The report by the Governor of the Bank of Ghana that there is growing confidence in the Ghanaian economy in view of the positive macroeconomic fundamentals and growth prospects is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Wednesday.
The Times reports that the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison has said there is growing confidence in the Ghanaian economy in view of the positive macroeconomic fundamentals and growth prospects.
He said the domination of the country’s bond market by non-residents demonstrated the confidence of both local and foreign investors in the Ghanaian economy.
Dr Addison disclosed this in response to a question on the confidence and growth prospects of the Ghanaian economy, after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) press conference in Accra on Monday, and said the first four months of the year saw huge investment in the country’s bond market by non-residents.
The Governor, who chairs the MPC, indicated that the economy was recovering from the growth and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as evidenced by the latest high frequency indicators.
He said the BoG’s updated Composite Index of Economic Activity registered a strong annual growth of 26.8 per cent in March, compared to a contraction by 1.9 per cent in the corresponding period of 2020.
“The key drivers of economic activity during the period were domestic consumption (proxied by VAT collection), construction activities, and international trading activities, resumption of industrial production activities and air passenger arrivals.
The latest Ghana Purchasers Managers Index, which gauges the rate of inventory accumulation by managers of private sector firms and measures dynamics in economic activity, also improved in April 2021,” Dr Addison said.
He said the execution of the budget for the first four months pointed to some improved revenue collections and expenditure containments to ensure re-alignment to the consolidation path.
“The fiscal data shows that fiscal revenues have significantly outpaced developments a year ago but slightly lags behind target,” he said.
The newspaper says that Ghana yesterday joined the rest of the world to commemorate this year’s World No Tobacco Day at Nsawam in the Eastern Region with a call on the public to quit smoking.
The programme, which was on the theme ‘Commit to quit’, was attended by representatives of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Ghana Health Service (GHS), market leaders and members of transport unions and National Union of Ghana Students, among other categories of people.
The Minister of Health, Mr. KwakuAgyeman-Manu, in a speech read on his behalf by his Chief Director, Mr. Kwabena Boadu Oku-Afari, said tobacco had devastating effects on the respiratory system, which increases the incidence of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases; cancer, diabetes and other non-communicable diseases, and put people with these conditions at higher risk of developing severe illness when affected by Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
“Coronavirus has claimed over 3,479,900 lives across the world, with Ghana recording 783 deaths,” adding that the COVID-19 pandemic had led to millions of tobacco users saying they wanted to quit smoking.
The Minister stated that on the scocio-economic front, tobacco cultivation affected development as it had been estimated that growing and producing tobacco used 4.3 million hectares of land, resulting in deforestation of 2-4 per cent and land degradation in form of soil erosion and soil fertility.
He said Ghana was making significant progress to reduce tobacco use by effecting the complementary smoke-free policies through the implementation of Public Health Act 2012 (Act851) and Tobacco Control Regulation,2016(LI. 2247).
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Mrs. Delese Mimi Darko, in her remarks, stated that tobacco products contained 7,000chemicals, hundreds of which are known to be toxic.
Mrs. Darko stated that the use of nicotine in tobacco products increased the risk of cancer, and cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases.
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged journalists to ensure that they do not sacrifice integrity and the future of society on the altar of an instant scoop or ill-considered publication.
He explained that the media should only be concerned about reporting the facts and not lend themselves to being bought or used to destroy the reputation of others.
The conference, being organised by the Federation of African Journalists and hosted by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), is on the theme: “Building stronger unions to enhance journalism and media freedom”.
Delegates are drawn from the leadership of regional and national media organisations in Africa and they are, among other things, discussing strategies to shape the media industry on the continent, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic which has dealt a terrible blow to jobs and media sustainability.
They will also examine the worrisome erosion of media freedom in many countries in Africa and propose practical measures to reverse the trend.
Delegates will also discuss the precarious working conditions of journalists, explore viable options to strengthen the bargaining capacity of journalist unions in Africa and come up with the Accra Declaration that will articulate the future direction of journalism in Africa.
The newspaper says that the Council of the Federation of African Medical Physics Organisations (FAMPO) has selected Ghana as host of its secretariat.
The decision, which received the unanimous endorsement of the 30-member African organisations, was announced at the FAMPO extraordinary meeting via a virtual platform.
The core mandate of the secretariat will be to coordinate activities of the federation in promoting medical physics in Africa.
The Vice-President of the Executive Committee of FAMPO, Dr Francis Hasford, said Ghana got the nod because of its exceptional achievements in education, training and professional practice of medical physics.
“The immense contribution of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission in this regard cannot go unmentioned,” he added.
Dr. Hasford, who is also the Head of the Medical Physics Department at the Graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences (SNAS) of the University of Ghana, said the choice of Ghana as host of the secretariat would make the country a regional hub for medical physics.
“It is highly anticipated that the siting of the FAMPO Secretariat in the country will not only contribute to attracting medical physics students from other African countries to study at the SNAS but also attract key projects in radiation medicine,” he added.
“Ghana is one of the few countries within the region with legislative recognition for the profession. It is anticipated that the experiences of Ghana will bring to bear in managing this very important secretariat,” Dr Hasford said.
GIK/APA