we need to do is tie-off the necessary loose-ends. It is part of the reason the Chinese Foreign Minister was here last week, and he met with the President and the Minister of Finance on the issue,” the Deputy Minister said. “It’s true that having signed the agreement a couple of years ago, we would expect that by now we should have drawn down a significant amount. But after the main agreement, there were some consequential agreements that had to be signed. Currently, there are four of such agreements that ought to be signed. We have to understand that the projects also require project preparation before we can draw down the facility. If you don’t undertake the project preparation, you can’t draw down the loan,” he added. The country is said to have paid some US$54million already as commitment fee when only US$600million of the US$3billion loan has been secured since the agreement was signed in 2011. Delays in releasing a US$75million component of the loan for the gas infrastructure project in the Western Region has forced contractors to postpone the date of completion a number of times.  The situation forced President Mahama to ask the Finance Minister a couple of months back to explore other sources of funding for the gas project, which is needed to boost gas supply to the power sector.

By Dominick Andoh Government wants to fully take over Intercity STC Coaches Limited, and it is preparing to acquire the 80 percent stake of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) in the troubled transport company. The plan is meant to ensure that government, the minority shareholder, retains control of STC after SSNIT put up its stake for sale. The transport company, according to Twumasi Ankrah Selby, Chief Director of the Ministry of Transport, continues to be seen as a strategic and socially important state enterprise. The plan to buy the stake is being considered by Cabinet, he said, and will be followed by the search for a private partner to help government run STC. “SSNIT has indicated that it wants to sell its stake in the company. Government, which has the first option to buy, has decided to acquire SSNIT’s 80 percent stake. It will then look for an investor to partner it in running the company,” Mr. Selby told the B&FT in an exclusive interview. In November, government facilitated the acquisition of 20 new buses from Swedish automobile company Scania Group for STC as part of plans to restructure and resource the company and run it profitably in partnership with the private sector. “The process is on-going and we will see results this year,” Mr. Selby said. Several investors have expressed interest in acquiring the beleaguered transport company, or partnering government to operate it. Three companies -- Suvini, Tannik Group and J.A Plant Pool -- expressed initial interest in acquiring SSNIT’s stake, and Metro Mass Transit Limited (MMT) sees the possibility of owning STC as part of its five-year strategic plan for the period 2014-2019. While its domestic operations continue to suffer, STC relies heavily on its cross-country trips from Accra to Abidjan, Lomè and Cotonou for the bulk of its revenue. The cash-strapped company earns between GH¢300,000 and GH¢400,000 from inter-country trips every month. “There are a lot of activities on those routes. STC makes as much as CFA 100 million per month. That’s what is used to pay the about GH¢250,000 salaries of workers every month,” a company source said.

By Ekow Essabra-Mensah Government is to hold discussions with management of Anglogold Ashanti on the future of the Obuasi Mine. The discussion, likely to be fixed this week, is expected to focus on issues including the stability agreement, the high tax regime and poor power supply among others. The Obuasi Mine has been struggling with overage equipment, poor security, inadequate power supply and the activities of illegal miners.The mine also needs massive capital injection to renew its antiquated infrastructure, improve underground transport and sharpen the skills of its employee. Once the biggest gold mine in the country and the leading employer in the industry with about 8,500 workers, Obuasi Mine has in recent years become a high-cost producer and not produced above 400,000 ounces since 2004. It has over 20 years of mine-life with 9 million ounces of gold reserves. Already, with the persistent drops in gold price, mining companies are struggling to keep the cap on rising cost of operations.The metal lost 25 percent of its value last year, and this came on the back of an increase in the mining sector’s corporate tax rate from 25 percent to 35 percent. Briefing the press after a two-day working visit to Obuasi Mine to learn at first hand the myriad challenges facing it, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini -- Minister of Lands and Natural Resources -- said the meeting will allow both parties to know whatever intervention in the mine is needed from government to address its challenges. “Obuasi Mine needs to be restrategised to help address the production challenges it is facing since the mine is not posting profit in its operations. “Obuasi Mine has tremendous potential and all efforts should be made to make it profitable. “It is an important mine in the country, contributing to the improvement of communities and the nation at large.” The illegal mining activities, he said, poses huge problems to the environment -- with many water bodies being polluted.“Government is committed to fighting the menace in the mining industry to bring sanity,” he stated. Mr. Macombe, Senior Vice President of Anglogold Ashanti indicated that the mine is facing challenges including a decline in production. He said the meeting will consider a number of options to improve the situation at the mine, which has potential mine-life of over 20 years. Mr. Macombe told B&FT that “Although the mine is making progress in some areas, it is far from profitability as it is still making losses. “The operation is currently undergoing ‘painful but necessary transformation’ at all levels to shore-up gold production and reduce cost of production with a view to setting it on the road to profitability -- because of declining gold production, increasing costs of power tariff, increasing activities of illegal mining and escalating costs. “These challenges mean that the Obuasi mine is underperforming; it is not producing enough gold to generate profit to improve its cash flow, hence forcing the operation to borrow unsustainably to keep it afloat. “Obuasi is simply a loss-making entity, but this cannot go on forever.” He said reversing these challenges definitely needs strong and courageous decisions to address and fix the mine, which is one of the oldest in the world. Mr. Morcombe said the company will be shirking its responsibility if it fails to reverse the decline and address the fundamental challenges undermining the future of the famous Obuasi Mine, saying that ‘we are implementing painful but necessary measures to grow the company as a ‘lean and profitable operation’. About 430 Obuasi employees have already been retrenched, and the signs are that more changes are being planned ahead. Mr. Morcombe explained that in spite of the changes made, the mine is still not out of the woods; suggesting that more changes will be made later to stabilise and secure the future of the Obuasi operation. “The mine will continue to engage and update the stakeholders on ongoing activities to ensure their cooperation and continuous support,” he said.

The Presidential Special Operations Task Force on Sunday appealed to agents, companies, entities and individuals to report people who claim to have powers from the Presidency to clear their goods for them. It has also directed that goods imported through the ports be cleared by consignees within the stipulated time-frame of 30 and 21 days for general and perishable goods respectively. A statement issued by the Task Force and signed by Dr. Clement Apaak, Spokesperson, and copied to the Ghana News Agency said the measures were geared toward de-congesting the country's ports and eliminating all forms of malfeasance. President John Dramani Mahama, last year formed a special revenue Task Force, led by Mr. Prosper Douglas Bani, Chief of Staff, and mandated it to carry out some investigations and plug loopholes that had over the years dissipated and misdirected government revenue into individual pockets. Apart from that, the Task Force was to report all kinds of financial malpractices to the appropriate authorities and, when necessary, arrest and prosecute all culprits. Dr. Apaak said goods that are not cleared within the stipulated days will be placed on the uncleared Cargo List, gazetted and disposed of through public auction in accordance with existing laws and regulations of the land. He added: "It should however be noted that if the process has already started, and goods and cargo already placed on the uncleared cargo list and have been gazetted, it would require a permit prior to any attempts by consignees or their agents to clear them". The spokesperson said "some unscrupulous persons" who go about using the name of the President's Special Task Force or the Presidency, claiming they have the powers to clear goods for companies and individuals, will be dealt with ruthlessly, and tasked the public not to hesitate in reporting people who have defrauded them. He gave the assurance that the Task Force in collaboration with its stakeholders will work hard to expose and eliminate all kinds of malpractices that have bedevilled business at the country's ports and harbours. GNA

  Thirty-two illegal lotto operators, including one female, have been arrested in Sekondi-Takoradi for engaging in lottery fraud. They have been placed in custody at the Sekondi Central Prisons, and will be arraigned before court for prosecution. The swoop leading to their arrest was undertaken jointly by the Takoradi Rapid Deployment Force of the Ghana Police Service and the National Lottery Authority (NLA) at Sekondi, Takoradi and Kwesimintsim at the weekend. Lieutenant-Colonel (retired) Dzotefe Mensah, Security Manager of the NLA, read a statement on behalf of Brigadier-General Martin Ahiaglo, Acting Director-General of the Authority, to confirm the arrest to the media in Takoradi. The statement said those arrested had contravened the National Lotto Act, Act 722 of 2006, which makes illegal lotto operations a criminal offence under the law. It said the law mandates only the NLA to operate lottery in the country, therefore any person or group of persons who operate lottery, commits a criminal offence. The statement said, upon conviction, the offender is liable to a fine or be given a custodial sentence, or both. It cautioned the public to desist from staking lotto with illegal lotto operators, since those who stake illegal lotto as well as the operators’ face various jail terms when convicted. The statement also warned landlords and home-owners who rent their houses to illegal lotto operators that they will have their properties confiscated to the state and made to pay fines as well. It entreated the public to stake lotto at approved NLA kiosks, since proceeds from the lotteries are used to undertake various social amenities, including hospitals, schools, boreholes, standpipes and many other infrastructural developments to the benefit of the entire society. The statement charged lotto-stakers to insist on their receipts after staking lotto with the NLA, since the Authority has furnished its kiosks with portable data-processing machines that issue receipts to their clients to ensure transparency and accountability. GNA

  The Ministry of Communications on Friday signed a Memorundom of Understanding (MoU) with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) to set up a business incubator facility. The business incubator facility is designed to assist business to become established and sustainable. The facility is also to accelerate the growth of businesses, while helping to manage the risks associated with fast-growing, early-stage business. Dr. Edward Kofi Omane Boamah, Minister of Communications, said the programme is crucial for supporting the growth of small businesses. He said government has always preached about the partnership with academia and industry to develop businesses, especially Small- and Medium-Scale Businesses. Dr. Boamah said the project will promote, nurture and sustain innovative businesses to inject some space into the economic development of the country. He said the project targets to support students desirous of setting up their own businesses in key areas such as Information Communication Technology (ICT), especially software development and application. Dr. Boamah noted that the facility will also project sectors -- including agro-based product development and production, aluminium and precious metal-based products, textiles and garments, fashion and design, as well as relevant machinery and equipment. Professor William Otoo Elis, Vice Chancellor of the KNUST, said the University is one of the best technology universities in the world and has been working with the NBSSI for years now. He said the KNUST has established a Business Development Centre, adding: "The project is to test the university’s capacity in terms of technology". Prof. Elis assured the Minister of the University's commitment and readiness to deliver on the targets of the project. Mr. Abdul Rahim Lukman, Executive Director of NBSSI, said his outfit is committed to providing all the necessary support and expertise to ensure the project success. He commended the minister for his interest in the project. GNA

  By Juliet DUGBARTEY, Daboase Cocoa farmers in the Mpohor District have appealed to COCOBOD and the District Assembly to provide them with a storage facility or a warehouse to store their cocoa beans after drying before it is sent to the market. This will allow resources used in transporting their produce to be ploughed back into production as well as provide substantial revenue to the farmers. Papa Kofi Paintsil, Chairman of Amankese Boafoyene Cooperative Cocoa Farmers and Marketing Limited, told B&FT in an interview at Daboase in the Mpohor District of the Western Region. He pointed out that lack of shed facilities in the area has left cocoa beans to the vagaries of the weather, resulting in huge losses of cocoa during rainy season. According to him, transporting the beans to nearby villages for storage is also expensive and only adds to the costs incurred by farmers. “In spite of our high level of production, the quality of cocoa beans produced is almost always compromised -- resulting in the rejection of our beans, he said. He pointed out that with assistance from the Business Advocacy Challenge Fund, the association is advocating for the construction of a cocoa shed, which will lead to more beans been produced. Also, he said if the shed is constructed, it will boost local economy and reduce the unemployment rate in the area as well as contribute to poverty alleviation.