Business

French car manufacturer Renault has dismissed its chief executive, Thierry Bolloré, with immediate effect.

The current finance director, Clotilde Delbos, has been appointed to run the business on an interim basis.

Renault’s move comes close on the heels of the decision by its industrial partner Nissan to appoint a new chief executive earlier this week.

Mr Bolloré has described the manoeuvering against him as a “strong-arm coup”.

Mr Bolloré told a French newspaper that he only became aware of attempts to get rid of him when he stepped off a plane in Paris in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Renault chairman, Jean-Dominique Senard was behind the move and appears to have had the endorsement of the French government, a 15% shareholder in Renault.

Mr Ghosn, who was also chairman of Nissan and presided over the global alliance between Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, was arrested in Tokyo last year.

He remains in custody on charges of financial wrongdoing, which he denies. He claims he was a victim of a plot orchestrated by Nissan executives, who were anxious to prevent a merger between the company and its French partner.

The fallout from his arrest has been severe, triggering a period of intense infighting within the Nissan boardroom and poisoning the relationship with Renault.

Since then, both companies have seen a steep fall in profits, while Nissan has been further tainted by financial scandal.

Earlier this week, Nissan appointed a new chief executive, Makoto Ushida, in an effort to stop the rot, get the company back on track and smooth ruffled feathers at Renault.

The removal of Mr Bolloré – once a close associate of Carlos Ghosn – may also have been intended, at least in part, to heal the rift between the two companies, although it is understood the the poor performance of the business itself was a major factor.

So where does all this leave the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, collectively one of the world’s biggest car manufacturing groups?

The links between them are strong – Renault has a 43% shareholding in the Japanese firm, their logistics networks are heavily intertwined, and they share a range of technology. Unwinding all that would not be easy.

But insiders say the damage done by the upheaval of the past year runs deep within the fabric of both businesses. So keeping them together, and restoring a cordial relationship may not be easy.

Source: BBC

Ghana is likely to return to the IMF, economist Dr. Lord Mensah has said.

According to the University of Ghana Business School Lecturer, if the country continues to dwindling in its revenue, and debt continues to go up, it may be forced to subscribe to the IMF programme in the coming years.

Speaking to Starr News Naa Dede Tetteh, Mr. Mensah said Ghana has made a lot of investment in the bid to enhance revenue generation, but the effect is not visible.

He noted “if we continue to realize this dwindling revenue over the years and it continues for about five years, I think we are not far from going to IMF again.”

He explained: “as a country we’ve done a lot of investment in a direction to enhance revenue generation. So I ask myself why is it that all this investment are not building up into the revenue generation. Is it because the investment has been done and there is a large effect that we expect to see in the future? So for me I think that there are so many things are not adding up in the economic indicators that we have in the country. That is why when IMF came they had to caution us as to how our debt is brewing in relation to the revenue that we are generating.”

When asked what the effect of the payment of government salaries had on the economy he said “payment of salaries comes into the economic cycle, salaries build up into output. If salaries are building up into economic output, you shouldn’t struggle. If salaries are going into output that you can easily export, you end up having revenue that will even tame your foreign exchange fluctuation. So in the end, for me I think it is not about spending on salaries, it has to do with priorities in our spending and some of the leakages that are in the spending processes.”

Source: starrfm

Ghana is set to export some of its talents within the Petroleum Industry, to three African countries including Sierra Leone, Gambia and Liberia.

This follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, (GNPC) and its counterparts in these countries to purposely share experiences in the management of the petroleum upstream sector.

The GNPC is also preparing to sign another MoU with Guyana for the same purpose.

Chief Executive of the GNPC, Dr. Kofi Kodua Sarpong who disclosed this to Citi Business News at the 3rd Africa Oil and Gas Local Content Sustainability Summit said the move will offer Ghana the opportunity to also tap into the expertise of these countries.

“We believe that we need to share experience from other countries as a way of improving what we do. MoU’s are necessary. Our organization has been there for nearly four decades and we have the expertise, we can export talents so we are looking at all these opportunities and in fact, I can say that our brothers and sisters in other countries are knocking on our doors for advice and that is precisely what we trying to do.”

Meanwhile, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation has sent a strong indication that it will increase its monitoring mechanism to ensure Petroleum companies within the Upstream Oil Sector adhere to local Content regulations.

This, the Corporation believes will increase Ghanaian participation in the Petroleum Industry.

Currently, Indigenous companies have complained that they are unable to participate fully in the Petroleum Upstream sector due to a lack of funds and capacity.

Dr. Kofi Kodua Sarpong said his outfit will effectively monitor the activities of companies operating in the Petroleum industry to ensure they reserve the quota for Local companies for indigenous firms.

“Certain activities are expected to be undertaken by Ghanaians and that must be so. Oil companies have got all manner of schemes so they don’t comply with that.”

He, however, advised that the monitoring is done cautiously because the country does not have certain expertise and relies on the oil companies especially the foreign ones for training.

The 3rd Africa Oil and Gas Local Content Sustainability Summit brought together experts within the Petroleum Industry across the Continent.

Source: citibussinesnews

Ghana went down by five places to 111th in the latest Global Competitiveness Rankings released by the World Economic Forum.

The report showed that Ghana went down from 106 in 2018 to 111 in 2019.

The country in 2018 with a ranking of 106 out of 140 countries scored 51.3 out of 100.

In 2019, the country laced 111 out of 141 countries ranked in the report, but with a score of 51.2.

This means that in terms of score, Ghana declined by 0.1 points.

The ranking was based on 12 indicators, Ghana’s best performance was under institutions, where the country was ranked 69 out of 141 countries with the score 54.4 over 100.

Ghana also performed poorly in macroeconomic stability, where the country was ranked 132 out of 141 countries with a score of 59.5

Understanding Ghana’s performance

Ghana’ rankings might not necessarily mean that it performed badly in all the pillars, but possibly due to other countries moving up strongly in terms of the rankings.

This is because, during the year under review, Ghana just went down by 0.1 per cent, that’s from 51.3 to 51.2 in terms of the score recorded.

What goes into the Global Competitive rankings?

The Swiss-based World Economic Forum has been measuring the competitiveness of countries since 1979.

It defines the ranking as a set of institutions, policies and factors that determines the level of productivity of a country.

The Global Competitiveness rankings or Index GCI is the product of an aggregation of 103 individual indicators, derived from a combination of data from international organizations as well as from the World Economic Forum’s Executive Opinion Survey.

Indicators are organized into 12 ‘pillars’: Institutions; Infrastructure; ICT adoption; Macroeconomic stability; Health; Skills; Product market; Labour market; Financial system; Market size; Business dynamism; and Innovation capability.

A country’s performance on the overall GCI results as well as each of its components is reported as a ‘progress score’ on a 0-to-100 scale, where 100 represents the ‘frontier’, an ideal state where an issue ceases to be a constraint to productivity growth.

Each country should aim to move closer to the frontier on each component of the index.

GCI 4.0 allows economies to monitor progress over time. This approach emphasizes that competitiveness is not a zero-sum game between countries—it is achievable for all countries a performance

How other African countries performed?

Led by Mauritius (52nd), sub-Saharan Africa is overall the least competitive region, with 25 of the 34 economies assessed this year scoring below 50.

South Africa, the second most competitive in the region, improves to the 60th position, while Namibia (94th), Rwanda (100th), Uganda (115th) and Guinea (122nd) all improve significantly.

Among the other large economies in the region, Kenya (95th) and Nigeria (116th) also improve their performances but lose some positions, overcome by faster climbers.

On a positive note, of the 25 countries that have improved their Health pillar score by two points or more, 14 are from sub-Saharan Africa, making strides to close the gaps in healthy life expectancy.

Source: Myjoyonline

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has given Ghana’s economy a clean bill of health. According to the fund, Ghana’s economy remained stable and projected a seven per cent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for 2019.

A team from the Breton Woods institution, led by Mr Carlo A.E. Sdralevich, which is in the country for Article IV Consultations, made the disclosure at a meeting with the Finance Committee of Parliament as part of its mission last Wednesday.

The discussions centred on macro-economic performance, revenue mobilisation, the financial sector clean up and matters bordering on the post-Extended Credit Facility (ECF) programme.

Mr Sdralevich noted that the macro-economic situation in Ghana remained favourable and the projected GDP growth would be a reduction from the original 8.8 per cent.

Nonetheless, he asked the government to be watchful about the country’s rising external debt.

Inflation rate

Addressing the media after the meeting at Parliament House last Wednesday, the Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah, disclosed that the IMF had been impressed with the management of the economy after Ghana’s three-year ECF programme with the fund.

“Inflation is now at 7.8 per cent, and if you look at the trend over the past 13 months or so, it’s not expected to rise,” he said.

The consultations

The 12-day Article IV Consultations, which end today, are part of the fund’s mandatory multilateral surveillance for all IMF-member countries.

They are the first Article IV Consultations since Ghana successfully concluded the four-year IMF-supported ECF programme in April.

The last IMF Article IV Consultations were held in 2017.

A statement put forward by the Ministry of Finance in connection with the visit of the IMF Mission said: “A typical IMF Article IV Consultation would have an IMF team of economists visit a country to assess economic and financial developments and discuss the country’s economic and financial policies with the government and central bank officials.

“IMF staff missions also often meet with some parliamentarians and representatives of business, labour and civil society. This is currently the stage we are engaged in with the IMF since Monday, September 30, 2019.”

“After these consultations, the IMF team reports its findings to IMF management and then present them to the Executive Board for discussion, which represents all of the IMF’s member countries. A summary of the board’s view is subsequently transmitted to the country’s government. In this, the views of the global community and the lessons of international experience are brought to bear on national policies,” it added.

Banking sector

Dr Assibey-Yeboah further disclosed that the IMF team also praised Ghana for the smooth nature in which it had undertaken the banking clean-up exercise.

“Regarding the banking sector clean-up, what I gathered from them was that the whole process had been smooth and it really amazed them,” he said.

“For you to resolve all these banks, microfinance institutions and savings and loans companies challenges within a short period and still have financial stability, those at the helm must be doing something fantastic. What they have achieved is amazing,” he added.

Minority view

The Ranking Member of the Finance Committee, Mr Cassiel Ato Forson, told journalists after the meeting that the team raised both positive and negative issues.

Source: Garphic

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has given Ghana’s economy a clean bill of health.

According to an IMF team which is in the country for Article 4 Consultations, Ghana’s economy remains favourable.

The team on Wednesday met with the Finance Committee of Parliament as part of its mission.

The discussions, amongst others, centered on macroeconomic performance, revenue mobilisation, the financial sector clean up and matters bordering on Ghana’s exit of the ECF program.

Addressing the media after the meeting, chairman of the Finance Committee, Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah disclosed that the IMF is impressed with the management of the economy post the country’s three-year ECF program with the fund.

“They said the macroeconomic situation remains favorable. Those were the words of the Mission Chief. He said the projected GDP growth for 2019 is 7%, a reduction from the original 8.8%.

“Inflation is now at 7.8% and if you look at the trend over the past 13 months or so it’s not expected to rise”. Dr Assibey-Yeboah stated.

Dr Assibey-Yeboah further disclosed that the IMF team praised Ghana for the smooth nature in which it has undertaken the banking clean-up exercise.

“As regards the banking sector clean-up, what I gathered from them is that the whole process has been smooth and it really amazes them.

“For you to resolve all these banks, microfinance institutions and S & L’s within a short period and still have financial stability, those at the helm must be doing something fantastic. What they have achieved is amazing”, he added.

Source: Myjoyonline

Ghana is among the fastest-growing economies in the world, a World Bank report has stated. The other countries are Ethiopia, Rwanda and Cote d’Ivoire.

The four countries, which are currently experiencing seven per cent economic growth, are also the four fastest-growing economies in Africa.

“Africa still hosts four of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Countries such as Ethiopia, Rwanda, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are still growing above seven per cent.

These countries are not only the growth champions on the continent but also among the fastest -growing economies in the world,” it added.

Event

The Chief Economist for Africa at the World Bank, Dr Albert Zeufack, made this known in a live video conference streamed from Washington, DC, USA.

He was speaking at the launch of the 20th edition of the Africa Pulse Report, the World Bank’s twice-yearly economic update for sub-Saharan African.

The launch of the report, which focused on two special topics — Accelerating poverty reduction in Africa and empowering African women — coincided with the 10th anniversary of the report.

Dr Zeufack mentioned six other countries in Africa — Benin, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Uganda and Burkina Faso — which he said were growing above six per cent.

“So, overall, we do have 10 economies in Africa that are still growing above six per cent, but it is also important to highlight the three largest economies in Africa — Nigeria, South Africa and Angola — which are still having extreme difficulty recovering from the recession they experienced over the past two years.

“Excluding these three economies, the rest of Africa is growing around four per cent,” he said.

Outlook

Dr Zeufack said the macroeconomic outlook growth in sub-Saharan Africa was projected at only 2.6 per cent in 2019, and that for the next four consecutive years, average growth in the region would be below three per cent.

Describing such growth as ‘anaemic’, the chief economist blamed the slow economic growth on three factors — deepening global trade tension, which he said was affecting the entire world; the slow pace of domestic reforms, especially in areas of debt management and inefficiency of public sector institutions, and climate shocks, such as the cyclone that affected Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

He added that alternating cycles of drought and floods were also affecting the agricultural sector across the continent, saying: “All these are translating into export and investment, therefore, slowing down growth.”

“In a way, governments, firms and individuals are having difficulty creating jobs, which are so desperately needed for themselves or for their communities,” Dr Zeufack said.

Poverty situation

He further said Africa currently had 460 million people living below $1.9 a day, representing 41 per cent of Africans, meaning that four out of every 10 Africans lived in extreme poverty.

“If we continue doing business as usual, extreme poverty will exclusively be an African phenomenon, with nearly 90 per cent of the world’s extremely poor living in Africa by 2030,” he cautioned.

Dr Zeufack said 82 per cent of the poor in Africa were in the rural areas where farmers lived in fragile conditions and, therefore, called for conscious efforts to tackle challenges in the agricultural sector to increase productivity for better livelihoods.

He said the situation was making the continent to lose out on potential workers, innovators and leaders simply because they were being left out of the economy.

To address the challenge, he suggested that African countries should focus on addressing incomes of the poor by resorting to the use of technology to increase agricultural productivity and also connecting farmers to markets.

“We must address the poverty financing gap through better tax compliance and more pro-poor spending, as well as focus on demography, as rapid population growth is certainly not making the fight against poverty easy,” Dr Zeufack added.

Source: Graphic

The Ministry of Inner-City and Zongo Development, in collaboration with the Business Development Ministry, is to launch a Zongo Business Promotion programme to create jobs for the Zongo communities.

Dr. Mustapha Hamid, the Inner-City and Zongo Development Minister, said this at the formal opening of the Boot Camp at Koforidua Zongo in the Eastern Region.

The Camp is a training workshop on entrepreneurship development for the youth on promoting Digital Literacy, Technical and Vocational Education and Training, Skills Development and Enhancement, Self-Grooming and Leadership.

The one month programme is being organised by FAPIMPA Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation, in collaboration with the Ministry, National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan, and Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Development.

Dr Hamid said every human being had a God-given talent, which when harnessed well, could achieve the desired effects and provide the means for survival.

He, therefore, commended FAPIMPA for helping to develop the talents of youth in the Zongo communities.

Ghana had 1,080 Zongos, with a greater number being in the Eastern Region, hence the need for more work to be done there, he said.

Mr Kobina Adomdzi Longdon, the Executive Director of the NGO, said the training was to promote the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which calls for equipping the youth with technological knowledge to make them sustainably productive.

He gave the assurance that the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan would roll-over trainees who qualified to access a start-up capital to begin their income generation journey.

Source: GNA