The company was honored with the “Outstanding Payments Technologies Provider of the Year 2024” award, a recognition of its innovation, reliability, and impact in transforming digital payments in Ghana and beyond.

“We are deeply proud of this achievement,” said Yvonne Effe Faska, Communications and CSR Manager of eTranzact Ghana at the awards ceremony.

“This award is a reflection of the tireless work and commitment of our entire team. It inspires us to keep raising the bar in payment technology,” Faska added.

Adding to the celebration, John Apea, CEO of eTranzact Ghana, was named “Fintech CEO of the Year”, recognising his visionary leadership and unwavering dedication to driving financial inclusion through technology.

“This is not just a personal honor. It’s a tribute to the incredible minds and hearts at eTranzact Ghana. We’re building more than tech, we’re building trust, empowering businesses, and changing lives,” John Apea said.

eTranzact Ghana, a subsidiary of the pan-African electronic payment giant eTranzact Global, has played a critical role in accelerating digital transformation in Ghana’s financial services ecosystem.

With a robust suite of payment solutions, the company provides seamless services to banks, telecoms, government agencies, merchants, and individuals across the country.

eTranzact, renowned for its innovative and reliable platforms, offers a comprehensive suite of digital financial services designed to support secure, real-time transactions.

These include mobile money transfers, card payments, online banking integrations, and agency banking solutions, empowering businesses with scalable and trusted payment tools.

Its diverse range of services includes the XCEL mobile app, USSD services, web payments, remittances, agency banking, mass payments, bill payments, and more. ensuring seamless financial operations for individuals, businesses, and institutions alike.

Under the leadership of John Apea, eTranzact Ghana has seen rapid growth, with several strategic partnerships and product innovations that have strengthened its market position.

The company has also been instrumental in promoting financial inclusion, especially among unbanked and underserved communities, by leveraging technology to bridge gaps in access.

The dual recognition at the Ghana Corporate Finance Gala Dinner 2025 marks a significant milestone in the company’s journey and reinforces its position as a dominant force in Ghana’s fintech landscape.

He stated that the situation continues to weaken the national currency.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Mr. Gyamfi pointed out that despite gold having the potential to generate far more revenue than cocoa, Ghana is failing to retain foreign exchange from its gold trade.

He questioned the country’s approach to gold exports, noting that unlike cocoa, which is controlled by a single exporter, gold exports are left largely unregulated.

“Cocoa in terms of value does not compare to gold. Gold can give Ghana ten times more forex than cocoa gives, but why is it that with cocoa, Ghana decided long ago to be the sole exporter, yet with gold, we allow different people to export?” he asked.

He also highlighted the negative environmental impact of gold mining and the lack of financial returns to the state, stressing that those involved in gold mining are not paying adequate royalties.

“We mine gold at great cost to the environment. Those who mine the gold don’t pay royalties. The only tax they were paying was corporate tax and a 1.5% withholding tax, and now even that 1.5% withholding tax has been removed,” he said.

Mr. Gyamfi further pointed out that once the gold is mined, it can be sold to anyone, with a large portion of the gold being smuggled out of the country. He expressed concern that the dollars from the gold exports do not return to Ghana, leaving the economy without the crucial forex it needs.

“The dollars don’t come back, and our cedi keeps getting weaker and weaker. Today, on the black market, if you want one dollar, you need more than 15 Ghana cedis. Are we not all worried?” he asked.

To address these issues, Mr. Gyamfi suggested that Ghana should centralize gold purchasing and trading through a single agency to ensure the country benefits from its gold exports and foreign exchange earnings.

“At least we can get the forex back through an agency that will centralize the purchasing and trading. Then mining will make sense,” he concluded.

The voting process, overseen by the Electoral Commission, concluded with the election of new executives who will guide the Institute in the coming term.

The newly elected National Executives are:

• National President-Elect: Michael Abbiw
• National Vice-President Elect: Ama Gifty Amoah
• National Secretary-Elect: Edwin Letsa K. Kpedor
• National Treasurer-Elect: Dr. Francis Mensah Sasraku

Additionally, the following individuals have been elected as Council Members:

• Hilda Peasah
• Norrender Wordie Debrah
• Kwasi Kyere

“We are excited to welcome our new leaders and are confident that their expertise and vision will propel the Institute to greater heights,” said a communique accompanying the Electoral Commission’s results.

The announcement, which comes after a smooth and transparent voting process, was met with enthusiasm from members of the marketing community with many congratulating the newly elected officers.

The election results reflect a strong commitment to leadership and progress within the organization.

The marketing body has extended its appreciation to all candidates who participated in the election and to the voters for their active engagement and dedication to shaping the future of marketing in Ghana.

The new executives are expected to assume their roles in the coming weeks.

As the Institute moves forward, all eyes will be on the fresh leadership as they work to advance the goals of CIMG and strengthen its influence in the marketing sector both locally and internationally.

Dr. Riverson Oppong, speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, February 4, said the initiative failed to stabilize energy prices and even contributed to fuel shortages towards the end of the year.

“In the long run, because we have seen how this was introduced, and also the fact that it absolutely didn’t curb energy pricing in any way.

“But rather, in the latter days of the year, we saw energy, in terms of fuel shortage in the country, because the BDCs could not plan along with the Gold-for-Oil supply, and therefore, we were reluctant in importing,” he explained.

He further questioned whether the programme had achieved its primary goal of reducing fuel prices.

“In terms of the pricing, did Gold-for-Oil bring prices down as we anticipated? The answer is a big no,” he stated emphatically.

“So we, industry players, are waiting to hear from the government on what it intends to bring on board to replace the existing framework, and I believe with dialogue, we will be able to bring a better solution.”

His concerns align with those of Energy Minister John Jinapor, who also appeared on the show and criticised the lack of transparency surrounding the initiative.

“There’s a high level of opacity, and the clarity is not there,” he stated.

“The Auditor-General has flagged it. So it’s not just what we are saying—it is a fact. The reality is that we are reforming all this because of the high level of opacity. If it were that clear and transparent, and you could see everything easily, then you would not even need the reforms we are pursuing.”

Mr. Jinapor further indicated that the current administration would discontinue the programme and replace it with a better policy.

“The current Gold-for-Oil programme we’ve inherited—we will discontinue. You need some time to put a workable system in place.

“If you want to set up a cohort, you have to go to Parliament, have some legal battle. In the interim, we are trying to shift the current system and ensure that we reduce the losses and make it a bit more transparent, but ultimately, we want to replace it.”

Bitcoin has surged to a new record high, extending a rally that has seen the cryptocurrency’s price rise by more than 50% since Donald Trump’s victory in the 5 November election.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency briefly passed $106,000 (£83,890), before falling back to around $105,000 in Asia trade on Monday.

The incoming Trump administration is seen as being far more friendly towards cryptocurrencies than the Biden White House.

On Thursday, the US president-elect reiterated that he is considering creating a national stockpile of the digital currency, similar to the country’s strategic oil reserve.

His net worth surged to $447 billion on Wednesday, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, after Tesla stock jumped 6% and SpaceX’s valuation leaped to $350 billion based on employee share sales.

Musk’s fortune has ballooned by $218 billion this year — a sum that exceeds the net worth of every other person on the rich list except Amazon’s Bezos ($249 billion) and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg ($224 billion).

Musk is now more than twice as wealthy as Oracle’s Larry Ellison ($198 billion), and more than three times as rich as Warren Buffett ($144 billion).

His one-day gain — the largest in the index’s history — rivals the total wealth of Binance cofounder Changpeng Zhao, ranked 23rd with a $63.2 billion fortune. It also helped to lift the combined wealth of the 500 richest people on the planet to above $10 trillion for the first time, Bloomberg said.

Musk is now worth more on paper than the vast majority of US public companies, including Costco ($442 billion), Home Depot ($419 billion), and Netflix ($400 billion).

His wealth is largely made up of his roughly 13% stake and some contested stock options in Tesla, and his 42% slice of SpaceX. Musk’s other businesses include xAI, Neuralink, The Boring Company, and X Corp, formerly Twitter.

Tesla shares have surged more than 70% this year to $425 at Wednesday’s close, valuing the company at nearly $1.4 trillion. That figure comfortably exceeds the roughly $1 trillion market value of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and approaches the $1.6 trillion value of Zuckerberg’s Meta.

The electric vehicle maker’s shares have soared as investors bet it will harness artificial intelligence in revolutionary products such as self-driving cars and humanoid robots.

Musk’s prominent role in Donald Trump’s campaign, and his emergence as a close advisor to the president-elect who’s tasked him with streamlining the US government, have also fueled optimism around his companies.

SpaceX is now valued at $350 billion based on the latest price paid by the company and its backers to buy shares from employees, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. The Starlink owner’s valuation was previously $210 billion after a secondary share sale in June.

Market turnover was distributed across the local currency yield (LCY) curve, with the February 2027 maturity recording the highest volume traded at an average yield to maturity (YTM) of 25.6%, up from 23.4%.

The shorter end of the LCY curve accounted for 76.12% of trade concentration, closing the week at an average YTM of 23.3%, while the belly and tail end represented 23.88% of trades, with average YTMs of 25.32% and 25.33% week-on-week, respectively.

Analysts expect market activity to moderate in the coming week, likely focusing on the very short end of the local currency yield curve.

Additionally, they anticipate that local and offshore participants will remain selective in the bond market, adopting a cautious approach to capitalise on the current elevated yields.

Source: Joy Business

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The two-year partnership will see the installation of water storage tanks in schools and healthcare facilities in these communities, ensuring that the water distributed is clean and safely stored for use.

During the signing of a memorandum of understanding between World Vision Ghana and Polytank Ghana Limited, the partnership aims to improve access to clean water, enhance sanitation, and promote sustainable development across beneficiary communities.

Speaking at the event, Jean-Claude Mukadi, Interim National Director of World Vision Ghana, highlighted the unfortunate situation where many people face challenges in accessing clean water in the country currently.

He assured that “through this partnership, we will ensure that the 26 storage tanks provided by Polytank are strategically distributed to communities, schools, and health centres in critical need of clean water solutions.”

“This is just the beginning. Our joint efforts in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) initiatives will enhance public health outcomes, promote environmental sustainability, and empower community members to take charge of their own development, further advancing the targets set under SDG 6,” he assured.

Meanwhile, the Business Head of Polytank Ghana Limited, Girender Mohinani, says the partnership is timely, especially at a time when stakeholders are alarmed about high turbidity levels and the presence of metals in some water sources.

He expressed joy in the partnership, reiterating the company’s mission to support households.

The price of bitcoin has risen above $80,000 (£62,000) for the first time ever, after Donald Trump’s decisive victory in the US election last week.

It comes as the Republicans are edging closer to overall control of Congress, after having already secured the presidency and a majority in the Senate.

On the campaign trail, the president-elect pledged to make the US “the crypto capital of the planet”.

The value of world’s biggest cryptocurrency has now risen by more than 80% this year.

In its World Economic Outlook, it also predicted an end-year inflation of 15% for the country.

In 2025, the nation will record an average lower inflation of 11.5%.

According to the IMF, the country would register a sharp decline in inflation in 2025, easing the cost of goods and housing,

This will consequently boost consumer spending and aggregate demand.

However, the end-of the year inflation in 2025 is estimated at 8.1%. That would be the lowest since 2019.

The Fund pointed out in its October 2024 Regional Economic Outlook that with further policy adjustment expected inflation is expected to continue on a downward trajectory.

“The regional GDP-weighted headline inflation is projected to decline substantially, from 18.1% in 2024 to 12.3% in 2025, with significant decreases in Angola, Ghana, and Nigeria”.

“Median inflation will decline slightly, from 4.7% to 4.5%. However, inflation will remain substantially higher in oil exporters than in the rest of the region”, it added.

Inflation surged to 21.5% in September 2024, from 20.4% in August, according to data from the Ghana Statistical Services (GSS).

It came a few days after the Bank of Ghana announced a 2.0 percent cut to its benchmark Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) – the highest in six years.

The world economy could contract by the size of the combined French and German economies, if there is a broad-based trade war between the world’s major economies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has told the BBC.

It comes as concerns are heightened ahead of the possible re-election of Donald Trump.

Trump says he plans to introduce a universal tax or tariff of up to 20% on all imports into the US, while the European Union is already planning retaliation if Washington goes ahead with the new levy.

Last week, Trump said “tariff is the most beautiful word in the dictionary”, and global markets and finance ministers are now beginning to take seriously the prospect of him enacting the ideas.

As a result, the total volume traded across the market amounted to GH¢527.72 million.

This reflected an increase of over 600% compared to the previous week.

Market activity was driven by the short-to-medium term maturities, as the 2027 to 2030 papers accounted for 57% of the volume traded. The 2031 to 2034 bonds also contributed 43%.

On a type of trade basis, market activity was driven by sell-buy-backs, which recorded 57% of the week’s market turnover.

Analysts expect trading activity to improve partly driven by the sell-buyback dynamics, as the strategy augurs well for investors in search of short-term liquidity.

Dr Mohammed Amin Adam announced the completion of Ghana’s debt restructuring programme with its official creditors.

According to the Member of Parliament for Karaga, the government has successfully restructured its debt of $5.1 billion with these creditors, in addition to concluding the restructuring of $13.1 billion with Eurobond holders.

Addressing attendees at a UK Town Hall meeting, Dr Amin Adam highlighted that these efforts have resulted in savings of $8 billion for the country.

“Last two weeks, we concluded negotiations with the official creditors, and we have agreed to restructure 5.1 billion dollars. I am telling you that the government is good in negotiations and of this amount, we are going to make savings of $2 billion.”

“As I speak to you, tomorrow morning, there will be an announcement that we have also concluded our negotiations with the Eurobond Holders of $13.1 billion, and ladies and gentlemen, when we announce it, please read the details. We have negotiated a good deal for Ghana and that is $8 billion,” he said.

However, Dr Adam said the minister’s comments might have been politically motivated. Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story, he explained that the figures the minister mentioned do not reflect the agreement.

“I am sure he was on a political platform maybe he did not check his figures very well. You know last week they announced that the bilateral creditors have given us debt deferment. Meaning that we will pay fully the $1.5billion. So, I don’t know why he mentioned the savings of $2 billion.

“And then also, he mentioned that there was a savings of $8 billion, I am sure maybe as I have mentioned, he did not check his calculation very well,” he said on June 24.

The Associate Professor said that, after a 37% haircut, the amount left for Ghana to pay on the Eurobond debt is $8.25 billion.

Hence, the savings made can only be determined after the final document is sent to Parliament to review the debt restructuring in the mid-year budget.

He emphasised that “if you really do the Maths very well, the figures do not tally based on what he said on the platform.”

Additionally, he said the country is likely to see some stability in the Ghana cedi by the close of the year, but it is not the case that the cedi would appreciate against the dollar.

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The move is a significant step towards expanding financial inclusion across the country.

The new product has created a platform for trading of securities that are not listed on the bourse.

The Managing Director of the GSE, Abena Amoah is confident that the product will support the growth of the capital market.

She called on small business owners to take advantage of the platform to seek affordable funding to expand their operations.

“We believe that as a stock market, this platform is needed to encourage small businesses and the community banks to raise funds and also for shareholders to offload shares smoothly.  This is a step in the right direction to support growth and expansion, “she said.

She explained that platform is part of the general master plan by the Securities and Exchange Commission, together with the Ghana Stock Exchange to grow the country’s capital market.

According to her, the Over-The-Counter Market is expected to attract all the rural and community banks which are not listed on the stock exchange to have an opportunity to trade their shares.

Ms. Amoah disclosed that the initiative will strengthen the operations of the banks as well as give investors more options.

The Chief Executive for the ARB Apex Bank, Alex Kwasi Awuah welcomed the development and described it as an opportune moment for rural banks to raise patient capital.

“As community and rural banks, you know we are not listed on the stock market but we need investors to support our operations so we can serve our rural folks. This is a good opportunity for many of us. We believe this will help strengthen us,” he said.

All the rural and community banks are expected to register and be part of the new platform.

The market turnover declined sharply by 88.05% week-on-week to GH¢18.51 million.

Notably, the decline in market activity was largely driven by a 95% week-on-week decrease in exchange activity across the front and tail of the LCY yield curve.

However, market activity bounced back at the belly of the curve.

This constituted 27%% of the weekly aggregate market turnover.

Analysts expect exchange volumes to remain sluggish in the bond market as the treasury bills continue to drive secondary market activity.

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According to him, there will be no time limit for money to be earned by music lovers who  will subscribe to his “stock-streaming” platform.

Sarkodie has become the first Ghanaian musician to be innovative in his showbiz endeavour, thereby making such a bold move to connect more with his core fans.

Taking to X, a few moments after announcing the deal on Wednesday, May 15, Sarkodie confirmed he had been “praying for times like this”.

He is expected to throw more light on the app and how the money will be generated in the coming days.

He wrote: “Fulfilling knowing my fans will be earning money forever ( no time limit ) from my music ! Prayed for times like this !!! Your support got me still here … big shouts@opulousapp? #TheChampionshipMixtape”

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In his latest tweet, Sarkodie expressed his gratitude to his fans, whom he considers the best in the world, for their unwavering support over the years.

He also thanked Opulous App for providing him with the platform to connect with his fans in this unique way.

I’ve been wanting to do this for the longest because im blessed to have the best fan base in the world “SarkNation” . Thanks to @opulousapp for giving me the platform to give my fans the opportunity to own shares in my music. Myself and @opulousapp coming together to give away a… pic.twitter.com/mhgBTN7Ilw

— Sarkodie (@sarkodie) May 15, 2024

Sarkodie revealed that, he and Opulous App have teamed up to give away a significant percentage of his upcoming mixtape, titled #TheChampionshipMixtape, to lucky fans.

This partnership allows Sarkodie to share ownership of his music directly with his devoted supporters.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for the longest because I’m blessed to have the best fan base in the world, ‘SarkNation’,” Sarkodie tweeted. “Thanks to @opulousapp for giving me the platform to give my fans the opportunity to own shares in my music.”

He continued, “Myself and @opulousapp coming together to give away a good percentage of my new mixtape #TheChampionshipMixtape to ‘lucky’ fans! You guys deserve this and more for the support you’ve shown me over the years.”

Sarkodie promised to reveal more details on how fans can participate in this unique opportunity in his next post.

Check out reactions of some of Sarkodie’s fans over Opulous deal on X: 

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Subcomponent indexes for grains, oils and meals, and other foods fell by between 2.0 and 5.0%. Maize prices tumbled by about 11% and wheat prices declined by 4% in 2024 quarter one, together driving the 4.0 reduction in the overall grains index.

Both wheat and maize prices hit three-year lows during the quarter, with the downtrend continuing in early April 2024.

The decline in maize prices was attributed to competitively priced offers from the Black Sea region, larger production in major exporters, and favourable prospects for the next harvest, with global maize production in the 2023-24 season expected to increase by 6.0% to an all-time high.

“Downward pressure on wheat prices derived from robust exports from Russia and Ukraine and the second-highest global production on record in 2023-24. The collapse of the Black Sea Grain Initiative had minimal fallout, as Ukraine has so far been able to continue exporting via seaborne corridors and new overland routes”, the World Bank pointed out.

Rice prices increased by about 4.0% in the first quarter of 2021, standing 28.0% higher than a year earlier, reflecting supply concerns in major exporting countries related to El Niño and continued export restrictions from India.

However, the prices retreated in February, March, and early April, reflecting the depreciation of Thailand’s baht and Vietnam’s dong against the U.S. dollar, sluggish global rice demand amid increased prices, a seasonal supply increase from the harvest in Vietnam, and ongoing offseason harvests of irrigated fields in India and Thailand.

The oils and meals price index also declined by 5.0% in 2024 quarter one, reaching a level 17.0% lower than a year earlier.

This decline was driven by a 14.0 fall in soybean oil prices, a 13.0% drop in soybean meal prices, and a 5.0% decrease in soybean prices, partly offset by an 8.0% increase in palm oil prices.

Downward pressures on soybean prices stemmed from near-record production in Brazil, a near doubling of production in Argentina, and subdued Chinese demand. Global soybean production in 2023-24 is projected to increase by 5.0%, to a new record.

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The Shenzhen-based conglomerate, which has been a flashpoint in the escalating rivalry between Washington and Beijing, saw 70% year-on-year growth in its smartphone sales in China in the first quarter, while Apple’s sales declined by more than 19%, according to Counterpoint Research.

“Apple’s sales were subdued during the quarter as Huawei’s comeback has directly impacted Apple in the premium segment,” said Ivan Lam, senior research analyst at Counterpoint.

The iPhone maker, which led China’s smartphone market with a share of nearly 20% in the first quarter of 2023, has fallen to the third spot in the first three months of this year, according to Counterpoint. Its market share now stands at 15.7%, while Huawei’s has jumped to 15.5%, from 9.3% last year.

Huawei’s popular Mate 60 Pro smartphone made headlines last year when the US government sought more information about the model, which included a sophisticated processor. Its debut shocked industry experts who questioned how the company could acquire such a chip following sweeping efforts by the United States to restrict China’s access to foreign chip technology because of national security concerns.

Counterpoint’s data comes just days after another market research firm IDC said Apple’s global smartphone sales had tumbled 10% in the first quarter, mainly because of loss of momentum in China.

China is the largest market behind the United States for Apple, but the company is facing a challenging time in the world’s second-largest economy. Chinese consumers, who once would have considered Apple, are now turning to Chinese brands.

Overall smartphone sales in China grew 1.5% in the first quarter, according to Counterpoint. Local smartphone makers Vivo and Honor were the top two brands by market share.

The Finance Minister added that this could lead to an agreement on the Memorandum of Understanding MOU being reached soon when this draft is shared and they are okay with it.

Dr Mohammed Amin Adam noted, “The Official Creditor Committee has shared the draft document with their members and as soon as they share the document with us and we are okay with that, then we have an agreement.”

The Finance Minister said this at the press conference in Washington DC USA on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings.

The Finance Minister added that “The IMF is not asking for a deal from the Bilateral Creditors before it goes to the board, but rather an agreement on the wording of the MOU and that will be sufficient for the IMF to go to its board.”

Dr Amin added, “We are very optimistic that we can meet all the conditions needed for IMF to go to the board in June this year.”

Negotiations with Eurobond holders and Commercial Creditors

On the negotiations with Eurobond and commercial creditors, the Minister of Finance noted that they have made good progress with these creditors and a deal will be reached soon.

He added, “Any deal that we reach with these commercial creditors should be in line with Ghana’s Debt Sustainability Analysis and we are working hard on that.”

The Minister noted that they are very optimistic that they will reach an agreement that will be in line with Ghana’s Debt Sustainability Analysis.

“We are working to narrow the gap when it comes to what we initially proposed to the creditors” the Finance minister revealed at the press conference.

The Finance Minister also added that “we have provided 33 per cent discount, coupon rate of 5 per cent, and we have 6 per cent following that, and if you subject this to the threshold, you are supposed to achieve 55 per cent

He said, “We need to work hard to ensure that the fresh negotiations fall in line with the debt sustainability analysis.”

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Behind the stately yellow portico of the colonial-era courthouse in Ho Chi Minh City, a 67-year-old property developer stands accused of looting one of Vietnam’s largest banks over a period of 11 years.

The numbers involved are dizzying. Truong My Lan is charged with taking out $44bn (£35bn) in loans from the Saigon Commercial Bank. Prosecutors say $27bn may never be recovered.

The habitually secretive communist authorities have been uncharacteristically forthright about this case, going into minute detail for the media. They say they have summoned 2,700 people to testify. There are 10 state prosecutors and around 200 lawyers involved.

The evidence is in 104 boxes weighing a total of six tonnes. Eighty-five defendants are on trial with Truong My Lan, who denies the charges. She and 13 others face a possible death sentence.

“There has never been a show trial like this, I think, in the communist era,” says David Brown, a retired US State Department official with long experience in Vietnam. “There has certainly been nothing on this scale.”

The trial is the most dramatic chapter so far in the “Blazing Furnaces” anti-corruption campaign led by the Communist Party Secretary-General Nguyen Phu Trong.

A conservative ideologue steeped in Marxist theory, Nguyen Phu Trong believes that popular anger over untamed corruption poses an existential threat to the Communist Party’s monopoly on power. He began the campaign in earnest in 2016 after out-manoeuvring the then pro-business prime minister to retain the top job in the party.

Getty Images

The campaign has seen two presidents and two deputy prime ministers forced to resign, and hundreds of officials disciplined or jailed. Now one of the country’s richest women could join their ranks.

Truong My Lan comes from a Sino-Vietnamese family in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. It has long been the commercial engine of the Vietnamese economy, dating well back to its days as the anti-communist capital of South Vietnam, with a large, ethnic Chinese community.

She started as a market stall vendor, selling cosmetics with her mother, but began buying land and property after the Communist Party ushered in a period of economic reform, known as Doi Moi, in 1986. By the 1990s, she owned a large portfolio of hotels and restaurants.

Although Vietnam is best known outside the country for its fast-growing manufacturing sector, as an alternative supply chain to China, most wealthy Vietnamese made their money developing and speculating in property.

All land is officially state-owned. Getting access to it often relies on personal relationships with state officials. Corruption escalated as the economy grew, and became endemic.

By 2011, Truong My Lan was a well-known business figure in Ho Chi Minh City, and she was allowed to arrange the merger of three smaller, cash-strapped banks into a larger entity: Saigon Commercial Bank.

Vietnamese law prohibits any individual from holding more than 5% of the shares in any bank. But prosecutors say that through hundreds of shell companies and people acting as her proxies, Truong My Lan actually owned more than 90% of Saigon Commercial.

They accuse her of using that power to appoint her own people as managers, and then ordering them to approve hundreds of loans to the network of shell companies she controlled.

The amounts taken out are staggering. Her loans made up 93% of all the bank’s lending.

According to prosecutors, over a period of three years from February 2019, she ordered her driver to withdraw 108 trillion Vietnamese dong, more than $4bn (£2.3bn) in cash from the bank, and store it in her basement.

That much cash, even if all of it was in Vietnam’s largest denomination banknotes, would weigh two tonnes.

She is also accused of bribing generously to ensure her loans were never scrutinised. One of those charged alongside her is a former chief inspector at the central bank, who faces a life sentence for accepting a $5m bribe.

The mass of officially-sanctioned publicity about the case has channelled public anger over corruption against Truong My Lan, whose haggard, unmade-up appearance in court has been in stark contrast to the glamorous publicity photos people have seen of her in the past.

But questions are also being asked about why she was able to keep on with the alleged fraud for so long.

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“I am puzzled,” says Le Hong Hiep who runs the Vietnam Studies Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

“Because it wasn’t a secret. It was well known in the market that Truong My Lan and her Van Thinh Phat group were using SCB as their own piggy bank to fund the mass acquisition of real estate in the most prime locations.

“It was obvious that she had to get the money from somewhere. But then it is such a common practice. SCB is not the only bank that is used like this. So perhaps the government lost sight because there are so many similar cases in the market.”

David Brown believes she was protected by powerful figures who have dominated business and politics in Ho Chi Minh City for decades. And he sees a bigger factor in play in the way this trial is being run: a bid to reassert the authority of the Communist Party over the free-wheeling business culture of the south.

“What Nguyen Phu Trong and his allies in the party are trying to do is to regain control of Saigon, or at least stop it from slipping away.

“Up until 2016 the party in Hanoi pretty much let this Sino-Vietnamese mafia run the place. They would make all the right noises that local communist leaders are supposed to make, but at the same time they were milking the city for a substantial cut of the money that was being made down there.”

At 79 years old, party chief Nguyen Phu Trong is in shaky health, and will almost certainly have to retire at the next Communist Party Congress in 2026, when new leaders will be chosen.

He has been one of the longest-serving and most consequential secretary-generals, restoring the authority of the party’s conservative wing to a level not seen since the reforms of the 1980s. He clearly does not want to risk permitting enough openness to undermine the party’s hold on political power.

But he is trapped in a contradiction. Under his leadership the party has set an ambitious goal of reaching rich country status by 2045, with a technology and knowledge-based economy. This is what is driving the ever-closer partnership with the United States.

Yet faster growth in Vietnam almost inevitably means more corruption. Fight corruption too much, and you risk extinguishing a lot of economic activity. Already there are complaints that bureaucracy has slowed down, as officials shy away from decisions which might implicate them in a corruption case.

“That’s the paradox,” says Le Hong Hiep. “Their growth model has been reliant on corrupt practices for so long. Corruption has been the grease that that kept the machinery working. If they stop the grease, things may not work any more.”

The price of spot gold reached $2,364 per ounce Tuesday, after hitting record highs for seven straight sessions and trading at $2,336 per ounce Monday. Year-on-year, gold is up 16.5%.

Investors who expect the Federal Reserve to cut its benchmark interest rate are the main force driving up prices, but the surge is boosted by other factors, including central banks — led by China — buying up gold to ease reliance on US dollars.

Central banks see gold as a long-term store of value and a safe haven during times of economic and international turmoil.

Gold is considered a resilient investment. When interest rates fall, gold prices tend to rise, as bullion becomes more appealing than income-paying assets like bonds. Investors also regard gold as a hedge against inflation, betting bullion will retain its value when prices rise.

The People’s Bank of China bought gold for the 17th straight month in March, adding 160,000 ounces to bring reserves to 72.74 million troy ounces of gold, according to Reuters.

Central banks may want to “diversify away” from US dollars and buy gold amid geopolitical uncertainty, according to an April 9 UBS research note. As China builds its reserves, demand is pushing up prices, already boosted by usual investors.

Chinese investors are looking to gold as an alternative asset amid downturns in property valuations and equity prices in past years, according to an April 9 Capital Economics research note.

Other central banks, including India and Turkey, are also increasing their gold reserves. India’s GDP growth is driving those purchases, according to UBS.

A sign of the times?

Central banks demanding gold is a sign of waning reliance on the dollar, according to Ulf Lindahl, CEO at Currency Research Associates.

Dollars are increasingly unappealing for central banks who want to decrease economic reliance on the US, Lindahl said in an email.

Nations not allied with the US may accumulate gold to “mix away from dollars” to reduce vulnerability to sanctions, according to a March JP Morgan research note.

Central bank buying has driven the rise in gold prices since 2022, according to the note. Gold could be entering a strong era, as central bank purchases of gold in 2022 were more than double the average annual purchase across the decade prior, according to JP Morgan.

The rise in prices comes amid US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to China to discuss financial stability in US-China relations, including what Yellen called the overproduction of Chinese electric vehicles.

Oil prices are also on the rise, posing a threat to the US economy, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s.

Higher oil prices are likely to stoke concerns over inflation, boosting gold prices, according to the UBS research note.

The usual perception of gold

The rise in gold prices signals investors are anticipating rate cuts from the Fed later this year but might be uncertain about the prospects of squashing inflation without throwing the US economy into recession, also known as a soft landing.

UBS sees the expectation of Fed rate cuts as “still the main driver for bullish sentiment toward gold,” according to an April 9 research note.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in remarks April 3 that inflation is still on a “sometimes bumpy path” toward the Fed’s goal of 2%, and that rate cuts to rebalance the economy are likely to begin at some point later this year.

Fifty-one percent of investors currently expect a quarter-point cut in June, according to data from CME group. Yet job growth data for March exceeded expectations, calling into question the need for multiple rate cuts amid a still-strong economy.

The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, rose 2.5% for the 12 months ending in February. That’s a tick up from January’s 2.4% increase, according to Department of Commerce data released last month.

On a monthly basis, the core PCE price index that strips out the more volatile food and energy categories, rose 0.3%. The index, which Fed officials view as a crucial gauge of underlying inflation, was down from 0.4% in January, when it had grown at the fastest pace in one year.

So why is gold surging right now?

Some investors are buying into the hype around gold bullion as prices rise, pushing them further up. On Reddit, proud gold buyers often post threads about their stashes.

Costco began selling gold bars online in August and silver coins in January. The company may now be selling as much as $200 million in gold and silver each month, according to an estimate by Wells Fargo. Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti told analysts in December that the company had sold more than $100 million of gold bars in the prior quarter.

“The accelerating frequency of Reddit posts, quick on-line sell-outs of product, and [the company’s] robust monthly eComm sales suggests a sharp uptick in momentum since the launch,” the April 9 investment note said.

Lindahl said that “trend followers” and others jump on the rise in prices as the background begins to point to substantially higher prices over the long term.

It’s also worth noting that gold is a traditional asset to hold during political uncertainty. Voters in more than 60 countries are set to head to the polls this year, including for the US presidential election. That uptick in geopolitical and economic unpredictability underscores the precious metal’s stable value.

Factors contributing to this decline include adverse weather conditions, smuggling activities, illegal gold mining, and the prevalence of swollen shoot disease.

Expressing concerns over the production shortfall, the first source informed Reuters that strong seasonal winds and insufficient rainfall have exacerbated the situation, with the current output forecasted to be about 500,000 tons for the season.

Addressing the challenges, the source noted, ‘Unfortunately, the cause of the decline could not be remedied immediately through human intervention.’

In the previous 2022/23 season, COCOBOD reported a loss of around 150,000 tons of cocoa due to smuggling and illegal gold mining, locally known as galamsey. Additionally, the regulator disclosed earlier this month that the cocoa swollen shoot virus had devastated approximately 500,000 hectares of cocoa farmlands.

Efforts to mitigate the production challenges are underway, according to the first source, who mentioned ongoing farm rehabilitation initiatives, the onset of the rainy season, and collaborative efforts with security agencies to curb smuggling activities.

Despite the current predicament, the second source remains optimistic about Ghana’s potential for production recovery. However, COCOBOD was not available for comment on the matter.

The decline in cocoa production from both Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, coupled with increasing deficits, has propelled global cocoa prices to record highs.

Traders are experiencing heightened demand and pricing volatility, with London cocoa futures surpassing the psychological barrier of £5,000 and New York cocoa breaching the $6,000 mark.

The surge in cocoa prices is beginning to impact retail markets, with chocolate manufacturers such as Hershey anticipating a slowdown in consumer demand due to escalating costs.

Samuel Adimado, the president of Ghana’s cocoa buyers group, described the current production forecast as ‘shattering,’ noting that member firms are adapting their operations to remain viable in the face of these challenges.

Highlighting the concerning trend, the first source emphasised that rising global cocoa prices have incentivised smuggling activities, potentially leading to even higher losses in the current season.

According to our sources, Aluworks’ continuous closure continues despite a directive from the Vice President that the company re-start work by December 2022.

It’s been about one year since that directive but the workers of Aluworks have remained at home with deep-throat sources attributing the failure to restart work to the slow pace of negotiations with SSNIT.

Aluworks PLC is a company owned by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) as a majority shareholder with a shareholding of 62%.

The company has, however, been on its knees since 2015 when SSNIT stopped investing in the entity due to a series of recapitalization efforts that have not yielded the desired results.

Our sources say, Caitlyn, the second biggest shareholder, expressed interest in taking majority shares in the company to recapitalize and restructure the entity.

But, even though SSNIT had agreed in 2019 to the recapitalization proposal by Caitlyn, it pulled the plugs much to the dismay of workers and other stakeholders of the company.

The refusal meant that Aluworks’ recapitalization and restructuring did not materialize

A recapitalization and restructuring of Aluworks PLC would mean Caitlyn would’ve taken over the company’s management.

In 2022 when Aluworks PLC had almost collapsed, however, SSNIT called Caitlyn to the negotiation table, our sources say.

As a result of the slow-paced nature of the negotiations, Aluworks PLC eventually shut down in 2022.

Despite the above, officials of Caitlyn submitted a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to SSNIT in which they proposed investing GHC 5 million to get the company working again, pending two issues.

The two outstanding issues explained by our sources are the transaction share price to issue new shares and the negotiation of how to restructure old debts owed to SSNIT by Aluworks.

Workers dying

While the negotiations have been tortuously slow, the result is death for many Aluworks workers who have remained at home since the 19-month closure of the company.

Workers have not received any salaries in these 19 months, jeopardizing livelihoods and depriving hundreds of families of the basic needs of life.

Many workers, we are told, have been ejected by their landlords for non-payment of rent. Many have also had their wards drop out of school amid issues of broken homes and building unsustainable levels of debt for the affected workers.

To top it all is the fact that medical services to the employees have ceased due to unpaid debts owed by Aluworks to prescribed hospitals where the company’s staff receive their medical care.

Per our checks at Aluworks, SSNIT quotation of Aluworks’ price-per-share at 99 pesewas after the company had shut down, a value that is more than twice the share price (42 pesewas) of Aluworks when it was in operation in 2019.

The share price quotation by SSNIT, we are told, has accounted for the slow pace of the negotiations.

Investment experts have raised questions about SSNIT’s posturing in the negotiations as they feel the state parastatal is shooting itself in the foot by not fast-tracking the takeover process.

One such investment expert asked: “Wouldn’t it be more prudent for SSNIT to become the 2^nd majority shareholder in a company in operation than having 62% majority shares in a dead company”?

Even more revealing is the majority shareholder, SSNIT’s refusal to hand over its majority shareholding to Caitlyn in 2019.

Had SSNIT engaged in this handing over of majority shares, the company would have avoided its current deplorable state and its attendant effect on the many distressed workers suffering with their families.

As it stands, some assets of Aluworks, especially machinery and other equipment are wasting away amid building security issues on the company’s premises.

SSNIT response

SSNIT has denied ever receiving any directives from the Vice President that the company open even as negotiations continue, saying it did not know about such directives.

SSNIT, however, confirmed that there was a meeting with the government’s Economic Management Team which considered the company’s predicament and reached a consensus that ongoing discussions with the potential strategic investor should proceed.

According to SSNIT, contrary to speculations, it has not rejected any proposals from other companies, emphasizing that a sum of GHS5 million is insufficient to revive operations.

Aluworks PLC, SSNIT stated, requires a more substantial amount of working capital to resume operations and settle outstanding debts.

SSNIT said it was hopeful for a swift conclusion to negotiations with the strategic investor to expedite the turnaround of Aluworks even though it did not state any timelines.

“Shareholders decided to close the company and place it under care and maintenance as the company was in financial distress. It is hoped that a speedy conclusion of the negotiations with the strategic investor will improve the fortunes of the company and the workers,” the official response from SSNIT said.

SSNIT also clarified that it is not divesting any of its shares in the company, explaining that all shareholders had unanimously endorsed the pursuit of a private placement with a strategic investor.

According to SSNIT, once the negotiations end, the ownership stakes of existing shareholders will undergo dilution, enabling the strategic investor to assume the role of the majority shareholder post-placement.

Negotiations, they added, were in advanced stages, with SSNIT, acting on behalf of all shareholders, having extended a final offer to the prospective strategic investor.

The finalization of the deal hinges on the awaited response from the strategic investor.

SSNIT also said it was in acknowledgment of the challenges faced by the workforce that the shareholders decided to close the company and place it under care and maintenance due to financial distress.

The SSNIT response also added that optimism lies in the swift conclusion of negotiations with the strategic investor, which is anticipated to enhance the company’s prospects and benefit its employees.

This marks a significant improvement over the 2021 edition where only two banks met the threshold.

The survey, organized by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana indicated that Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) topped the list followed by Stanbic Bank and Republic Bank, scoring 99.7% and 99.5% respectively.  

ABSA Bank and First Atlantic Bank followed with 97.5% and 96.2% respectively.

CBG Bank, Zenith Bank, GCB Bank Plc, Bank of Africa, and SG Bank recorded the lowest score.

Lead Researcher and Chief Executive of the Consumer Insights Consults Limited, Dr. Ireneus Gundona, said banks should improve customer service to enhance the financial sector.

“Banks have been doing well and it shows in this report, but we need to work more looking at the current problems the sector is facing,” he said.

President of CIMG, Dr. Daniel Kasser-Tee, urged the 23 universal banks to subscribe to this report as the findings will be very useful in shaping their decisions and actions on the three important study variables of Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction, and Customer Loyalty, and their individual and combined effects on bank performance.

He again advised consumers of the report, particularly the banks, to learn how to put the results to be announced tonight to excellent and prudent use.

He added, “They should first look beyond their positions on the various tables to identify how they fared, for each of the 5 dimensions of service quality, overall customer satisfaction, and either dimension of customer loyalty”.

Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Association of Banks, John Awuah, urged its members to be heavy on improving customer service.

“We have seen the report and this will help us in shaping customer service going forward. We will look at the good and improve on it as well as correct the bad, he opined.

A statement from UMB on the achievement noted, “UMB is very proud about this achievement which underscores our 50-year heritage and pedigree in this market. We have prioritized Customer Service and this objective customer feedback is gratifying.

“This validates our strategy of “Knowing2Serve”, Digital 1st, and Transparency as our pillars to drive customer centricity. We dedicate our leadership in service to our customers.

“They are the reason we are, and we commit to continue to serve Mother Ghana with S.P.E.E.D., as we have done since 1972.

“We must also commend the CIMG and GAB for the world-class effort they have put into providing an empirical basis for measuring service in the industry.”

Ghana is considered to have one of the most advanced financial services and banking sectors in Africa, regulated by the Bank of Ghana.

The overall customer satisfaction for remote banking was 88%, while that of total customer loyalty was  81%.

 Customer service is defined by saleforce.com as the support a company offers its customers — both before and after they buy and use their products or services — that helps them have an easy, enjoyable experience with the brand.

Customer service is so important that it is now considered a strategic function for organizations across industries.

The Banking industry has particularly focused on customer service in contemporary research, learning, and practice as it is considered the key variable to customer acquisition and retention in the industry.

Concerning the announcement of the results, if it has not yet been published the underlined statement will be correct. However, if it has then it should reflect in our communication as such.

The stock market is known to record over 110% returns on equity investments (capital appreciation) during bullish market periods which lasts averagely for four (4) years.

To realise or achieve significant capital appreciation or gains in share or equity price, investors are advised to continuously invest in the stock market for not less than five (5) years.

Hence, investments into a particular equity for at least five (5) years is ample time to assess its performance, at least over the medium-term.

In this write-up, the five year performance of listed equity of State-Owned Bank, GCB, will be analysed looking at its market capitalization, volume-weighted average price (VWAP), earnings per share and price-earning ratio (P/E ratio).

EPS

Earnings per share (EPS) is used to evaluate a company’s profitability and potential for growth in earnings. It is a measure of how much profit a company generates per share.

The higher the EPS, the more profitable a company is and the more attractive it is to investors.

GCB has over the last five years (including the 8 months period of 2023), recorded high EPS above the overall average EPS of the various financial companies listed on the GSE.

In 2019 for instance, the EPS of GCB equity (GHS 1.14) was more than twice (127.9%) the average EPS (GHS 0.50) of listed financial stocks.

Same was the case in 2022 when EPS of GCB equity (GHS 2.33) outperformed the average EPS of listed financial stocks (GHS 1.04) by +12,400bps (124%).

EPS of GCB equity which currently stands at GHS 2.51 is +14,600bps (146%) higher than the average EPS of listed financial equities which stands at GHS 1.02.

The import of GCB equity consistently recording a higher EPS above the average EPS for listed financial stocks is that, in terms of profitability over the last five year period, GCB has performed relatively well compared to its peers, making it attractive to investors.

VWAP

The Volume-Weighted Average Price (VWAP) of GCB equity, simply measures the average price of the stock/equity over a period of time which is usually a full trading day.

VWAP is a single-day technical analysis indicator used in intraday charts that restarts at the open of each new trading day. VWAP helps investors and analysts evaluate the current price of a stock to determine whether it is relatively overpriced or underpriced compared to the

average trading price for the day. Often investors use this information to either buy or sell an equity or share or stock during the day’s trading session.

When the average trading price (VWAP) of an equity is below the overall average trading price of listed equities on a bourse, that particular equity is seen as underpriced or undervalued by investors. In the same vein, when the average trading price (VWAP) of an equity is above the overall average trading price of listed equities on a bourse, that particular equity is seen as overpriced or overvalued by investors.

Investors then tend to buy (enter) the equity when it is underpriced and cheap to later sell (exit) the equity when it is overpriced and expensive, thereby making some capital gains.

Over the last five years – 2018 to 2022 – the average trading price (VWAP) of GCB equity has consistently outperformed the overall average trading price (VWAP) of financial equities (shares of banks and other financial institutions) listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).

The average price of GCB equity on the last trading day of 2019 for instance, was GHS 5.10, some +1,970bps (19.7%) higher than the overall average price of GHS 4.26 for financial equities listed on the local bourse.

At end-2021, GCB equity recorded a much higher average price of GHS 5.24 which was +3,260bps (32.6%) higher than the GHS 3.95 overall average price recorded by the financial equities.

As at August 18, 2023, the VWAP of GCB equity stood at GHS 3.50, some +1,550bps (15.5%) higher than the GHS 3.03 VWAP of all listed financial equities.

Given that the average trading price (VWAP) of GCB equity is mostly higher than the overall average trading price (VWAP) of listed financial stocks, the GCB equity has been viewed as relatively over-priced by investors over the five year period.  

P/E Ratio

The P/E ratio is indicative of how investors value a company’s ability to grow its income in the years ahead, a higher P/E ratio means investors expect higher income growth from the company whereas a lower P/E ratio implies that investors do not expect high income growth from the company.

The P/E ratio is also indicative of how much cedis investors are willing to pay or invest in a company by way of shares acquisition in order to receive or earn GHS 1 of the company’s earnings or profit.  

What this means is that, if for instance, a company is currently trading with P/E ratio of 10, then the interpretation is that an investor is willing to pay GHS 10 for the company’s shares to receive GHS 1 of the earnings of the company when it makes a profit.

Now, contrary to the higher-than-average EPS recorded by GCB equity over the last five years, P/E ratio of the equity remained below the average P/E ratio of listed financial equities.

P/E ratio of GCB equity from 2018 to 2022 on year-on-year (yoy) basis declined from 7 to 4 to 3 to 2.89 and then to 1.69 at end-2022.

For the eight months period of 2023, the P/E ratio of GCB equity is currently 1.

The decline in P/E ratio of GCB equity was reflective of the general decline in the average P/E ratio of listed financial equities.

In 2018, the P/E ratio of GCB equity stood at 7 which was -6,420bps (64.2%) lower than the average P/E ratio of 11.5 for listed financial equities.

In 2022 however, the average P/E ratio of listed financial equities had dropped to 5.28 as against the 1.69 P/E ratio for GCB equity.

The fall in average P/E for listed financial equities from 11.5 to 5.28 indicates a -5,408bps (54.08%) drop in average P/E ratio over the five year period.

The continuous fall in the P/E ratio of GCB equity from 7 in 2018 to 1.69 in 2022 is indicative of investors declining optimism in the company’s ability to record higher income growth in the years ahead.

It is also indicative that investors are willing to pay or invest less and less money into the bank by way of shares acquisition in order to receive GHS 1 of the company’s earnings or profit.  

Market Capitalization

Market capitalization of GCB equity as at 2018 was GHS 1,219m representing 8.6% share of the GHS 14,167m total market capitalization of listed financial equities on the local bourse.

The total market capitalization of GHS 14,167m for financial equities represented 23.17% of the GSE’s total market capitalization of GHS 61,136m in 2018. As at 2022, the market capitalization of GCB equity was GHS 1,044m representing 7.57% share of the GHS 13,774m total market capitalization of listed financial equities.

Market capitalization of GCB equity as at August 18, 2023 stood at GHS 928m which represents 7.88% share of the GHS 11,770m total market capitalization of financial stocks.

Currently, the total market capitalization of the GSE stands at GHS 72,998m of which the total market capitalization of financial equities constitute 16.12% share of the overall equity market.

Over the last five years, GCB equity’s share of the total market capitalization of listed financial equities has ranged from 7.5% to 11%.

Changes in the market capitalization of GCB equity and consequently its share of the total market capitalization of listed financial equities is on the back of the volatility in the share price of the equity.

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This concludes the review for downgrade that was initiated on September 30, 2022.

“The Ca rating reflects Moody’s expectation that private creditors will likely incur substantial losses in the restructuring of both local and foreign currencies debts planned by the government as part of its 2023 budget proposed to Parliament on 24 November 2022″, a statement published on its website said.

The statement pointed out that “given Ghana’s high government debt burden and the debt structure, it is likely there will be substantial losses on both categories of debt in order for the government to meaningfully improve debt sustainability.”

It explained further that the stable outlook balances Moody’s assumption that the debt restructuring will happen in coordination with creditors and under the umbrella of a funding program with the IMF against the potential for a less orderly form of default that could result in higher losses for private-sector creditors.

In addition, Moody’s said it has also downgraded Ghana’s senior unsecured debt ratings to Ca from Caa2 and the senior unsecured MTN programme ratings to (P)Ca from (P)Caa2, along with downgrading to Caa3 from Caa1 the rating of Ghana’s bond enhanced by a partial guarantee from the International Development Association (IDA, Aaa stable), concluding the concurrent reviews for downgrade. The latter reflects a blended expected loss consistent with a one-notch uplift on the issuer rating.

“Finally, Moody’s has lowered Ghana’s local currency (LC) and foreign currency (FC) country ceilings to respectively Caa1 and Caa2, from B2 and B3, mirroring the downgrade of the sovereign ratings by two notches,” it stressed.

“Non-diversifiable risks are captured in a LC ceiling three notches above the sovereign rating, taking into account relatively predictable institutions and government actions, limited domestic political risk, and low geopolitical risk; balanced against a large government footprint in the economy and the financial system and external imbalances. The FC country ceiling one notch below the LC country ceiling reflects constraints on capital account openness and very weak policy effectiveness against authorities’ history of providing access to foreign exchange,” it added.

Ratings rationale

Moody’s expects that the restructuring of local and foreign currencies debts announced by the government on November 24, 2022 as part of its budget proposal for 2023 will likely result in significant losses for private creditors.

The government has been grappling with increasingly high and costly debt for more than a year now, leaving increasingly limited policy levers to arrest the negative spiral between high inflation and elevated interest rates, depreciating local currency and rising debt.

As such, restructuring debt has progressively appeared as a necessary condition to secure debt sustainability. Moreover, given the structure of government debt, equally split between foreign and local currency, its elevated level (forecast at 104% of GDP by end of this year) and cost (interest payments should consume 58% of revenue in 2022), substantial losses to creditors as part of the debt exchange are likely in Moody’s view.

Rationale for stable outlook

The stable outlook primarily reflects Moody’s assumption that the debt restructuring will happen in a coordinated and orderly manner with creditors under the umbrella of a funding program with the IMF.

The risk of higher losses for private-sector creditors than currently assumed by Moody’s is relatively contained, supported by Ghana’s economy and institutional framework.

Environmental, Social, Governance considerations

Ghana’s ESG Credit Impact Score is very highly negative (CIS-5), reflecting its high exposure to social risks. Resilience to environmental and social risks is very weak, constrained by low wealth and very high debt levels.

It said Ghana’s credit profile is moderately exposed to environmental risks (E-3 issuer profile score), adding “the cocoa sector is a large contributor to GDP, exports and employment and being demanding in water, it exposes the country to climate changes and especially droughts. More generally, the size of the agricultural sector exposes the economy to weather-related disruptions and the effects of climate change. Ghana is also exposed to water management risks stemming from a lack of access to potable water in some areas”.

“The exposure to social risk is highly negative (S-4 issuer profile score), driven by limited access to quality housing and education, especially in rural areas. Risks related to health and safety and access to basic services are moderately negative. While the government has put in place measures aimed at reducing poverty and inequality and strengthening social safety nets, its fiscal challenges constrain its scope for meaningful reduction in social risks given more than half of government revenue is consumed by interest payments”, it added.

Governance is very highly negative with a G-5 issuer profile score, it pointed out, adding, overall, Ghana’s institutions have shown some effectiveness, however domestic revenue mobilisation challenges and significant constraints on fiscal policy effectiveness manifest in very weak debt affordability.

The authorities have undertaken some institutional reforms on the revenue and competitiveness front, which will invariably take time to produce results.

It further stated that the government’s plan to resort to a restructuring of its debt, which constitutes a default under Moody’s definition, to improve its sustainability is ultimately a sign of institutional weakness. Governance considerations are a driver of today’s rating action.

The heightened default risk associated with Ghana’s announcement of a plan to restructure debt prompted the publication of this credit rating action on a date that deviates from the previously scheduled release date in the sovereign release calendar, published on www.moodys.com. In addition, by virtue of the ratings having been on review for downgrade, the conclusion of the review had to deviate from the previously scheduled date in the sovereign release calendar.

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The increase in the debt is due to largely exchange rate fluctuation and to some extent borrowings from the domestic market.

In the first quarter of 2022, the cedi assumed a free fall to the dollar, but its depreciation was halted in April 2022, following monetary measures by the Bank of Ghana.

However, in relation to the Gross Domestic Product of the country, the debt was estimated at 78%. This is slightly lower than the 80% recorded in December 2021.

According to the figures, the debt inched up by ¢20.5 billion in January 2022 and subsequently ¢19.7 billion in February 2022.

In terms of the domestic debt, it went up by ¢8 billion in the first quarter of 2022 to ¢189.9 billion in March 2021. This is equivalent to 37.8% of GDP.

Also, the external component of the total public debt shot up to $28.4 billion (¢201.9 billion) in March 2022, from $28.1 billion in December 2021. From the figures, clearly one can deduce that there were no borrowings from the external front in the first quarter of this year.

The debt-to-GDP ratio of the external debt is however approximately 40.2% of GDP.

The cedi component shot up by ¢31.9 billion in the first three months of 2022, primarily due to the decline in the value of the cedi to dollar during the period.

On the other hand, the financial sector resolution bond went down to ¢14.6 billion in March 2022, from ¢14.9 billion recorded in December 2021. This is equivalent to 2.9% of GDP.

IMF forecasts Ghana’s debt-to-GDP ratio of 84.6% in 2022

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had in its April 2022 Fiscal Monitor predicted Ghana’s debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio of 84.6% in 2022.

According to the Fund, the country’s total debt was estimated at 81.8% of GDP in 2021, higher than the 80.1%, approximately ¢351.8 billion quoted by the Bank of Ghana.

The Fund also said the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio will increase from 2022 to 88.4% in 2026, before falling to 87.4% in 2027.

But prior to that it will record relatively same debt-to-GDP ratio of 84% in 2022 and 2023, and later surge to 85% and 86% in 2024 and 2025 respectively.

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Criticism of the item the firms call a “sun umbrella” has gone viral on the Chinese social media platform Weibo.

It comes as Gucci’s website says it is “not waterproof and is meant for sun protection or decorative use”.

The parasol is part of a joint collection that is being promoted online ahead of its release next month.

A hashtag on Weibo which translates to “the collaboration umbrella being sold for 11,100 yuan is not waterproof,” has so far had more than 140 million views.

One user called the parasol “a very big but useless fashion statement”.

“As long as I’m poor, they won’t be able to trick me into paying for this,” another user said.

Others understood why the product may still be appealing.

“Those who are willing to pay use luxury goods to show what they are worth,” a user wrote. “They don’t care about practicality.”

The parasol is set to be released on 7 June as part of a new collection by luxury brand Gucci and sportswear giant Adidas.

Gucci and Adidas did not immediately respond to a BBC request for comment.

However, a Gucci spokesperson told Beijing-based magazine Caijing that the product was “not recommended for use as an everyday umbrella”.

They added that it had “good collector’s value and is suitable for use as a daily accessory”.

China is a key market for leading luxury brands.

Last year, sales of luxury goods rose by 36% in the world’s second largest economy, according to consultancy Bain & Company.

Bain also predicted that China will become the biggest luxury goods market within the next three years.

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It wiped more than $50bn off the firm’s market value as experts warned it faced a struggle to get back on track.

Netflix faces intense competition from streaming rivals, but was also hit after it raised prices and left Russia.

Yet some cast doubt on its plans to boost growth, which include bringing in a free ad-supported service.

It also plans to crack down on password sharing, estimating that more than 100 million non-paying households watch the service this way.

In a sign of the unease, one of America’s best known investors, William Ackman, ditched his $1.1bn investment in Netflix on Wednesday, taking a loss of more than $400m.

His hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management had bought the shares just three months ago.

In a brief statement, Mr Ackman said that while Netflix’s plans to change its business model made sense, investing in the company felt too risky.

“While Netflix’s business is fundamentally simple to understand, in light of recent events, we have lost confidence in our ability to predict the company’s future prospects with a sufficient degree of certainty,” he wrote.

In a trading update on Tuesday, Netflix said its total number of subscribers had fallen by 200,000 in the first three months of 2022, falling well short of its target.

It also said some two million more were likely to quit the service in the three months to July.

Some analysts warned that, after period of turbo-charged expansion during the pandemic, the streaming giant has run out of easy ways to grow.

Squeezed consumers are cutting back on streaming services to save money, while some feel there is too much content to choose from amid an avalanche of competition from rivals such as Disney and Amazon.

“Netflix’s wider problem, along with the rest of the sector is that consumers don’t have unlimited funds, and that one or two subscriptions is usually enough,” said Michael Hewson, an analyst at CMC Markets.

“Once you move above that something has to give in a cost-of-living crisis, and while Netflix is still the market leader, it doesn’t have the deeper pockets of Apple, Amazon or Disney, which makes it much more vulnerable to a margin squeeze.”

But Julian Aquilina, senior TV analyst at the media research firm Enders Analysis, said it was wrong to write the firm off.

“The streaming market is maturing and the high expectations people had about Netflix are being reset.

“But I think it will remain the market leader, it has such a commanding position. If people are going to ditch a subscription, Netflix won’t be the first one they choose.”

He added that the firm had just put up its prices “which always leads to a drop in subscribers, but also means it’s making more revenue per customer”.

Netflix remains the world’s leading streaming service with more than 220 million subscribers. It is increasingly producing its own content and shows such as the Crown, Bridgerton and Squid Game have been global hits.

The firm had enjoyed uninterrupted quarterly growth in subscribers since October 2011 but on Tuesday it admitted it was losing customers to rivals, while struggling to expand due to password sharing.

It also said a decision to raise prices in key markets had cost it 600,000 subscribers in North America alone, while its exit from Russia over Ukraine lost it 700,000.

Despite the challenges, revenue grew by $7.8bn (£6bn) in the first three months of the year, up 9.8% compared with the same period last year.

That marked a slowdown from earlier quarters, while profits fell more than 6% to roughly $1.6bn.

Netflix’s shares plunged 35% on Wednesday, and fell a further 3.5% on Thursday.

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Musk’s price of $54.20 per share, which was disclosed in a regulatory filing on Thursday, represents a 38% premium to Twitter’s April 1 close, the last trading day before Tesla CEO’s more than 9% stake in the company was made public.

The billionaire rejected an offer to join Twitter’s board earlier this week after disclosing his stake in the company, a move which analysts said signaled his intention to take over the company as a board seat would have limited his stake to just under 15%. 

“Since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company,” Musk said in a letter to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor.

Musk, who calls himself a free-speech absolutist, has been critical of the social media platform and its policies, and recently ran a poll on Twitter asking users if they believed the platform adheres to the principle of free speech.

“My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder,” Musk added.

Twitter will review Musk’s offer with advice from Goldman Sachs & Co and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a source told Reuters.

The company’s shares jumped 12% in premarket trading, while those of Tesla fell about 1%. The total deal value was calculated based on 763.58 million shares outstanding, according to Refinitiv data.

Musk has amassed over 80 million followers since joining the site in 2009 and has used the platform to make several announcements, including teasing a go-private deal for Tesla that landed him in hot water with regulators.

He has also been sued by former Twitter shareholders who claim they missed out on the recent run-up in its stock price because he waited too long to disclose his stake. 

Twitter’s lower-than-expected user additions in recent months have raised doubts about its growth prospects, even as it pursues big projects such as audio chat rooms and newsletters to end long-running stagnation.

“It would be hard for any other bidders/consortium to emerge and the Twitter board will be forced likely to accept this bid and/or run an active process to sell Twitter,” Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives wrote in a client note.

“There will be host of questions around financing, regulatory, balancing Musk’s time (Tesla, SpaceX) in the coming days but ultimately based on this filing it is a now or never bid for Twitter to accept,” Ives said.

Musk said Morgan Stanley was the financial adviser for the offer.

“Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it,” Musk said in his letter.

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The wealth wipeout came after Moscow’s benchmark MOEX Russia Index crashed and closed 33% lower on Thursday.

The Russian billionaires lost more money on Thursday than they had lost year-to-date up until Wednesday, according to Bloomberg.

The biggest loser was Vagit Alekperov, chairman of Moscow-based oil company Lukoil, who saw his wealth fall by one-third in one day as the company’s share price plummeted 32% on Thursday. Alekperov now has a net worth of $13 billion, down from $19.2 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Vladimir Potanin, Russia’s richest known man (no one knows for certain just how rich Russian President Vladimir Putin is), lost $3 billion after the share price of Norilsk Nickel, where he is the president, crashed 26%.

It could get worse for Russia’s richest individuals as Western sanctions intensify. The US on Tuesday announced sanctions including measures against Russian oligarchs and their family members. On Thursday, President Joe Biden doubled down with another round of sanctions.

On Tuesday, the UK also announced sanctions on five Russian banks and three individuals.

Among the individuals sanctioned was oligarch Gennady Timchenko, who has close ties with Putin, according to Reuters. 

Timchenko is the 11th-richest person in Russia with a net worth of $12.1 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg Billionaires Index gives a breakdown of Russia’s top 10 richest people, their net worth, and how much they lost in one day on February 24.

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Musk couldn’t help himself from chiming in on Twitter after Bezos posted a message about overcoming adversity.

“Listen and be open, but don’t let anybody tell you who you are. This was just one of the many stories telling us all the ways we were going to fail,” Bezos tweeted alongside an image of Barron’s cover story from 1999 calling Bezos “just another middleman.”

“Today, Amazon is one of the world’s most successful companies and has revolutionized two entirely different industries,” Bezos added in the tweet.

Shortly after midnight, Musk responded with a silver medal emoji, something Musk had promised to send to the Amazon founder now that Musk is worth almost $30 billion more than Bezos.

The tweet came after the gap between the world’s two richest men continued to widen last week, thanks in part to the new $100.3 billion valuations of Musk’s SpaceX. Most of his wealth is still tied to Tesla’s stock price.

Musk now boasts a net worth of $222 billion while Bezos’ remains at $191 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Last month, Musk warned that the tease would be coming.

“I’m sending a giant statue of the digit ‘2’ to Jeffrey B., along with a silver medal,” Musk said in an email to Forbes.

The tweet is the latest in an increasingly heated public spat between the world’s two richest men.

In addition to dueling for the title of world’s richest person, Musk and Bezos have clashed over their space ambitions.

This summer, Bezos flew to suborbital space on a 10-minute, widely watched launch with his company Blue Origin.

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Musk has criticized Blue Origin — and other rival Virgin Galactic — for investing so much in suborbital launches, which he says pale in comparison to the challenges of reaching orbit.

While Musk himself hasn’t yet traveled to space, SpaceX recently launched four civilian astronauts into space for a three-day trip and successfully returned them to Earth — the first mission of its kind.

Behind the scenes, the two companies have been in a multi-year contest for US government contracts.

In April, NASA awarded a $2.9 billion contract to SpaceX, passing up on a bid by Blue Origin.

And last month, Bezos’ company sued the space agency, alleging that it unfairly awarded the contract to Musk’s firm.

Musk responded by saying that Bezos’ Blue Origin should spend more time designing and building rockets and less time suing SpaceX.

“If lobbying [and] lawyers could get [you] to orbit, Bezos would be on Pluto [right now],” Musk wrote in a Twitter reply.

Blue Origin, meanwhile, has released infographics in recent weeks that call SpaceX’s Starship rocket dangerous and point out it is “a launch vehicle that has never flown to orbit and is still being designed.”

Separately, Bezos-owned Amazon has filed a complaint against SpaceX with the Federal Communications Commission, urging the regulator to reject the company’s plan to launch more satellites as part of its satellite internet business.

In return, Musk publicly mocked Bezos, who stepped down from his position as CEO of Amazon this summer.

“Turns out Besos [sic] retired in order to pursue a full-time job filing lawsuits against SpaceX…” Musk wrote on Twitter in August — misspelling Bezos’ name, instead writing the Spanish word for “kisses.”

For Bezos’ part, he has mocked plans to colonize Mars, a key SpaceX ambition.

“My friends who want to move to Mars, I say, do me a favor and go live on the top of Mount Everest for a year first, and see if you like it, because it’s a garden paradise compared to Mars,” Bezos told SpaceNews in 2019. 

The accounts in the ‘dormant category are those held with the bank that has not been operated for a minimum of five years.

The move is in accordance with the Banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930).

In a press statement issued by NIB, it said, “the published customers and or their legal representatives are hereby advised to contact the nearest National Investment Bank branch or call our Customer Service Call centre on +233 302 428 500 or toll-free on 0800 007 777 within two weeks of the date of this publication to activate their accounts.

“All affected accounts that are not activated after the 14-day deadline should be deemed transferred to the Bank of Ghana in accordance with Act 930,” the statement added.

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Check out the statement below:

“Virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities,” the People’s Bank of China said, warning it “seriously endangers the safety of people’s assets”.

China is one of the world’s largest crypto-currency markets.

Fluctuations there often impact the global price of crypto-currencies.

The price of Bitcoin fell by more than $2,000 (£1,460) in the wake of the Chinese announcement.

It is the latest in China’s national crackdown on what it sees as a volatile, speculative investment at best – and a way to launder money at worst.

Trading crypto-currency has officially been banned in China since 2019, but has continued online through foreign exchanges.

However, there has been a significant crackdown this year.

In May, Chinese state intuitions warned buyers they would have no protection for continuing to trade Bitcoin and other currencies online, as government officials vowed to increase pressure on the industry.

In June, it told banks and payment platforms to stop facilitating transactions and issued bans on “mining” the currencies – the trade of using powerful computers to make new coins.

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Mining migration

The technology at the core of many crypto-currencies, including Bitcoin, relies on many distributed computers verifying and checking transactions on a giant shared ledger known as the blockchain.

As a reward, new “coins” are randomly awarded to those who take part in this work – known as crypto “mining”.

China, with its relatively low electricity costs and cheaper computer hardware, has long been one of the world’s main centres for mining.

The activity is so popular there that gamers have sometimes blamed the industry for a global shortage of powerful graphics cards, which miners use for processing crypto-currencies.

The Chinese crackdown has already hit the mining industry.

In September 2019, China accounted for 75% of the world’s Bitcoin energy use. By April 2021, that had fallen to 46%.

The Opec cartel and partners such as Russia will boost supply from August after prices climbed to two-and-half-year highs during the pandemic.

The move should have an impact on petrol prices at the pump, which have also rocketed.

The price of Brent crude oil is up 43% this year to almost $74 a barrel.

Last year, Opec and its partners cut production by a record 10 million barrels per day (bpd) amid a pandemic-induced slump in demand and collapsing prices.

However, this year the price of oil has surged as economies have reopened, contributing to rising inflation in some countries and threatening to put the brakes on the global recovery.

Oil producers have been seeking to ease the cuts, but a row between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates threatened to derail the plans earlier in July.

Abu Dhabi had blocked a proposal by Riyadh and Moscow to extend output curbs to 2022 after they rejected its demand to produce more oil.

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The unusually public dispute between the close allies had raised fears about the stability of the “Opec +” cartel, which controls more than 50% of the world’s oil supplies.

Under the new deal, Opec and partners have agreed to increase supply by a further two million barrels per day from August until December 2021 to help stabilise the market.

Higher output quotas have also been agreed for several members from May 2022, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Kuwait and Iraq.

The cartel said it would phase out by September 2022 oil production cuts that were brought in last year.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told public television channel Rossia 24 that the members had been “constructive” and found “consensus”.

“The pandemic is not yet overcome, but we are seeing that thanks to vaccination all over the world, demand for our production is recovering as is the use of cars and air planes,” he said.

“It is therefore very important for us to fulfil our responsibilities and allow a recovery of the world economy.”

Zhang Yiming, 38, said he will leave the role because he lacks managerial skills and preferred “reading and daydreaming” to running the tech giant.

He bows out with a net worth of $44.5billion, according to Bloomberg, placing him 31st on a list of the world’s richest people.

It follows a crackdown on China’s booming tech sector by Beijing, which has levied heavy fines — including on Bytedance last month — for allegedly flouting monopoly rules.

Political leaders have also issued warnings to companies’ billionaire digital bosses about their responsibilities to society.

Zhang leaves the task of navigating tightening regulations on Big Tech worldwide to college roommate, long-time colleague and current human resources head Liang Rubo.

In an employee memo on Thursday, Zhang said the change would “enable me to have greater impact on longer-term initiatives.”

He will move to a “key strategy” position at the end of the year, ByteDance said in a statement.

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Zhang, who did not address his role as chairman, in the memo called Liang “an invaluable partner” with “strengths in management, organization, and social engagement.”

ByteDance’s biggest management shake-up since its launch in 2012 comes less than a month after its chief financial officer, Shouzi Chew, became CEO of flagship short-video app TikTok.

It also comes as Chinese regulators increase scrutiny of the country’s biggest technology firms.

In April, they slapped e-commerce giant Alibaba with a $2.8billion fine for anti-competitive practices, and last year suspended fintech affiliate Ant Group’s initial public offering.

Anti-trust regulators have also told Tencent they are preparing to fine the gaming giant as much as $1.55billion.

Zhang, who turned ByteDance into a social media force, in the memo said he was not a social person and lacked the skills of an ideal manager.

He also blamed the day-to-day challenges of a CEO as being a hurdle to research and innovation.

“I’m more interested in analyzing organizational and market principles, and leveraging these theories to further reduce management work, rather than actually managing people,” Zhang wrote in the memo.

“Similarly, I’m not very social, preferring solitary activities like being online, reading, listening to music, and contemplating what may be possible.”

Zhang owns 20 per cent to 30 per cent of ByteDance and holds over 50 per cent of voting rights.

Beijing on Tuesday banned financial institutions and payment companies from providing services related to cryptocurrency transactions.

It also warned investors against speculative crypto trading.

It follows falls in Bitcoin of over 10% last week after carmaker Tesla said it would no longer accept the currency.

On Monday, the crypto-currency was down 13%, while other digital coins such as Etheruem and Dogecoin lost as much as 18%.

Beijing cracks down

Crypto-currency trading has been illegal in China since 2019 in order to curb money laundering. But people are still able to trade in currencies like Bitcoin online which has concerned Beijing.

On Tuesday, three state-backed organisations, including the National Internet Finance Association of China, the China Banking Association and the Payment and Clearing Association of China issued a warning on social media.

They said consumers would have no protection if they were to incur any losses from crypto-currency investment transactions.

They added that recent wild swings in crypto-currency prices “seriously violate people’s asset safety” and are disrupting the “normal economic and financial order”.

Neil Wilson of Markets.com said: “China has for some time been putting pressure on the crypto space, but this marks an intensification – other countries might follow now as central banks make strides towards their own digital currencies.

“Until now western regulators have been pretty relaxed about Bitcoin, but this might change soon.”

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Tesla snub

In March, Tesla boss Elon Musk announced unexpectedly that the electric car maker would allow customers to buy cars using Bitcoin.

His electric car company Tesla made a profit of more than $900m (£646m) after buying $1.5bn worth of the crypto-currency in early February.

But last week Mr Musk did a U-turn and suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin due to environmental concerns.

His fears centre on Bitcoin mining – the energy-intensive process through which the digital currency is generated, using high powered computers. It often relies on electricity generated with fossil fuels, particularly coal.

“We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel,” Mr Musk wrote.

“Cryptocurrency is a good idea… but this cannot come at great cost to the environment.”

He said the electric carmaker did not intend to sell any of its Bitcoin and intended to reinstate crypto-currency transactions once mining shifted to using more sustainable energy sources.

Although the digital currency cannot be traded in China, more than 75% of Bitcoin mining around the world is done in China.

Samini and Stonebwoy had a banter on social media, shortly after Burna Boy and Wizkid’s Grammy win inundated social media.

According to Samini, Stonebwoy’s congratulatory tweet to the Nigerians prove he is fake, advising him to refrain from disrespecting colleague musicians like himself.

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But, Ayisha didn’t take the tweet kindly.

She explained that since respect was reciprocal, Samini should be weary of his ways in recent times.

The Bank’s affirmation follows the depreciation of the cedi by a marginal 0.25 percentage points against the American dollar eleven (11) days into the first quarter of 2021.

The cedi on Monday, January 11, 2021 was trading at GHS 5.76 against the US dollar.

The cedi, in the first quarter of every year, usually comes under some pressure due to the high demand for dollars by businesses to finance imports often resulting in a depreciation of the local currency.

To tackle the depreciation of the cedi in the first quarter of the year, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has allotted close to $60 million per its bi-weekly forex forward auctions for Q1 2021.

In total, the BoG will be selling a total of $300 million in its forex forward auctions in Q1 2021 alone.

Speaking to the media, economist with DataBank, Courage Martey, noted that the amount of dollars to be sold by the BoG in Q1 2021 alone, is a recognition of the pressure the cedi goes through in the first quarter of every year by the Central Bank.

“The amount of dollars to be sold in the first quarter shows a much bigger amount to be sold in the market for the first quarter compared to what is to be sold in the subsequent quarters and this is a recognition of the pressure the cedi goes through the first quarter. This is twice the amount to be sold in subsequent quarters,” he said.

The cedi, for the whole of last year – 2020 – depreciated by 3.9 per cent, a depreciation rate performance partly achieved due to a weaker dollar caused by the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Zhong Shanshan’s net worth reached $58.7 billion on Wednesday, $2 billion more than Jack Ma’s, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Zhong is now Asia’s second-richest person, behind India’s Mukesh Ambani, and is the 17th wealthiest in the world, ahead of Charles Koch and Phil Knight.

Nicknamed “Lone Wolf” for his eschewing of politics and clubby business groups, Zhong’s fortune has jumped $51.9 billion in 2020, more than anyone else in the world except Amazon.com Inc.’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk.

Both suffered heavy declines on Wednesday as tech stocks stumbled and Tesla plunged after its “Battery Day” event fell short of expectations. Musk’s fortune dropped by almost $10 billion.

The initial public offering of bottled-water company Nongfu Spring Co. — which turned out to be Hong Kong’s most popular among retail investors — propelled Zhong to China’s top three richest earlier this month.

That came after the April listing of vaccine maker Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co. pushed his net worth to $20 billion by early August.

Zhong now leads a wealth ranking in China that is typically dominated by people who made their fortunes from tech companies.

Richer Than Ma

While Zhong has surpassed Ma as China’s wealthiest, the tech tycoon might soon regain the top spot, which he’s held for most of the past six years after Alibaba went public in the U.S.

Ant Group’s IPO next month is poised to boost his fortune, with his stake estimated at $28 billion if the company achieves the $250 billion valuation people familiar with the matter have said it’s targeting.

Wednesday was brutal for U.S. tech stocks, which tumbled the most since earlier this month.

The plunge in Musk’s wealth was the biggest among the people on the Bloomberg ranking of the world’s 500 richest, followed by Bezos, whose net worth dropped by $7.1 billion.

Musk is now worth $93.2 billion and Bezos $178 billion. Zhong added almost $4 billion Wednesday, more than anyone else in the index.

The Amazon Chief Executive Officer’s (CEO) net worth soared to a record $200 billion on Wednesday when shares of his online shopping behemoth closed at $3,441.85 on surging demand for contactless shopping.

Bezos, Amazon’s largest individual stockholder, has added more than $82 billion to his net worth this year as stuck-at-home consumers increasingly turn to the e-tail giant for their shopping needs.

Amazon’s shares are up 86 percent year-to-date and its market cap sits at $1.7 trillion.

The tech entrepreneur, who’s also the head of rocket company Blue Origin, now has $77 billion more than longtime richest man Bill Gates, who sits in second place with just over $123 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

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The 56-year-old executive owns 54.5 million shares of Amazon, representing a 10.9 percent stake.

His ownership stake in Blue Origin is also worth $7.2 billion, and he has $7.1 billion worth of cash and other assets, according to Bloomberg.

Even more staggering is that Bezos would have already surpassed the $250 billion mark had he not divorced his longtime partner and spouse MacKenzie, who received 20 million Amazon shares in the divorce settlement, putting her net worth at $64.4 billion.

Those shares alone make her the 13th richest person in the world.

With his $200 billion fortune, Bezos is wealthier than all three of the Walton siblings put together, who each hold an equal stake in Walmart, Amazon’s longtime retail nemesis.

The Waltons have a combined net worth of $173 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Bezos, Gates and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg are currently the only people in the world enjoying 12-figure fortunes.

Investors have moved cash into the precious metal as Covid-19 cases rise in the United States (US) and more money is pumped into the global economy.

The record high gold price has also been driven by concerns over tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Prices of other precious metals, including silver, have also risen sharply since the start of this year.

The price of gold has increased by more than 30% this year as coronavirus cases continue to rise in America, causing dozens of states to halt or reverse their plans to reopen.

The rapid rise in cases, which has dented hopes of a swift US economic recovery, has also helped to drive up the price of silver by around a third this year.

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Among the reasons for those rises is investors preparing themselves for a possible pick-up in inflation due to the impact of trillions of dollars of stimulus from governments and central banks around the world.

In Washington, the Trump administration negotiators have said that they will work “around the clock” with Democrats as they attempt to strike a deal on more economic relief measures by the end of the week.

According to Bank of America, governments around the world have already announced approximately $20tn worth of stimulus to combat the economic impact of the pandemic.

Some investors see the fallout from the Covid-19 crisis, along with ongoing tensions between the US and China, continuing to push up the price of gold.

Market strategist Margaret Yang says she sees potential for bullion to continue rising in the coming weeks and months: “The mid-to-long-term prospect of gold and other precious metals remains bullish against the backdrop of low interest rate environment and fiscal and monetary stimulus.”

Peter McGuire from XM.com said he sees gold reaching “$2,200 by Christmas” with silver, platinum and palladium also set to see strong gains.

The proposed settlement agreement requires Apple (AAPL) to pay the owners of certain iPhone models $25 per affected device, totaling a minimum of $310 million and a maximum of $500 million, according to documents released on Friday in US District Court in San Jose, California.

The amount each user receives could increase or decrease depending on how many claims are filed as well as any additional legal fees and expenses approved by the court, the document added.

The settlement agreement, which is subject to approval by a judge on April 3, caps a legal battle that’s gone on for more than two years during which Apple tried to ease a global backlash.

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The company admitted in December 2017 that it used software updates to slow down older iPhones, soon after angry customers and tech analysts flagged that the updates were causing diminished performance.

Some of them suggested that Apple did so to force users to upgrade to the latest iPhone model, but the company said it was aimed at addressing issues with older lithium-ion batteries that would make the phones suddenly shut down to protect their components.

Apple later apologized and offered battery replacements to its customers for $79, which it knocked down to $29 in January 2018.

The company’s CEO, Tim Cook, admitted a year later that revenue for 2018 was partly hit by “significantly reduced pricing for iPhone battery replacements.”

iPhone users in the United States can file settlement claims if they owned an iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, 7, 7 Plus or SE device bought before December 21, 2017.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

Shares of his Amazon.com Inc. surged 12% to $2,100 in extended trading at 4:16 p.m. in New York, after the largest U.S. e-commerce company reported fourth-quarter results that smashed Wall Street estimates.

Bezos, already the world’s richest person, added $13.2 billion to his fortune in about 15 minutes. At the current price, his net worth would be about $129.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

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Bezos, 56, owns about 12% of Amazon’s outstanding stock, making up the bulk of his fortune. His ownership of closely held Blue Origin accounts for about $6.2 billion. The late surge Thursday added more than $90 billion to Amazon’s market value, pushing it above $1 trillion.

His ex-wife, MacKenzie Bezos, 49, also has reason to celebrate, as she owns about 4% of the Seattle-based retailer. She started the day as the world’s 24th-richest person, with a $37.1 billion fortune.

Bloomberg’s wealth ranking officially updates after the close of each trading day in the U.S., so Amazon’s latest surge, if it holds, won’t be reflected until after Friday’s close.

The company, in a suit filed at the commercial division of the High Court in Accra on Tuesday, July 9, 2019 said the debt owed it by government has left it in a situation where it is unable to pay investors.

The company is thus, among other things, praying the court to help it recover the sum of “GHC4,416,719.37, being the total face value of the accrued but unpaid interim payment certificates due the fourth defendant [Agyakot Company Limited] under the road contracts”.

As part of the reliefs being sought by Ghana Growth Fund Company Limited, the suit is also asking for “interest on the said sum of GHC4,416,719.37”.

What does the Ghana Growth Fund Company Limited do?

Ghana Growth Fund Company Limited is a private equity and venture capital firm that specializes in  investments at all stages of a company’s life-cycle including startups, recapitalizations, leveraged buyouts, management-led buyouts, buy-ins, expansion and development capital, mature stage, strategic minority equity investments, equity private placements, consolidations and buildups, buy and builds, and growth capital financing.

The firm also invests in property-level equity, debt and special situations transactions and businesses. It typically invests in small and medium-sized enterprises in infrastructural development, non-bank financial institutions, information technology, manufacturing, among others.

The company is a subsidiary of Groupe Nduom who manages a variety of other companies including GN Bank, First National Togo, First National Cote d’Ivoire, GN Reinsurance, GN Life Assurance, Gold Coast Fund Management, Gold Coast Brokerage, PenTrust and Liberian Enterprise Development Finance Company.

Below is a copy of the suit:

Prominent among the narrations was that of a Chartered Account, Kwadwo Ayerh, who alleged that attempts to recoup over 8 million Ghana Cedis investments made by him and some 40 others with Man Capital Partners is becoming a mirage.

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This is because, according to him, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Man Capital Partners, Michael Allan Asare has gone into hiding with investors not knowledge of his whereabouts.

According to Mr Ayerh, contrary to the popular narrative that the public has often failed to do due diligence and background checks of investments firms prior to such investments, he and his colleagues did so and were confident in the firm because of the composition of its board and the institutions that have licenced them.

“Man Capital Partners was regulated by and licensed by the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) and had formidable board members which had the likes of Police CID boss, Maame Tiwaah Dankwah, Haruna Nelson and former Minister, Nene Mike Gizo so there was no way we could have doubted the credibility of the company,’ he noted.

Mr Ayerh also stated that it will be important for SEC to sit up and take responsibilities for their actions.

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“The company duly submitted their prudential return which we learned was never cross-checked by SEC but they assured us the institution was credible. We were also given interest rates as low as 1.8 unlike the 10% from Menzgold so I didn’t see it to be unreasonable,” he added.

He, however, explained that the current CID boss, Maame Tiwaah Dankwah, resigned as a board member in the heat of the crisis in December, 2017 as Man Capital’s office virtually reducing to a cemetery.

According to Deloitte’s inaugural African Powers of Consumer Products report, despite a much-discussed slowdown in the African economic growth story, the path when viewed in local reporting currencies.

The analysis by Deloitte shows that the top 50 African listed consumer product companies are concentrated in 15 countries, with South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria and Morocco accounting for 64% of the companies with just above 80% of their total revenues.

This concentration reflects the size of their respective economies, their level of development and economic diversification, but also the low degree of capital market development in other African countries.

While the overall African growth story might have ‘stuttered’ recently (mostly due to the commodities decline), the prospects and opportunities for consumer goods companies still reflect a generally positive growth opportunity. For instance, sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP per capita in purchasing power doubled to US$3,831 between 2000 and 2016.

While several oil-producing countries have seen faltering investment, East African economies that are less exposed to commodity markets, are growing at rates of 6% per annum or more.

On average, the year-on-year revenues of the top 50 declined by 7.5% in USD and grew by 4.7% in local reporting currencies. When measured over a five-year period from 2011 to 2015, the average of the top 50 compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in USD was 3.5% and 12.5% in local currencies.

“Although African economies have seen their currencies depreciate sharply against the USD, making imported goods more expensive, companies which produce goods locally and are able to ramp up facilities have an opportunity to grow their market share,” said Andre Dennis, Deloitte Africa consumer products leader.

The report considers the performance of Africa’s Top 50 listed consumer product companies in FY15 (year ending up to and including May 2016), as calculated according to revenue in US dollar terms. It focuses on African domiciled companies which are listed on African stock exchanges, with manufacturing as a core business. The top 10 listed consumer producers in Africa by FY15 revenue are:

1. Tiger Brands Ltd – South Africa, with revenue of $2.6bn
2. RCL Foods Ltd – South Africa, with revenue of $2.1bn
3. Flour Mills of Nigeria – Nigeria, with revenue of $1.8bn
4. Distell Group Ltd – South Africa, with revenue of $1.7bn
5. Pioneer Food Group – South Africa, with revenue of $1.6bn
6. Nigerian Breweries – Nigeria, with revenue of $1.5bn
7. Tongaat Hulett Ltd – South Africa, with revenue of $1.3bn
8. AVI Ltd – South Africa, with revenue of $990m
9. Astral Foods Ltd – South Africa, with revenue of $940m
10. Illovo Sugar Ltd – South Africa, with revenue of $876m

Although South African and Nigerian companies dominate the top 10 of Africa’s largest listed consumer products companies, when their profit margins are reviewed the companies from these countries do not feature in the top 10.

Four of the most profitable (best profit margin) companies are from North Africa, four from East Africa and two West Africa. In FY15, 48 of the top 50 companies recorded positive profit margins, with 16 indicating greater than 10% profit margins. The top 5 by profit margin in FY15 are:

1. Eastern Tobacco Co – Egypt
2. Tanzanian Breweries Ltd – Tanzania
3. Société Frigorifique et Brasserie De Tunis – Tunisia
4. Edita Food Industries S.A.E – Egypt
5. Delta Corporation Ltd – Zimbabwe

It is interesting to note the emergence of Northern Africa, with some of the fastest growing consumer product companies on the continent coming from this region: including five from Egypt, one from Morocco and Tunisia with the remaining three from Southern Africa. The top 5 by CAGR FY11-15 in local currency are:

1. South Cairo & Giza Mills & Bakeries – Egypt
2. East Delta Flour Mills – Egypt
3. RCL Foods – South Africa
4. UNIMER Group – Morocco
5. Middle & West Delta Flour Mills – Egypt

“Positive economic prospects linked to accelerating urbanisation, a growing middle class, and Africa’s young population, along with improvements in infrastructure and technological developments, has attracted the expansion interests of a range of African and international multinational companies in the consumer products sector. We anticipate seeing increased investments in this sector as it continues to grow on the continent,” said Dylan Piatti, senior industry chief of staff at Deloitte Africa.

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