The assertion by Finance Minister that it will take Ghana about three years to return to the International Capital Market due to the negative impact of downgrades on the economy by international rating agencies is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Friday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the Minister of Finance, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta has said that it will take Ghana about three years to return to the International Capital Market due to the negative impact of downgrades on the economy by international rating agencies.
The three rating agencies, Fitch, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s have all downgraded the country’s credit worthiness to junk status.
According to him, the government needed to work on its current economic downgrade and other fiscal measures in order to get back into the market.
“Returning to the International Capital Market is going to take a bit of time. It will take about two to three years before we can be able to work on our ratings before that time. The recent downgrade is very unfortunate,” he said at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday.
Mr Ofori-Atta, said the current downgrade of the country’s rating by some international ratings agencies – Fitch, Moody’s, and Standard and Poor’s would be reversed through policy measures in the next few years, preparing the grounds for Ghana to go back to the International Capital Market.
Giving his opinion on the recent downgrade of Ghana’s economic status by Fitch, Mr Ofori-Atta described the move as very unfortunate and likely to have an adverse effect on Ghana’s bond market.
“The issue of Fitch’s downgrade is unfortunate. In their email to us, they referred to the Bloomberg article that influenced their decision. It sort of further depresses the bonds on the international market and results in additional losses to investors.”
“Once we got downgraded to triple C, we are also expecting that the economic programme that is being worked on which will be the basis for the IMF discussions would help us to come back to some strong matrices so that we will be able to get some ratings revised over that period.
He blamed a recent Bloomberg story suggesting that Ghana was going to restructure its domestic debt as the reason behind the recent downgrade of the country’s credit rating by Fitch.
Fitch Ratings recently, downgraded Ghana’s Long-Term Local – and Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) from ‘CCC’ to ‘CC’.
This is the second time in 2022 that the rating agency has downgraded Ghana’s credit worthiness.
The newspaper says that the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has called for collaboration between the government and industries to chart a competitive path towards building a stronger economy for jobs and shared prosperity.
The AGI believed that the spill over from the Ukraine and Russia war, coupled with the adverse effects of COVID-19 could be mitigated through greater collaboration between the private and the public sectors for the industrial development of the country.
Mr Joseph Garbrah, the Chairman of the AGI, at the annual general meeting for the Western and Central branches of the Association, said the private sector was a key engine in the country’s growth agenda and must be given the needed attention through well tailored policies and programmes.
The meeting hinged on: “Levering Public Private Collaboration to accelerate Sustainable Industrial Development,” sponsored by the EU Investment Promotion and Business Linkages Project.
Mr Garbrah said the much talked about sustainable industrial development should revolve around leveraging the private public sectors, finance and investment by companies and corporations.
“More largely it should be about leveraging resources, skills and knowledge that the private sector can bring to the table to support and implement sustainable industrial development,” he said.
Mr Francis Osei Kusi, a Business Development Linkages Expert, urged members of the AGI, particularly Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to be investment, export and linkages ready through the right governance and best business practices.
He said the country could boast of many entrepreneurs but lacked well thought out business sustainable plans into the future.
“Most businesses have the wife and husband as the board with no proper structure…I remember my days with the Commercial Bank and the many businesses we helped in this region but, today, looking back, I can count only a few surviving ones,” Mr Kusi said.
He, therefore, encouraged them to develop their businesses to transcend generations.
The Ghanaian Times also reports that the Executive Council of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has unanimously suspended AshantiGold Sporting Club with immediate effect under Article 17(1) of the GFA Statutes.
This decision was taken due to the club’s dealing with banned officials Kwaku Frimpong and Emmanuel Frimpong, which constitutes a serious violation of both GFA Statutes and the FIFA Statutes.
Kwaku Frimpong and Emmanuel Frimpong have been banned by the GFA Disciplinary Committee for 10 years and eight years respectively for engaging in match manipulations.
The decisions were subsequently upheld by the GFA Appeals Committee.
The two banned officials did not appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) as required by both the GFA Statutes and the FIFA Statutes and the time for filing such an appeal had long expired, said a statement from the FA.
However, AshantiGold SC continues to deal with and engage with the two banned officials in violation of Articles 9, 13 and 16 of the GFA Statutes and the relevant provisions of the FIFA Statutes.
It would be recalled that only 22 players have filed appeals and temporary measure (a stay of execution) at CAS, which have been granted by CAS.
The GFA have accordingly allowed the players to register and play in GFA and international competitions until the final determination of their cases by CAS.
The suspension of AshantiGold SC means the club shall lose all membership rights and that the club cannot play in any football competition, including but not limited to the Ashanti Regional Football Association Division Two League.
The Graphic reports that the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, was left utterly dumbfounded yesterday on witnessing the massive devastation caused by illegal gold miners (galamsey operators) at Dantano in the Amansie South District in the Ashanti Region.
He shook his head in disbelief on seeing farmlands, about the size of four football pitches (eight acres), devastated by illegal miners, leaving behind huge pits.
Mr Jinapor, who visited the area to afford him the opportunity to assess the level of damage caused to the environment by operators of galamsey, said he would be launching an investigation into the destruction.
Mr Jinapor visited the ‘Operation Halt II’ team that undertook a major operation in the area last Monday.
Mr JInapor wondered whether such vast devastation by illegal miners took place without the knowledge of the district assembly, chiefs, the police and the Minerals Commission.
He said he would be seeking answers from the Inspectorate office of the Minerals Commission.
The minister stated that the depth of the pits showed that such activities had been ongoing for years, and expressed the belief that the traditional and political leaders in the district decided to turn a blind eye to them.
He said there was no way all the stakeholders in the community could feign ignorance of what went on.
Mr Jinapor urged all Ghanaians to get involved in the fight against illegal mining to protect the environment.
GIK/APA