Ghana: Press spotlights payment of arrears owed Individual Bondholders’ Forum

APA – Accra (Ghana)
The report that the government has officially announced the resolution of all outstanding arrears owed to members of the Individual Bondholders’ Forum is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Tuesday.
The Graphic reports that the government has officially announced the resolution of all outstanding arrears owed to members of the Individual Bondholders’ Forum.
In a statement released by the Finance Ministry on Monday, it was confirmed that all due coupons and principals up to June 19 have been fully paid, and instructions for coupon payments until July 10, 2023, have been dispatched.
Furthermore, the government has reiterated its commitment to maintaining a continuous and constructive dialogue with the leadership of the Coalition of Individual Bondholders Groups (CIBG).
It has emphasized its unwavering dedication to implementing the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) reached with the bondholders.
Previously, the CIBG, comprising the Ghana Individual Bondholders Forum and the Individual Bondholders Association of Ghana, had threatened to stage a protest at the Finance Ministry to demand the settlement of outstanding principals and coupons. Their discontent stemmed from the government’s failure to adhere to the agreed-upon payment plan outlined in the MOU.
However, the government has successfully fulfilled its commitment to pay all arrears related to coupons for bonds maturing by May 31, 2023, as well as coupons due from June 1, 2023, in line with the terms stipulated in the MOU.
“The Ministry of Finance expresses its gratitude to all bondholders for their unwavering support during this period of tight liquidity. The government remains confident that by working collaboratively with all stakeholders, we will restore macroeconomic stability, achieve inclusive economic growth, and transform the Republic,” stated the Finance Ministry.
The newspaper says that the Ministry of Health is pushing for an increase in excise duties on three unhealthy consumables to raise additional GH¢3.5 billion.
The three are tobacco, alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverages which have been identified to be among the main causes of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as hypertension, stroke, diabetes and cancers.
The ministry also wants the revenue generated from those specific taxes to be channelled into the management of NCDs which have assumed alarming levels in the country in recent years and causing 17,000 deaths every year.
The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, made this known in Accra yesterday at a meeting to disseminate a study done by the World Health Organisation on how such health taxes could improve health outcomes in managing NCDs.
“In as much as we admit that the increase in the taxes on these products may reduce consumption, it also presents a good opportunity to expand fiscal space to support government priorities which include health-related interventions focusing on NCD prevention, early detection and treatment to mitigate a huge financial burden on individuals and the state in future,” he said.
He said the concept of health tax was a powerful tool for revenue generation that had been successfully implemented in many countries.
Health taxes involve the levying of charges on products that are deemed harmful to health, such as tobacco, alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverages.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame, last Friday, held discussions on World Intellectual Property with the Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation, Mr Daren Tang, in Geneva, Switzerland.
This was on the sidelines of the ongoing General Assembly of member states of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) at the 64th edition of the General Assembly in Geneva.
In his remarks, Mr Tang com¬mended Ghana’s strong leadership on intellectual property in Africa and said Ghana’s position as the Coordinator of the African Group at WIPO could bring development if backed by good leadership.
He noted that the registration of the “Bolga basket” by Ghana as a geographical indication from Ghana as well as the deposit of the instrument of ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (the UPOV Convention) by the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice in November, 2021, were very remarkable steps by Ghana in the protection of intellectual property.
Mr Tang said he was willing to achieve significant milestone in intellectual property.
Mr Dame thanked WIPO for inviting him and said “Ghana will continue to deepen its special relationship with the Director-General in particular and WIPO in general.”
As Coordinator of the African Group, the Attorney-General told Mr Tang that Ghana would work with WIPO to consolidate the achievements of the organisation.
Mr Dame asked for WIPO’s technical assistance for the upgrading of Ghana’s intellectual property system, described as the “IPAS system” for Intellectual Property Office administration including the Madrid Module at Ghana’s national offices, in order to enable the office provide efficient services to users.
He said he was hopeful that Mrs Loretta Asiedu, a competent, hard-working and the acting Director of the African Bureau, would be considered for the substantive position of Director at the African Bureau of WIPO, when nominations were opened.
The newspaper says that the Managing Director of FB¬NBank Ghana, Mr Victor Yaw Asante, has urged stakeholders of Africa’s energy sector to focus on providing capacity building and finance towards the realisation of Africa’s sustainable energy needs.
Mr Victor Yaw Asante, who was representing Dr Adesola Adeduntan, Managing Director of the First Bank of Nigeria, the parent bank of FBNBank Ghana, was speaking as a panellist during a discussion on the topic “Financing Sustainable Energy Transitions in Africa – Pitfalls, Potentials and Paradoxes” at the Climate Finance for Sustainability Energy Transition in Africa Conference held at the University of Ghana.
As per the topic, Africa’s widening energy access gap creates a unique opportunity for the region to leapfrog fossil fuel technologies and pursue a climate-friendly, needs-oriented power strategy aligned with the Paris Agreement and low-carbon growth.
Through the discussion, panellists helped identify and discuss financing gaps and opportunities to guide stakeholders to access, allocate and mobilise climate finance effectively.
Mr Asante established that Africa has several energy resources and that most of the currently used sources are hydro-carbon based while the water-based ones are not adequately tapped.
He also touched on solar and wind as additional options, explaining that very little attention has been paid to these two compared to water. “Solar can deliver 60 per cent of our own power energy,” he said.
To ensure that Africa enjoys the best use of its multiple energy resources, Mr Asante stressed the need for investment in human capital development with a strong element of capacity building, as well as finance and technological advancement.
He was of the view that this would bring about the much-needed transition to the use of sustainable energy, and that organisations should be able to strengthen human capital across the African continent as well as strengthen institutions across the board.
According to the Managing Director of FBNBank Ghana, “Capacity building in technology will be ideal if we want to transition to the sustainable energy that we want. Capacity requires two things; capital and skills. Organisations should, therefore, be able to strengthen human capital across the African continent as well as strengthen institutions across board.
GIK/APA