The planned free senior high school (SHS) programme scheduled to take off from September 2017 will be financed from the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA), the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta has said. Presenting the 2017 Budget Statement and Economic Policy on Thursday, Mr Ofori-Atta said it will cost government GH¢400 million to implement the free SHS programme for the…
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) is alarmed at the rising spate of card fraud and defalcation in the banking sector that is threatening the integrity of the financial system. Fraud remains a major operational risk that confronts the banking industry and the authorities are battling to contain the over 282 per cent surge of fraud in the banking sector….
The cedi lost grounds to the three major international currencies in the week ending February 24.Despite coming under pressure, the greenback appreciated by 2.88 per cent against the Ghana cedi. The local currency closed trading at GH¢4.44, representing a year-to-date depreciation of 5.71 per cent. The Euro, which stood on the defensive in the earlier trading sessions of the…
Ghana’s budget deficit could be twice as big as previously forecast, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said a day after the government revealed a 7 billion-cedi ($1.6 billion) hole in the budget. The disclosure sent bonds tumbling. The shortfall as a percentage of gross domestic product could be close to “double digits” for 2016, Ofori-Atta said Wednesday in an interview…
Offshore gas facility could help support the African nation’s resource economy. The christening of a floating production platform in Ghana could mark the dawn of a new era from its natural resource economy, energy company Vitol said. Representatives from Vitol and its counterparts helping with the development of offshore gas fields joined Ghanaian President Emeritus John Agyekum Kufuor in…
Funds transfer and electronic payment in Ghana is expected to be enhanced soon when the Retail Payment Systems Infrastructure project takes off. Interoperability from a financial perspective involves the ability of a computer system to run application programs from different vendors and to interact with other computers across local or wide-area networks regardless of their physical architecture and operating systems….
Ghana will miss its 2016 targets on growth, fiscal deficit reduction and its primary balance. It, however, intends to restore fiscal discipline and eliminate over expenditure, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has said. The new government said this week it inherited debt from state-owned enterprises and government ministries of at least 7 billion cedis ($1.6 billion) and a budget deficit…
Ghana’s debt bailout program with the International Monetary Fund may require “tweaking” after the nation’s new administration revealed that 7 billion cedi ($1.6 billion) in expenses were not accounted for by the previous government, the finance minister said. The country is in talks with the IMF and will seek to finalize an audit of the undisclosed spending by Feb….
Ghana’s new government will seek to enhance its relationship with China in order to help develop its economy, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta told reporters on Sunday. He said the ministry would on Monday hold its second meeting with the Chinese embassy since President Nana Akufo-Addo was sworn in on Jan. 7, noting that loans would be on the agenda….
Indian telecoms giant Bharti Airtel plans to rationalize subsidiary Airtel’s African operations, according to chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal. Those comments combined with already circulating rumors sparked headlines suggesting Airtel is quitting the continent altogether. Mittal agreed with the interviewer that company’s run in 15 African countries had not been as successful as they had hoped. Back home in India,…
