GAPNEWS

GAPNEWS Ethiopian Airlines was a symbol of national pride. Then disaster struck Ethiopian Airlines unveiled plans last October to build a mega-airport south of Addis Ababa. The new hub, it claimed, would handle 80 million passengers a year — the same volume as Heathrow in London. Airlines don't normally build airports. But the project reflected the ambition of Ethiopian Airlines, which has turned itself into an aviation powerhouse in part by acquiring stakes in the national airlines of neighboring countries Ethiopian Airlines generates billions of dollars in annual revenue and carried nearly 11 million passengers last year. Its fleet has grown to 111 planes, many of them new or just a few years old. The planned airport, near the city of Bishoftu, would help the airline prepare for another round of expansion. But earlier this month, Bishoftu was in the headlines for a different reason. Six minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa on March 10, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 p...

GAPNEWS The  Problem Of The Cedi The economy of Ghana has been a net-importer for at least five (5) decades. Many things that can be produced locally are usually imported. However, these imports have huge impacts on the price at which the Cedi must be exchanged for other foreign currencies. Demand and Supply of foreign currencies have huge consequences on the price that they must be sold or bought. Demand and Supply of the of the forex is the main determining factor of the price of foreign currency. Countries such as the US and Britain do not need to trade their currency for a new one in order to buy from an international market. These countries do not suffer the problem of demand and supply of their economies. The reason for that which causes this economic challenge is the lack of consistency in the inflows of foreign currencies. Once the importers, travellers (for Air-ticketing), Tenants (Rent payment) need the dollar especially, to enable them to transact businesses, the...

GAPNEWS Ghana concludes four-year IMF programme with high marks. President Akufo-Addo in an interaction with IMF boss Christine Lagarde The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has concluded its eighth review of support for Ghana under the Extended Credit Facility signaling an end to the four-year programme. “This will make available to Ghana the cumulative amount of SDR132.84 million (about US$185.2 million),” the Bretton Woods Institution said after its review. It added: “The authorities have achieved significant macroeconomic gains over the course of the ECF-supported program, with rising growth, single digit inflation, fiscal consolidation, and banking sector clean-up. Continued macroeconomic adjustment should underpin these improvements, as the 2020 elections approach." “In a sign of the authorities’ commitment to fiscal consolidation, the end-2018 fiscal targets were met. Sustained fiscal discipline is needed to reduce financing needs and anchor debt dynamics. ...

GAPNEWS   things you might need to stop spending money on if you want to be a successful saver. If you really want to save some money to meet some financial goals, you’ve got to make some sacrifices. You know that saving is one of the ways you can meet those goals you wish to achieve before the end of the year. And as a starter, it is important you cut some things from your expenses to make savings easy and possible. Here are three things you might need to stop spending money on if you want to be a successful saver. 1. Eating Out .  Having launch and dinner at  a restaurant or cafe  from the little you earn is the quickest way to going broke. If saving is your priority, you won’t find eating out interesting. 2. Clothing you would wear just once.  Some events like weddings, carnivals or religious programs can prompt you to buy certain clothes you won’t like to wear again. Some clothes for instance, could cost you some thousands of cedis and if...

GAPNEWS Deposits still major source of funds for banks – BoG report Customer deposits still remain a major source of revenue for commercial banks, latest banking sector report by the Bank of Ghana has revealed. The report said deposits accounted for 62.5 per cent of the banking industry’s assets as at December 2017. According to the central bank’s data, total deposits went up by some 6.67 billion cedis between December 2016 and the same period last year. For the 12 months period, total amounts deposited with all banks amounted to 58.28 billion cedis. This is up from the 51.66 billion cedis recorded in December of the preceding year. 84.2 percent of all deposits came in as domestic currency while the remaining 15.8 per cent came in foreign currency. Borrowings by commercial banks also came in as the second source of funding for commercial banks accounting for about 16 billion cedis of the funding needs of the banks. By this, commercial banks were able to raise money for thei...

GAPNEWS Ghana moves to capture US$2.4bn China soya market. The hefty tariff on soybeans from the United States has caused a 17 percent import decrease of the produce into China in February 2019, being the lowest level recorded since 2015, General Administration of Customs – Chinese statistical agency, has revealed. In 2017, U.S. soybean exports to China reached a volume of US$14.573 billion. Currently, the United States is the world’s largest soybean producer and second largest exporter, after Brazil. On the other hand, China is the world’s largest importer of soybeans – imported 91 million tonnes in 2018 market year as against 94 million tones the previous year. This suggests that the trade war between the two largest economies has created the opportunity for more than US$2.4 billion market share of soybeans that countries producing it can compete. Although, imports of soybean to China has reduced by 17 percent, this does not mean that consumption has reduced in similar terms...

GAPNEWS 7 facts that prove Akufo-Addo is managing Ghana's economy better than J D Mahama. From the days of Kwame Nkrumah, the prevailing economic conditions in the country have always  been a key factor in determining how Ghanaians rate the performance of government. This way of judging the government of the day's performance has become entrenched and highly debated since the beginning of the Fourth Republic in 1993. In all of such debates, one thing has always been very common. There is a polarity between the government of the day and the leading opposition (between NPP and NDC depending on who is in and out of power). While the government will tout its economic and other achievements, the opposition will always discount with arguments like the touted economic success is not reflecting in the pockets of the people. This was clearly manifested in the run-up to the 2016 elections when the NDC claimed former president John Mahama had done marvellously well. Their listed ...