The research report of a consortium, including the Institute for Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) that revealed that Ghana loses more than $2 billion in taxes alone due to the undervaluation of gold exports is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Friday,
The Ghanaian Times reports that the research by a consortium, including the Institute for Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) has revealed that Ghana loses more than $2 billion in taxes alone due to the undervaluation of gold exports.
The study spanning three political administrations identified that Ghana’s exports were undervalued by an estimated $8.3 billion between 2011 and 2017.
According to the group, the research was fixated primarily on commodities like cocoa and gold, because “these are two of the main resources that Ghana exports”.
ISSER and its partners including the Graduate Institute of Geneva undertook the study as part of the Curbing Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) research project, funded by the Swiss Programme for Research on Global Issues for Development.
Presenting details of the study, Senior Economic Researcher at ISSER and member of the research team, Dr AmaAhene-Cudjoe, indicated that the project used a novel method to gather data from the Ghana Revenue Authority and other government agencies.
“We estimated that gold was abnormally undervalued at about $8.3 billion at constant prices and the base year is 2011. Our study was between 2011 and 2017. And in current prices, this is about $3.8 billion and this constitutes approximately 11 per cent of the total value of gold exported during this period.”
“The top five destination countries of these undervalued gold exports include major gold refining destinations, India, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Switzerland and Portugal. This represented major gold refining, trading and manufacturing destinations”.
Dr Ahene-Cudjoe said the revelation about tax and revenue losses due to IFFs is critical when you consider the fact that gold accounts for most of Ghana’s mineral exports.
The Graphic says that the aviation wing of the McDan Group of Companies, McDan Aviation, will today inaugurate Ghana’s first private jet terminal at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) in Accra.
This follows the acquisition of a Fixed-Base Operator (FBO) licence from the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL).
The terminal is at the Terminal One of the KIA and it is expected to help Ghana position itself and open up to the world as it aims at becoming the preferred destination for business and investment.
In a telephone interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the McDan Group of Companies, Mr Daniel McKorley, said McDan Aviation would offer aircraft operators and middle-to-high-end businesses a secure and private alternative to the airport’s main terminal.
According to Mr McKorley, Ghana was opening up to the world, hence the need to set another standard where businessmen and businesswomen would have the opportunity to do business with ease as far as travel was concerned, without compromising on security and safety.
He said the terminal also had the potential to boost business and tourism in Ghana by removing bottlenecks associated with travel to and from Ghana.
“The lounge of the private jet terminal has a conference room for people who want to have business meetings at the airport, without necessarily going into the city when they arrive. They get the business done and return on that same day and within hours,” he explained.
Mr McKorley pointed out that the company would kickstart its commercial private jet services with three aeroplanes and one helicopter, while arrangements were in place for the acquisition of other aircraft, including a Challenger 604 Bombardier, a Gulfstream jet and helicopters, to offer air-ambulance medical, as well as domestic tourism.
He further disclosed that the commercial private jet service would offer direct employment to hundreds of Ghanaians when fully operational.
The newspaper reports that the UN Secretary General has mourned as a “true pioneer” Ghana’s first female Brigadier General, Constance Emefa Edjeani-Afenu, who died on Monday.
Antonio Guterres paid tribute to Brigadier-General Edjeani-Afenu for making history in peacekeeping as the first female deputy force commander of a UN mission in Western Sahara.
During her more than 40 years of military service, she served in numerous UN peacekeeping missions – including in Lebanon, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The UN chief hailed her as having worked hard to promote gender inclusiveness and increasing the number of women serving in the military.
Brigadier-General Constance Emefa Edjeani-Afenu, passed on on Monday, January 24, 2022, after a short illness.
She was commissioned into the Ghana Armed Forces on April 25, 1980, as a Second Lieutenant and served as a Platoon Commander at the 2nd Battalion of Infantry in 1980 for her regimental training.
She was also the Adjutant to the 3rd Border Guards Battalion from 1981 to 1982 and subsequently, appointed General Staff Officer Grade 3 (Training, and Personnel Staff Officer) at the Border Guards Headquarters from 1983 to 1984 and as Adjutant at the Border Guards Training School, Kpetoe in 1984.
In 1995, she was appointed the Second in Command of the Ghana Armed Forces Pay Regiment and in 1999, the Commanding Officer, all, which she became the first female in the Armed Forces to occupy.
In 2013, she became the first woman to be appointed Deputy Military Adviser (DMILAD) at the Permanent Mission of Ghana to the UN, New York till 2016.
GIK/APA