APA – Accra (Ghana)
The Ghanaian government’s plan to evacuate 76 of its citizens in Sudan and the visit of the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to Ghana are some of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Tuesday.
The Graphic reports that the Ghanaian government has stated that 76 of its citizens in Sudan are being evacuated due to the ongoing conflict. The group comprises 73 students and three footballers including former Real Tamale United star David Sandan Abagna who joined Sudanese league leaders Al Hilal FC (Omdurman) in January.
The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Dr. Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, has confirmed that the Ghanaian citizens will be transported to Ethiopia for safety.
“We have so far accounted for all the Ghanaian students. They are 73; none of them has been harmed, and we have all of them safe in a place. The next batch of Ghanaians is three footballers in Sudan. We have also accounted for them and have put all of them together. The plan is to evacuate them to the nearest country which is Ethiopia,” he said.
The conflict in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has resulted in numerous casualties and displaced thousands of people.
The violence has been centered in Khartoum, with civilians bearing the brunt of the conflict.
Dr. Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong has reassured the public that the government is committed to ensuring the safety of all Ghanaian nationals.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration had earlier announced its readiness to evacuate Ghanaian citizens affected by the conflict in Sudan.
The Ghanaian Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, which has concurrent accreditation to Sudan, is working closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and the Honorary Consulate to coordinate the evacuation process and ensure the safe passage of its nationals to Ethiopia.
The newspaper says that the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is set to visit Ghana today (Tuesday, April 25), as part of her efforts to reinforce support for Sub-Saharan Africa.
During her two-day visit, she will meet with policymakers, business leaders, and civil society representatives to discuss making globalisation work for Africa.
The visit will also include an interaction with female entrepreneurs and discussions with Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and the Minister of Trade and Industry.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala expressed her excitement about the trip, stating that Africa is a crucial part of the WTO’s membership.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala had a 25-year career at the World Bank, where she rose to the position of Managing Director, Operations, overseeing the bank’s $81 billion operational portfolio in Africa, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia.
She spearheaded several initiatives to assist low-income countries during the 2008-2009 food crisis and the financial crisis.
In 2010, Dr Okonjo-Iweala chaired the World Bank’s successful drive to raise $49.3 billion in grants and low-interest credit for the world’s poorest countries.
She is also renowned for being the first female and African candidate to contest for the presidency of the World Bank Group in 2012, backed by Africa and major developing countries in the first truly contestable race for the world’s highest development finance post.
She also acknowledged that African economies have made significant strides in economic integration in recent years, amid a rapidly changing global trade landscape.
As the first woman and African to serve as Director-General of the WTO, Dr Okonjo-Iweala is a renowned global finance expert, economist, and international development professional, with over 30 years of experience in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and North America.
Before taking up her current role, Dr Okonjo-Iweala served as the Chair of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and held positions on the boards of Standard Chartered PLC and Twitter Inc. She also served twice as Nigeria’s Finance Minister and briefly acted as Foreign Minister in 2006, becoming the first woman to hold both positions.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the Asian African Consortium (AAC), a subsidiary of Jospong Group of Companies has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Cape Coast (UCC) to undertake research to boost rice, maize and soya production in the country.
The objectives of this partnership are to identify common areas of collaboration to address the overall mandate of the parties, develop a plan for collaborative operations and detail the scope and principles of engagement between the parties, while aiming at achieving food efficiency in the country.
The Chief Executive officer (CEO) of the AAC, Mrs Adelaide ArabaSiawAgyepong, at the signing ceremony in Accra, last Thursday, noted that the agreement would facilitate ACC’s collaboration with the UCC research institutes across Ghana to deepen research and development for social change as well as deal with challenges for economic growth and development.
She further added that it would also facilitate the establishment of a research and development consortium comprising of business, crop science, technology, agriculture engineering, chemical engineering as a standing committee to advise on the full value chain in rice, maize, soya and the production of other staples.
“Again, this arrangement will facilitate the establishment of a seedling centre for the commercial production of seedlings for sale to farmers,” she hinted.
She emphasised that “the ACC’s integrated rice project is to make Ghana self-sufficient in rice production resulting in significant economic benefit for the country.”
Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong – Vice Chancellor of UCC reiterated that the University had a specialised training for students to become entrepreneurs and self-sufficient and also create jobs for others.
“We also focus on empowering our students with competences to succeed in life,” he added.
The newspaper says that further analysis of the Domestic Debt Restructuring indicates that the 23 banks operating in the country will lose additional GH¢6.1 billion due to reduced coupon rate and the extension of the maturity period from five to 15 years.
According to a liquidity gap analysis conducted by Dr Richmond Atuahene and K. B Frimpong, the 23 banks would have generated positive cash flow of about GH¢10.1 billion over the period, from the original coupon rate of 19.3 per cent per annum.
But following the implementation of Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), the extension of maturity period and reduction of coupon rate will impact heavily their earnings from investments in Government of Ghana Bonds.
“This liquidity gap is a result of the drop in the average bond rate of 19.3 per cent to weighted average rate of 9% per annum, thus leading to nominal negative liquidity gap of 10.3 per cent. The liquidity gap is expected to get worse if the average customer deposit rate is around 10 per cent per annum, but later declined to weighted average rate of 9 per cent per annum.”
For example, Bank A with the bond value of GH¢9, I06, 452,000 and average coupon rate of 19.3 per cent would have had cash flow of GH ¢1,821,290,000, but with the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, the effective rate of 9 per cent per annum will cause a drop in cash flow to GH¢720,927,000, thus leading to liquidity gap of GH¢1,100,363,000,” it added.
An earlier report revealed that banks would lose a total of about GH¢41.3 billion from the DDEP, between 2023 and 2028.
It indicated that by computing the Net Present Value of the 23 local banks, the losses could amount to GH¢41.315 billion.
Immediate implementation of Financial Stability Fund critical to banks survival
GIK/APA