APA – Accra (Ghana)
The report that gold had a strong 2023, defying expectations amid a high interest rate environment and outperforming commodities, bonds and most stock markets, the World Gold Council (WGC) says as it outlines possible scenarios for the gold market in 2024 is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Tuesday.
The Graphic reports that Gold had a strong 2023, defying expectations amid a high interest rate environment and outperforming commodities, bonds and most stock markets, the World Gold Council (WGC) says as it outlines possible scenarios for the gold market in 2024.
In its ‘2024 Outlook on Gold’ report, published last Thursday, the council stated that market consensus was for a “soft landing” in the US which should positively affect the global economy.
“Historically, soft landing environments have not been particularly attractive for gold, resulting in flat to slightly negative average returns.
“That said, every cycle is different.
This time around, heightened geopolitical tensions in a key election year for many major economies, combined with continued central bank buying could provide additional support for gold,” it notes.
Geopolitics added between three and six per cent to gold’s performance in the last year, the WGC points out.
In 2024, factors such as Israel’s war in Gaza, and major elections taking place globally, including in the US, the European Union, India and Taiwan, mean investors’ need for portfolio hedges is likely to be higher than normal.
Central banks have also been a significant source of demand for the gold market.
Central bank buying is likely to reach a record year after breaking a year-to-date record in the third quarter.
The council expects this trend to continue into 2024.
The newspaper says that the National AIDS/STI Control Programme (NACP) will next year deploy an electronic medical recording system that will track people who test positive for HIV from the first day of testing positive to the time they attain viral suppression.
Also known as case-based surveillance, people who test positive for HIV would be given unique identity (ID) numbers that would be linked to access to treatment and laboratory tests, including viral load.
The Programme Manager of NACP, Dr Stephen Ayisi Addo, said the essence was to get the accurate number of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in the country and also correct discrepancies between the number of persons identified as HIV positive and those on treatment.
“Despite the fact that we have changed our guidelines to start treatment of people the same day we test them, when we analyse our database, you realise immediately the discrepancies between testing and linkage to treatment.
The output, therefore, is a low ART linkage rate,” he said.
Dr Addo disclosed this at the 22nd international conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) in Harare, Zimbabwe.
The event, which started on December 4, 2023, ended on December 9, 2023.
Later in an interview with the Daily Graphic, Dr Addo further said that the electronic medical record system when introduced would enhance outcomes such that if a client accessed services anywhere, they would be able to track them to avoid duplicates in reporting as a result of repeat testing.
He also said the unique IDs would be biometrically linked to other national identification systems, including those of private and public health facilities in the country to make referrals easier.
“Now if you are taking your Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) in the Greater Accra Region and you want to go to the Eastern Region to continue, we refer you with your book, but with this electronic medical system which is interlinked, the referral will be done within the system and immediately when you go to the Eastern Region, your name will already be in the system,” Dr Addo added.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) has thrown its weight behind the passage of the LGBTQ+++ Bill, saying it must be passed into law to protect authentic Ghanaian family values which are under threat from homosexual acts.
It has therefore commended the country’s Parliament for the effort and time spent on developing the bill, which when passed into law, would promote proper human sexual rights and impose punitive measures that are commensurate with the act of homosexuality.
This was contained in a statement signed and issued in Accra yesterday by Most Rev. Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, President of GCBC and Catholic Bishop of Sunyani.
“We can state that the draft bill on “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values 2021” currently in Parliament is in the right direction, as it seeks to enact laws against criminal homosexual acts.
The bill aims to provide for proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values, proscribe LGBTQ+ and related activities, and provide for the protection of children, persons who are victims or accused of LGBTTQQIAAP+ and related activities, and other persons,” the statement added.
While the Church speaks of homosexual acts as sins, the State, it said, does not use such language, the Church recognizes that the State had a duty to carry out measures it considered dangerous to society.
“For the State, whose duty it is to enact laws to govern the citizenry, the language used is that of crime. A Crime may be defined as an action or omission, which constitutes an offence and is usually deemed socially harmful or dangerous and is punishable by law.
In the light of this definition, homosexual acts from the point of view of the State may be criminal in nature,” the statement explained.
The Minister of Commu¬nication and Digitalisation, Ursula Owu¬su-Ekuful, has stated that government has no plans of selling its 30 per cent stake in Ghana Telecommuni¬cations Limited.
She said earlier claims by the Minority that the government was in the process of selling its interest in the network were inaccurate.
“Mr Speaker, the govern¬ment of Ghana has no plans of selling its 30 per cent shareholding in the Ghana Telecommunications Limited,” she stated.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful, who is also the Member of Parlia¬ment for Ablekuma West, gave this assurance on the floor of Parliament in Accra yesterday in response to a question asked of her by the Member for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Etsey Dafeamekpor.
According to her, the British multinational telecommunica¬tions giant, Vodafone, which has ran the company since ac¬quiring majority stakeholding since 2008, has sold its share to Telecel effective February 2023.
Asked if the government of Ghana, the holder of 30 per cent minority share in the entity was sought, Mrs Ow¬usu-Ekuful said that was not required.
“Under the shareholders agreement, the consent of the minority shareholder is not required for Vodafone Ghana to transfer its shareholding,” she explained.
GIK/APA
Ghana: Press spotlights plan by Central banks to buy more gold in 2024, others
