Accra (Greater Accra) 13 July '99

Receipts for the sale of Ashanti Goldfields Company (AGC), Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), SSB Bank between 1994 and 1996, Ghana Telecom, National Investment Bank and Merchant Bank totalled 466.6 million dollars and 116.2 billion cedis, the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) said on Monday.

Giving a breakdown of the transactions in a document released in Accra, the DIC said these transactions were undertaken outside of the Divestiture Secretariat.

It said the international offer in AGC amounted to 292 million dollars while the first Ghanaian offer was 1.178 million dollars and 58.70 billion cedis.

The dollar component for the fixed price offer stood at 213,000 dollars while Ghanaian receipts closed at 2.2 billion cedis.

The balance held to cover payments of the consultants who conducted the sales, paid back to the government was 355,000 dollars.

The document said additional sale of the shares of AGC later in 1996 was 105 million dollars.

GCB's initial price offer (IPO) of 33.28 per cent in 1996 yielded 27.025 billion cedis with the ESPPA complement of 7.66 per cent 5.77 billion cedis.

The initial price offer (IPO) for SSB Bank ended at 12 billion cedis. This represents 21.1 per cent of the total sales while strategic investment receipts finished at a total of 21.5 million dollars.

Government's 5.3 per cent holdings in the bank were valued at 2.1 million dollars.

Receipts from the divestiture of government shares in Ghana Telecommunication Company was 38 million dollars.

The document indicated that NIB's 25 per cent shares in Merchant Bank totalled 10.5 billion cedis, while government's 30 per cent shares in the same bank amounted to 6.28 million dollars.

The DIC said it had made transfers of 32.23 billion cedis, three million pounds and 11.1 million dollars.

BOG will continue to ensured dynamic economic environment

Osino (Eastern Region) 13 July '99

The Bank of Ghana (BOG) would continue to provide dynamic regulatory environment, which would enhance the efficiency and sustain the ability of the rural banking system in the country.

In this connection the Bank has instituted measures recently to address the problem of the drift of rural community banks to urban centres.

It also reviewed some of the basic requirements for the establishment of new rural banks based on the policy of financial liberalisation and the community ownership concept of rural/community banks.

Mr Stephen Ameyaw, Head of Rural Finance Department of Bank of Ghana made this known at the 11th annual general meeting of the Mumuadu Rural Bank at Osino in the East Akim District.

He commended the bank for its financial achievements and the role it is playing in the development of its catchment areas.

He said, even though, the contribution of the rural banking system in general, in relation to aggregate figures for the banking industry as a whole remain minimal, the objectives of the system are still on course.

Mr Ameyaw, therefore, stressed the need for the bank to adopt financial methodologies, which would help in its outreach to the low-income clients, who require small amount of capital.

He appealed to the shareholders to increase their shareholdings in the bank to further improve on the bank's paid-up capital, which currently stands at 34.4 millions cedis.

Mr Ameyaw urged the management of the bank to monitor loan repayments to minimise the probability of defaults and thereby help protect depositor's funds.

He called on customers, who have benefited from credit facilities from the bank to honour their repayment obligations on schedule to enable others to benefit from it.

The chairman of the Board of Directors, of the Bank, Mr Noah Ansah-Dakwa, said the bank made a net profit of 33.2 million cedis last year as compared to 30.1 million cedis in 1997.

The Bank, he said, mobilised a total deposit of one point one billion cedis last year as against 515.5 million in 1997, while total loans and advances to customers increased from 360.5 million cedis in 1997 to 427.3 million cedis at the end of 1998.

Mr Ansah-Dakwa said, the bank purchased 335 million cedis of Akuafo cheques compared to 344.8 million for 1997 despite increases in producer price.

This, he explained was because most farmers sold their cocoa to private buying agents and collected cash, stressing that the practice has had serious repercussions on the bank's operations because farmers, who owe the bank dodge payment of their loans through this practice.

The chairman announced that the "Micro Start Ghana", under a UNIDO Programme has selected the bank as one of the Micro Finance Institutions for detailed assessment and assistance out of a total of sixty-eight applicants.