Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
MARKET SUMMARY REPORT 27thAPRIL 2016 TABLE OF CONTENT Economy Highlight Governor pledges to pursue SMEs growth Ghana's economy as weak as Greece's - Akoto Osei Top Business Negotiations on oil contracts raise concerns Pianim urges FDI courting Foreign BiD Oil prices jump on weak dollar, strong investor appetite Fed set to keep rates unchanged, may nod to ebbing risks Market Information Treasury Bill Rate Bank of Ghana Indicative rate GSE Summary Commodity News Investment Fund Rates Economy Highlight Governor pledges to pursue SMEs growth Source: Business & Financial Times Dr. Abdul-Nashiru Issahaku, Governor-Bank of Ghana (BoG), has pledged to collaborate with banks in pursuing policies that will contribute to growing the country‘s small and medium size companies, and provide incentives to encourage lending to productive sectors of the economy. ―The Bank of Ghana remains committed to promoting and scaling-up real sector lending to boost growth. While focusing on ensuring stability of the economy, the Bank will continue to pursue policies that contribute to growth by working with banks to provide incentives and encourage lending to productive sectors of the economy; and most importantly for banks to lend at reasonable rates, especially to SMEs,‖ he said. Dr. Issahaku was speaking at the maiden SME fair under the theme ‗SME Financing in Ghana — Enhancing Access and Reducing Costs‘ and explained: ―Given the dynamic business environment in which the SMEs operate, it should be a matter of priority for us to respond creatively by facilitating new financing modalities, or special windows, to complement the traditional financing options‖. The SME fair marked his first public engagement as Governor, and was aimed at drawing SMEs in touch with banks, public agencies, and Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFIs) in order to expose them to available innovative financing solutions. Ghana's economy as weak as Greece's - Akoto Osei Source: Ghana Web A ranking member of the Finance Committee in Parliament, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, has likened Ghana's economic situation to that of Greece but says Ghana has no bail out route from the European Union. Ghana's economy has slumped in the past years due to various factors including the energy crisis which that hit the country in the last three years. The economy, however, has begun to pick up, which the President John Mahama has attributed to prudent economic management by his government. But Dr. Akoto Osei says Ghana's economy is likely to collapse like that of Greece if emergency measures are not taken, noting ―Our interest rates are high which isn‘t really surprising as Malawi is the only other country that has a higher interest rate than us and that is not surprising because we live in Ghana." He noted Ghana in 2011 used to grow when the oil full production hit between 14 and15 percent but said that has changed now because "we are down to what is projected to be around 4 percent and certainly there are a lot of countries above that which is factual. ―I have gone to borrow money recently and I borrowed it at 36 percent [interest rate] which is a private loan and I believe businesses may get between 29 and 32 per cent and how are they going to compete," he said. Dr. Akoto Osei blamed the current economic situation to what he said is the government's too much borrowing from the domestic market, and rejected claims that the economy is resilient. Top Business Government justifies stability agreement with Goldfields-Ghana Source: Myjoyonline The Finance Ministry has justified its decision to sign a Stability Agreement with mining firm, Goldfields-Ghana. Government through parliament last month announced its decision to allow Goldfields-Ghana to pay a fixed tax and royalty rate for the next 11 years. This decision has, however, not gone down well with some civil society groups and even the committee that was established to review the agreement granted mining firms like, AngloGold and NewmontGhana. But Deputy Finance Minister Ato Forson tells JOYBUSINESS there was no way government could have declined the agreement. "As soon as you set one precedent, in the case of Ghana, like Newmont, others doing similar investments will ask for similar equality. Failure to do it will mean they are going away and that is why I said that in taxing petroleum or mineral resources in the extraction industry, you really will have to look at what your sub-region is doing," Mr. Forson said. He explained that others are benchmarking and failure to do it will mean that things will not be as they were which means taking an investment or a financial decision. According to Mr. Forson, they are taking a decision that would benefit the community as a whole and not necessarily to look at revenue but both. "So you don‘t only look at how much you get in terms of how much you are going to benefit the impact on job, creation, the impact on growth, add them and then form an opinion. So if you are to dwell on one side you make a mistake," he said. Pianim urges FDI courting Source: Business & Financial Times Chief Executive Officer of New World Investments Ltd. and renowned economist, Mr. Kwame Pianim, has urged policymakers to do more to court foreign direct investments (FDIs) into the country. Mr. Pianim was speaking at the Canada-Ghana Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting held in Accra under the theme ‗Moving from aid to trade‘, and opined that foreign businesses have the financial muscle and technical know-how (which many local businesses lack) to partner local businesses in order to facilitate their growth and expansion process. ―There is no country that does not need aid. So my thesis is that even in trade we need aid. For example, if a local businessman wants to produce and export to another country, say Canada, and he has a joint venture with a Canadian businessman, it will become easier to export to Canada than the local businessman doing it alone. This is because if there are laws on the other side that are impeding access to their market, the Canadian businessman will work with his government to ease them and eventually make it possible to export the goods to Canada,‖ he told the B&FT. He added that apart from the advantage local businesses can derive from forging partnerships with the foreign businessmen, they further provide a market for Ghanaian businesses. ―Another scenario is that if you take the Chinese, they are now specialists in the garments industry. Foreign Bid Oil prices jump on weak dollar, strong investor appetite Source: Reuters Crude oil futures rose around half a dollar on Wednesday and remained near 2016 highs on the back of strong investor sentiment and a weak dollar, although analysts warned this month's bullrun could soon run out of steam. International Brent crude futures were trading at $46.31 per barrel at 2.53 a.m. ET, up 57 cents, or 1.25 percent from their last settlement. Brent received extra support from reports that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait appear no closer to restarting their jointly operated Khafji oilfield, which produced 280,000 to 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) before environmental problems forced a planned 18-month closure in October 2014. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 51 cents, or 1.16 percent, at $44.55 a barrel. WTI was further bolstered after the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a draw of nearly 1.1 million barrels in U.S. crude inventories last week versus analysts' expectations for a 2.4 millionbarrel build in a Reuters poll. Brent and WTI were near respective 2016 highs of $46.49 and $44.83 hit in the previous session. Beyond strong investment appetite from financial traders, analysts said crude was being lifted by a falling dollar, which has shed 5 percent in value against a basket of other leading currencies since the beginning of the year. A weak dollar makes fuel imports cheaper for countries using other currencies, potentially spurring demand. BMI Research said that it expected "China's crude oil imports will remain strong over the short-term," driven by strong demand from independent refineries and continued filling of its strategic petroleum reserves. Fed set to keep rates unchanged, may nod to ebbing risks Source: Reuters The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to keep interest rates unchanged on Wednesday as it continues to monitor the impact from weakening global growth but may seek to signal to markets it is determined to resume policy tightening this year. The Fed has held its overnight lending rate for banks at a target range of between 0.25 and 0.50 percent since it lifted the benchmark interest rate for the first time in a decade from near zero last December. Since then the Fed has signaled more caution, despite the U.S. economy's relative strength, as concerns a slowing China would depress global growth sparked steep stock price declines and tighter financial market conditions early in the year. The latest Fed policy decision statement is due to be released at 2 p.m. EDT on Wednesday. Fed Chair Janet Yellen is not scheduled to hold a press conference. Markets have turned up since the last rate decision in March. The S&P 500 [.SPX] has risen more than 14 percent since midFebruary. China's economy has also shown more positive signs, growing at a 6.7 percent pace in the first quarter. A Reuters poll of more than 80 economists showed expectations were for two rate increases this year, with the possibility the Fed will hike in June. Additionally, some of the pressures that have kept inflation lower than the Fed would like have abated. Treasury Bill Rate Monday 25th April, 2016 To Friday 29th April, 2016 Period Previous Rates Discount Rates Interest Rates Weekly Change in Rate 91 - Day 22.8017% 21.5752% 22.8052% 0.0035% 182 - Day 24.6848% 21.9370% 24.6396% 0.0453% 1 – Yr. Note 23.0000% -% 23.0000% -% 2 – Yr. Fixed Rate Note 24.0500% -% 24.0500% -% Source: Bank of Ghana Bank of Ghana Indicative Rate Tuesday 26th April, 2016 Currency Pairs Code Buying Selling U.S Dollar USDGHS 3.7921 3.7959 Pound Sterling GBPGHS 5.5293 5.5367 Swiss Franc CHFGHS 3.9010 3.9032 Australian Dollar AUDGHS 2.9305 2.9361 Canadian Dollar CADGHS 2.9984 3.0003 Danish Kroner DKKGHS 0.5766 0.5771 Japanese Yen JPYGHS 0.0341 0.0342 New Zealand Dollar NZDGHS 2.6104 2.6155 Norwegian Kroner NOKGHS 0.4659 0.4659 Swedish Kroner SEKGHS 0.4680 0.4683 S/African Rand ZARGHS 0.2628 0.2629 Euro EURGHS 4.2916 4.2943 Chinese Reminbi CNYGHS 0.5843 0.5844 BCEAO GHSXOF 152.75 152.85 Dalasi GHSGMD 11.23 11.24 Ouguiya GHSMRO 91.11 91.20 Naira GHSNGN 52.41 52.46 Leone GHSSLL 1027.70 1028.73 WAUA WAUGHS 0.1184 0.1184 Source: Bank of Ghana GSE Summary GSE STOCK INDICES GSE-CI GSE-FSI Previous 25/04/2016 1,840.01 1,728.54 Current 26/04/2016 1,839.52 1,729.07 0.49 0.53 -7.79% -10.41% CYTD 01/01/16 - 26/04/2016 Source: Ghana Stock Exchange The GSE-Composite Index (GSE –CI), the benchmark measure of performance of the Ghana Stock Exchange gained 0.49 point from 1,840.01 to close at 1,839.52 representing a year-todate gain of -7.79%. The GSE-Financial Stocks (GSE-FSI), which tracks the performance of listed financial stocks, also gained 0.53 points from 1,728.54 to close at 1,729.07 representing a year-to-date gain of 10.41%. COMMODITY FUTURES Commodity CRUDE OIL (BRENT) Price % Change $ 46.39 + 1.42% GOLD T/OZ $1,245.96 + 0.21% CORN /BU $ 385.75 - 0.39% SUGAR /MT $ 460.40 + 7.10% COCOA /MT $3,211.00 + 1.39% Source: Bloomberg Investment Funds Unit Trust and Mutual Funds Liberty Freedom Fund as at 22/04/16 Offer GHC 0.2559 Bid GHC 0.2533 Year to Date 2.43% SAS Fortune Fund as at 25/04/16 Price GHC 0.4930 Price Change GHC -0.0062 Year To Date - 2.65% HFC Equity Fund as at 25/04/16 Price GHC 0.4992 Price Change GHC -0.0001 Year To Date 1.11% HFC Unit Trust as at 25/04/16 Offer GHC 0.3631 Bid GHC 0.3667 Year To Date 7.71% HFC REIT as at 25/04/16 Offer GHC 2.5016 Bid GHC 2.5266 Year To Date 4.684% M-Fund as at 25/04/16 Bid Price GHC 0.7500 Offer Price GHC 0.7575 Year To Date 7.71% BFund as at 25/04/16 Bid Price GHC 0.4049 Offer Price GHC 0.4049 Year To Date 3.90% Source: Business Ghana Motivational quote Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy. Norman Vincent Peale Thank you.