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🚩Global credit rating firm, Moody’s Investor Services, has rated the country’s sovereign bond issuance at B3 negative again against hope of a stable outlook, sending a worrying signal to prospective investors should the managers of the economy decide to go to the international market to look for money to finance the budget. The negative outlook will be a huge disappointment to managers of the economy, given the oversubscription of the country’s US$3 billion bond a few weeks ago – a move government said indicates high investor confidence in the economy. Moody’s stated in its report the negative outlook reflects the rising risks that the pandemic poses to Ghana’s funding and debt service, as the economy is particularly exposed to such shocks because of its high reliance on external financing, both in local and foreign currency, and very weak debt affordability. Four main factors determine Moody’s determination of a sovereign government’s bond rating. These are: economic strength, instit...

  Most people think communication is just a matter of talking or sending emails here and there. Communication is beyond words and how you transmit the information to your audience matters so much. What then is communication? Communication is simply an exchange of information or news. Effective communication is the ability to communicate with all stakeholders within and outside the organization and knowing how to communicate the information.  Communication is vital in both human and business relationships. For communication to be effective it has to be a two-way street; where the sender is being understood and the receiver understands the information being sent. “Leaders need to do more than just stand up and speak. They need to integrate communications into everything they do as leaders so that their communications, both oral and written, emerge from who they are as leaders and within the appropriate cultural context. Leaders who fail in communications will fail to achieve the...

The very reason some people don't like eating outside is because they don't trust the process the food is prepared. Another reason many men get married quickly is because they don't want to eat outside. A lady has just put sand in the gari of "ice kenkey" lovers, a local Ghanaian delicacy where kenkey is mashed, mixed with water, sugar and sometimes milk. In traffic you see many traders carrying it about and it's big business in Ghana. I have always doubted the process of how this kenkey is mashed but this lady has demonstrated that indeed, it is a food that must become less desirable on the market or better still prepare it at home.  If the white man loved "ice kenkey" by this time he would have come up with a technological machine to mash and mix it well but not the black man. This lady after using her leg to enter dirty places including her toilet, bathroom etc has put that same leg in a lake of "mashkey" popular called and mashing it li...

The Council of The Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana has this year 2021 launched the Accountants Conference, a yearly events which seeks to bring all the members of the Institute together to explore new areas in the field of Accountancy as a profession. This year's launch has seen a team of  the Council members pay a courtesy call on the King of Asante Kingdom, Otumfuor Osei Tutu II in his palace in Manhyia, Kumasi. This year’s event starts on Saturday, 22nd May, 2021 with a Health Walk at all regional capitals. The conference will be held at the Calvary Charismatic Centre (CCC), Ayigya, behind KNUST Police Station, Kumasi. The Theme for the Accountants’ Conference is :   "Business Continuity and Sustainable Development; The Role of Technology”. Sub-themes include:  Digitizing Ghana’s Economy for Development, the journey so far  Disruptive Technology: Shaping the future of the accountancy profession  Using Integrated Thinking and Reporting to drive long-term val...

  🚩The Government of Ghana and the parent companies of AirtelTigo, Bharti Airtel Ghana Holdings B.V., MIC Africa B.V have concluded negotiations and signed an agreement to transfer the shares of the company to the Ghana Government following the announcement of the company’s departure from the Ghanaian market last year. This agreement transfers all customers, assets and agreed liabilities of AirtelTigo to the Government of Ghana. The Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful (MP) signed on behalf of the Government of Ghana, while Ms. Jatina Catharina Uneken-van de Vreede, Mr. Martin P Frechette, Mr. Timothy Pennington, Mr. Eric Nana Nipah and Mr. Vish Ashiagbor signed on behalf of the seller entities. 🚩Mechanical Lloyd Plc has delisted from the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) following the completion of the tender offer and settlement of all shareholders who tendered in their shares. The Company in a release last week said it will delist from stock market...

  🚩The Government of Germany, represented by Christoph Retzlaff, German Ambassador to Ghana, and the Government of Ghana represented by Patrick Nomo, Chief Director of Ghana’s Ministry of Finance, have announced the signing of a 20-million Euro grant-agreement to provide technical cooperation in the areas of Agribusiness and Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. Germany, through GIZ will partner with the Ghanaian Government to implement the two projects. The cooperation agreement demonstrates the importance Germany places on its partnership with Ghana and underscores the strong bond between the two countries. 🚩The Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) earlier this week undertook its maiden auction of raw cashew nuts on its trading floor. Commenting on the sale, GCX’s CEO, Mrs. Tucci Ivowi said, “we decided to undertake this reserve cashew auction to demonstrate to the actors in the cashew value chain how the GCX structured trading concept which includes; commodity quality testing, gra...

  🚩The national year-on-year inflation rate was 10.3% in March 2021, which is the same as the 10.3% recorded in February 2021, the Ghana Statistical Service has announced. Month-on-month inflation between February and March 2021 was 0.9% (slightly higher than last month). 'Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas’ (29.0% up from 23.4% last month) and ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (10.8% down from 12.3% last month) recorded the highest rates of inflation. 🚩The government of Ghana has secured 3.4 million doses of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine as part of its efforts to protect the lives of the citizens against the pandemic. A press release from the health ministry said, the supply of the vaccine is part of an arrangement between the government and the Private Office of His Royal Highness Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum, a member of the Royal Family of the United Arab Emirates. It added, the agreement was signed on March 9, 2021, to help the people of Ghana bring to a halt, the distress...

  Bible says train up a child the way he should go and when he grows he will never depart from it. Sadly many parents beat up, punish, insult, humiliate a child the way he should go and when he grows he become more rebellious. Instead of training the child they resort to the aforementioned. To train is to teach, impact, direct, encourage, rebuke, instruct, strengthen, discipline, correct, nurture, demonstrate, lead etc a person (my own definition). You don't only beat a person or punish them when they go wrong but you teach them the right rudiments of life unless they exhibit foolishness and with that you must use the rod or cane on them. The Bible says spare the rod and spoil the child so canning a child is acceptable in the Bible but it should not be rampant and it depends on the age.  One thing you must do as a parent is to be strategic, once your child reaches the age of understanding things you must deploy a more diplomatic way of dealing with them and not a hostile, supp...

  John 3:3 Jesus said unto him except a man be born again he cannot SEE the kingdom of God. John 3:5 Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot ENTER into the kingdom of God. John 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound there of, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth: so is everyone that is born of the spirit. The above scriptures tells us the idealogy of Jesus about who a true repentant Christian and a child of God is based on these processes. You must be born of the spirit first before you can even see the kingdom of God even before entering into the kingdom. There is a seeing bit of this revelation which is being born again by accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal saviour and deciding to lead a new and a repented life from henceforth and there is an entering part of the kingdom of God where you must be baptised by water and receiving of the holy spirit. Withou...

  🚩A total of GH¢571.8 billion (US$99.67 billion) worth of mobile money transactions took place in the year 2020 alone, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana , Mrs Elsie Addo Awadzi has revealed. This reaffirms the statue of MoMo as the biggest platform for payments in Ghana after cash and well ahead of cheques and all the other electronic payments platforms introduced in Ghana over the past few years, most of them by the BoG’s dedicated subsidiary, the Ghana Interbank Payments and Settlement Systems Limited. 🚩MTN Group Ltd. is valuing its mobile-money arm at about US$5 billion, joining African wireless carriers planning to list these businesses in a region that has more mobile-money accounts than anywhere else in the world. MTN’s valuation of its unit follows Mastercard Inc. and TPG Holdings LP investing US$300 million in Airtel Africa’s mobile-money business at a US$2.65 billion value. “With similar valuations to that of Airtel, our valuation would sit at 75 billion rand, or abo...

  By Julius Opuni Asamoah (BSc MBA CA) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an independent international financial organisation founded at the Bretton Woods conference in the United States in 1945. It is a cooperative of 190 member countries, whose objective is to promote world economic stability and growth.  The member countries are the shareholders of the cooperative, providing the capital of the IMF through quota subscriptions. In return, the IMF provides its members with macroeconomic policy advice, financing in times of balance of payments need, and technical assistance and training to improve national economic management.  The IMF pursues various facets of its mandate in a number of ways. It promotes international monetary cooperation through a permanent institution which provides the machinery for consultation and collaboration on international monetary problems; facilitates the expansion and balanced growth of international trade, and contributes thereby to th...