Stanbic launches new investment fund

Story: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare
Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited has launched a new product called the Stanbic Income Fund (SIF), with a call on Ghanaians “to cultivate the habit of savings”.
The fund is an open-ended unit trust, investing in fixed income securities and seeks to maximise short-term income as well as long-term sustainable returns and capital appreciation.
It has 200,000 units on offer with an initial offer price of GH¢1.00 per unit. The offer runs from December 15, 2010 to January 6, 2011. The fund has Merchant Bank (Ghana) Limited as its trustee.

Mr Alex Asiedu, Head of SIMS speaking during the function to launch the fund The Head of Stanbic Investment
 Management Services Limited (SIMS), Mr Emmanuel A. Asiedu, said the fixed income nature of the fund provides relatively stable risk adjusted returns to the investing public .

Fixed income funds, he said, have the core of their funds invested in corporate and government debts; a situation he stressed “avoids the potential fluctuations of the stock market”.
He further explained that the fund “will not just put investors’ “ ‘eggs’ in different baskets, but will put them in carefully woven, high-quality baskets”.
Mr Asiedu stated that “in only three years, SIMS has generated enough wealth for its clients to be recognised as a key player in the industry” and added that the company currently manages about 50 funds, both for corporate entities and individuals.
Mr Asiedu was of the view that the newly launched SIF “ will enable Stanbic Investment Management Services Limited to create wealth for those who choose it as their investment managers”.
Mrs Joyce Aryee, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Mines who launched the fund, called on Ghanaians to stop spending their money on unimportant items but rather invest them in funds like the Stanbic Income Fund “not just for rainy days, but for sunny days too.”

Miss Joyce Aryee, of the Ghana Chamber of Mines launching the fund

Shareholders must be vigilant

Story: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare
Shareholders have been asked to take keen interest in the day-to-day running of the companies they have invested in in other to ensure the proper management of their interest.
They have also been urged to feel free and take it upon themselves to investigate and interrogate the actions and inaction of the management and the board of directors who run the companies.
At a public lecture in Accra on good corporate governance, Mr Adu Anane Antwi, a Chartered Accountant and legal practitioner said “shareholders are the owners of the company and are, therefore, the ultimate beneficiaries of well-run companies and the ultimate losers when the companies were badly run.
The lecture, sponsored by Tyron Flat Tyre Protection and the University College of Management Studies (UCOMS), was on the topic: “The role of shareholders in corporate governance”.
Mr Antwi said shareholders at annual general meetings (AGMs) should be courageous enough to interrogate the figures presented to them by the management and board of directors and request for any detailed explanation on the operations of the companies.
According to him, it was incumbent upon shareholders to actively partake in the debate to approve the salaries and allowances of the chief executive officers.
Mr Antwi regretted that instead of demanding what was due to shareholders during AGMs, they rather turned them into praise-singing seminars and have made AGMs the annual rituals of hearing what they had heard the previous year, except that the current one “is differently worded”.
He stated that shareholders should become mindful of their duties, and act with circumspection, otherwise, the management and board of directors would refer to their actions as "beyond bounds".
He said “shareholders are the ones with the authority to demand and enforce good governance of their companies”, and thus called for the setting up of what he referred to as “shareholder committees” in public corporations to represent shareholders when it comes to dealing with the board and managers on all matters in the companies.

Monitor quantities of oil produced - Prof Aheto

Story: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare

A Chartered Accountant and Lawyer, Prof. John B.K. Aheto, has called for what he describes as an oversight board that will closely monitor the quantity of oil to be drilled from the Jubilee Fields.
He also called for the strengthening of communities living near the oil exploration centres to enable them to monitor and perform oversight responsibilities on the activities and effects of the exploration on the inhabitants and the communities at large.
Prof. Aheto made the call at a lecture organised by the Ga Society (GANDS) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana (ICAG) in Accra on the topic; “Ensuring transparency in the management of Ghana’s oil revenue: The role of the Accountant”.
The lecture forms part of the activities lined up to mark the week long celebrations of the GANDS, a branch of the institute.
Prof. Aheto said there was also the need for the Parliamentary Select Committee on Energy to be resourced to enable it to give legislative backing to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
He said the country must learn lessons from the mining sector and apply them to its emerging petroleum sector, adding that we “must extend our EITI endorsement in the mining sector to the oil and gas sector.”
In his view the delays in passing the bills on the Petroleum Revenue Bill and the Freedom of Information Bill are worrying signals.
On transparency in the management of the oil revenue, Prof. Aheto said “the negative conditions often summarised as the “resource curse” can in fact be avoided. Transparency and accountability are fundamental to the natural resource success.”
“Government should be encouraged to provide a steady flow of up-to-date and credible information to the citizens, not just on revenues collected, as emphasised by the EITI, but also on the reserves, production and prices; and also on licences and fiscal regimes for private investors,” he added.
According to him, transparency as a governance tool goes beyond the transparent process of choosing a model of revenue management but encompasses “all aspects of the oil sector - from policy, legislation, upstream to downstream operations, payments and revenues collections and administration and revenue utilisation if the country was to escape what he termed as the ‘resource trap’ syndrome.”
In an interview with the Graphic Business shortly after the lecture, Prof Aheto disagreed with suggestions that Ghana’s oil should be collaterilised, citing the volatility of oil prices in the international market as the reason behind his point.
“The prices of oil, gas, and minerals are quite volatile - twice as volatile than other commodities” he said and questioned; “ to collaterilise at what price?”
On the proposed Heritage Fund, he said funds put into the fund should not be used but left for the future generation alone to use. “Once we agree to set up a Development Fund and a Heritage Fund for the oil revenue, we should not try to mix the two” Prof Aheto said.
Prof Aheto was, however, mindful of the difficulties associated with saving in developing countries in the light of the immense social needs.
He said “there will always be an inter-generational equity; where our children will suffer the inefficient management of the oil revenue and benefit from our astute management of the revenues”.
Prof Aheto was also of the view that the too much talk about the oil was not helpful, adding that it made many assume that the problems of the country would soon be over.
With Ghana's short term drilling capacity of 120,000 barrels per day as against Nigeria's 2.5 million barrels per day, Prof Aheto asked; “If in Nigeria, people queue to buy petrol, how can we say our problems will be over in Ghana?”

How has Access to your Money Being?

Article: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare

Gone are the days when banking was the sole preserve of the priviledged few and the mentioned of a bank was nearly synonymous to money.
In those days, the conditions of opening an account with the then few banks in the system were so cumbersome that only a few people could afford to satisfy them. These conditions ranged from Gh¢100 or more as minimum first time deposit, submission of paid water and eletricity bills for at least the last two months to four passport sized photographs as well as other pertinent and difficult to fulfill requirements and procedures.
The few Ghanains who could satisfy these demands were either businessmen and women or the gainfully employed who were assurred of walking briskly to the banks after every month, atleast fffor some coins.
Some banks at the time were highly prided for their cost of banking. To those banks, banking with them meant belonging to a particular class (a prestigious class among the banking class).
But that was not to continue for long as the banking in the country soon evolved giving birth to numerous banks that are earger and zealous to serve the unwillling public.
As many Ghanaians embraced the ideals of saving with the banks rather than keeping their money under their pillows or even with the popular ‘susu collectors’, keen competition among banks for these customers also emerged.
But this keen competition meant a relaxing of some of the achaic and cumbersome banking proceedures and demands from the then few banks in the system.
And that actually happened. Most banks reduced their minimum initial deposts with some making it possible to eeven open an account without a pesewa deposted, no passport, no bills; just your particulars, after which your portrait is taken using a digital camera and you are told to come the next week or two for your account number plus your Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card.
The evolution further dilusioned the prestige that was attached to the then few banking class.
But agreeing to save with the banks and having easy and conveniet access to that same money are two different things as far as banking in Ghana is concern. to be continued

Comet goes public; Seeks to raise GH¢62m for expansion

Story: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare
COMET Properties Limited, a real estate developer has launched its Initial Public Offer (IPO) to raise GH¢62 million through the sale of 61.8 million shares at GH¢1.00 per share.
When the offer goes through, it will be listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange and will become the first real estate firm to list on the Accra bourse. The company secured a provisional approval from the Ghana Stock Exchange in March this year.
The company’s shareholders would also become the first in the country to access the newly introduced electronic certification introduced by the GSE to replace the old paper certificates.
Speaking at the launch of the IPO, the Executive Chairman of Comet Properties, Nana Odeneho Kyeremateng, said the launch of the IPO was "turning the ownership of Comet from me, my wife and children to the general public", a situation he said "puts a whole hell on the head of Comet's management".
He explained that the real estate development "is a huge capital investment and one man cannot do it alone" hence, the need for the IPO to enable the company to raise the needed capital to finance its home properties as well as ensure that middle-income earners were able to afford houses.
Nana Kyeremateng, said "If Ghana is serious about growth and development, then real estate is the way forward for us" and assured the gathering that the company was committed to ensuring high standards in property business.
The Managing Director of the GSE, Mr Kofi S. Yamoah, said Comet shares comes on the back of the automated systems embarked upon by management, making Comet the first company to be listed post automation of the Stock market.
With this new initiative, he said, shareholders would receive information on their shares via e-mail and text messages, unlike the initial paper certificates which were issued to shareholders.
Mr Yamoah was optimistic that the real estate company’s first access to the electronic certification would help ease up the difficulties associated with shareholders' demands and access to information concerning the performance of their shares, as well as other relevant information from their brokers.
Comet properties was established in 2002 and is solely owned by Ghanaians.
The company was in 2009, awarded the 72nd position in the Ghana Club 100, the club of the top 100 companies in the country. Comet was also the only Real Estate Company in the club this year. The Ghana Club 100 is a programme designed by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) to identify and award Ghana’s best 100 companies according to a certain criteria.
At the 3rd Ghana Business and Financial Services Excellence Awards held three weeks ago, Comet Properties Limited was awarded the Gold Prize in the Real Estate Division.

New formulae for utility tariffs next year

Story: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare

THE Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) is bent on implementing with effect from next year, what it terms, the Automatic Adjusting Formula (AAF) where utility tariffs will be reviewed every quarter as against the one-time rise.
Meanwhile, a meeting between the PURC and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) meant to finalise the modalities before the implementation of the AAF is yet to be convened according to the unionised workers.
Speaking in separate interviews in Accra on the matter, the Senior Public Relations and External Affairs Manager of the PURC, Nana Yaa Akyepim Jantuah, said the implementation of the new formula was meant to ensure that adjustments in utility tariffs was done regularly to avoid the inconveniences the one-time payment brought to consumers.
She explained that the tariff would be calculated based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), price of crude oil on the international market, exchange rate between the cedi and other major international currencies, and the generation mix (the cost of hydro generation as against thermal). All these factors, she said would act to determine the rise, fall or no changes to utility tariffs in the country after every quarter.
Nana Jantuah said when implemented, "the AAF would reduce the burden that the one-time increases had on the financial integrity and viability of the utility companies".
On its benefits to the industrial and business community, Nana Jantuah said "the AAF will help them budget since they will know that utility tariffs will be reviewed after every quarter".
According to her, the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) had welcomed the move as a good initiative.
Nana Yaa Jantuah further told the Graphic Business that the AAF was abandoned in 2006 for the one-time adjustment formula, a move she said was "to enable the PURC know the actual cost of production and distribution by the utility companies and also to interrogate the figures in their respective proposals".
She noted that while announcing the last adjustments in utility tariffs on May 30, 2010, the PURC made it clear that it would reverse to the AAF.
As a result, she said the PURC had been engaging the various stakeholders on consultations as to the modalities to follow in implementing the formula.
She, however, noted that the commission's reversal to the AAF did not mean that the commission was doing away with the one-time adjustment formula.
As to whether or not the AAF will cause the utility companies to compromise on the quality of service provided, the Senior Public Relations and External Affairs Manager of the PURC said "no".
She, however, called on Ghanaians not to hesitate to report to the commission, poor service rendered to them by the utility providers.
The commission, she said "has over the years awarded costs against some of the utility companies based on complaints filed against them by private individuals and other groups".

Kofi Asamoah, TUC's Secretary General

For his part, Mr Kofi Asamoah, the Secretary General of the TUC, said the union was waiting for the PURC to discuss the modalities of the formula with it before any comment could be fully made on the matter.
On complaints by the utility companies about lack of funds to enable them improve their services, Mr Asamoah said "that is neither here nor there; They should not throw their hands in despair but rather find solutions to their problems".
Over the years, tariff adjustments under the One-time Adjustment formula normally followed proposals by the utility companies for specific percentages which were sometimes slashed by the PURC.
The last review on May, 2010, which was the first in three years, was met with series of agitations and calls from industry and the business community for a downward review.
Before then, the utility companies had proposed a 154 per cent increment in the tariffs to enable them cover cost of production.
In response, the PURC, however, slashed the rate to 125 per cent; with 89 per cent being for electricity and 36 per cent for water but that did not go down well with industry, business organisations and ordinary consumers.
As a result, the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), the Chamber of Mines, Trade Union Congress (TUC) and other groups as well as individuals called for a downward review of the tariffs.
This later caused the government to apply a total subsidy of Gh¢115million to all electricity consumers after it had earlier absorbed Gh¢48million as subsidy.
It also set up a technical committee to consider these concerns and further ordered the PURC to engage the various stakeholders to negotiate on the way forward.
Mr Asamoah also called on the utility service providers to improve on their services saying "the inefficiency of the service is now worst, especially with ECG".

Unilever on growth path

Story: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare

The Managing Director of Unilever Ghana Limited Mr David Mureithi has disclosed that the company’s turnover for the period ending November 2010 stood at £75.5million (GH¢149,704,000.00) and described 2010 as “a lot better than 2009”.
“For us at Unilever Ghana, this year has been a lot better than 2009. Our year-to November turnover stands at £75.5m with an underlying growth rate of 17.3 per cent compared to same last year” he said.
The present growth rate he said “is a starting point of a growth agenda aimed at doubling the size of the our business in hard currency terms to £150 million by 2015”
Mr Mureithi made the remarks during the annual end of year Unilever Ghana\GJA press soiree held at the Press Centre in Accra.
The event is an initiative by the multi national company to bring members of the GJA together to interact with themselves and the management of Unilever at the end of every year.
The Managing Director further disclosed that the company has resolve from January next year headquarters all its West African operations excluding Nigeria at its Tema office.
Mr Mureithi said the company was pleased that despite the huge socio-economic challenges for industry in the world over the company has seen tremendous improvements in growth this year over last year.
He was optimistic that the current growth rate would propel the company to achieve its overall growth target adding that "we aim at doubling our business before 2015".
Mr Mureithi therefore welcomed plans by government to stimulate the growth of the economy in the coming year as contained in the 2011 Budget and Fiscal Policy Statement.
The Managing Director also urged the government to withdraw the Environmental Tax proposed by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planing in the budget since it help increase the cost of doing business.
"We fully share the government's position in reducing plastic waste substance in the country but however, think that the tax will only help increase the cost of doing of business in the country", he stated
"We would add our voice to that of AGI in urging the government to withdraw this tax and find better ways of managing plastic waste substance including recycling", he said
The president of the GJA Mr Ransford Tetteh thanked Unilever Ghana for supporting the association during its 2008 awards.
He also called on corporate Ghana to support the media to make the country more democratic "for if the country is democratic enough a conducive environment will be created for business to thrive".
He called on journalists to be circumspect in their reportage. "We cannot control what people say but we can safeguard what we put out there for the public" Mr Tetteh said.

Used Clothes dealers challenge GSB

By Maxwell Adombila Akalaare
The Used Clothes Importers and Dealers Association (UCIDA) is challenging the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) to provide scientific proof to back its claim that used undergarments, mattresses,handkerchiefs and sanitary wares pose health risks to users hence the need to implement and enforce a Legislative Instrument which bans their use in the country.
The GSB is seeking to with effect from February, next year, implement and enforce LI 1586, 1994 which prohibits the importation, distribution and sale of used undergarments and other clothing popularly known as “obroni waa wu” in the country.
The move, according to the board, is to help reduce the possible health risks associated with people who use such clothes in the country.
But even before the implementation and enforcement of the LI begins next year, importers and dealers in the said clothing are already up in arms against the move, describing it as baseless and lacking proof.
Mr Oscar Ankoma, Patron of the National Used Clothes Importers and Dealers Association, told The Mirror “the GSB should provide us with scientific proof or complaints from people who became sick after using our products”.
According to Mr Ankoma, “the goods imported into the country as used clothing are well washed in machines and then fumigated with Methyl Bromide Gas and further given an exposure time of over 24 hours”, a move he said kills all the germs that might have been present in them.
The LI, he said, was passed in 1994 due to a petition by the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) to the Ministry of Trade and Industry that the used clothes was killing their businesses.
He noted that the government at the time intended to ban the sale of used clothes in the country “but UCIDA made the government to understand that the Ghanaian textile industry is producing below standards so the people preferred our used clothes to the locally manufactured ones”.
As a result, Mr Ankoma said the complete ban “was removed and the undergarments, mattresses, handkerchiefs and sanitary wares mentioned. But because it had no bases the government relaxed it again”.
The national patron then wondered why the LI is to be implemented and enforced by GSB at this time, adding “we will petition the government because this is not going to help the economy”
Mr Ankoma also expressed fears that the law may in the near future be extended to cover other areas of their businesses, stressing that “this is a sector that employs a lot of people and pays a lot of revenue as in custom duty to the government”.
He also noted that the ban would encourage smuggling of used clothes into the country, a situation he said would deny the government the various revenues it got from them - the importers and dealers.
“This thing is going to create smuggling. If the people want the thing and they are not getting it what do you think they will do?,” he asked.
He thus called on the GSB to rather specify the standards used undergarments and the other clothes that they the importers should meet for them to comply rather than seeking to ban them.
According to the LI, the importation, distribution and sale of used undergarments such as used brassieres, pants, singlets, underwear and other clothes such as used mattresses, handkerchiefs and sanitary wares in the country are prohibited.
However, these products are imported into the country, openly distributed and sold throughout the country, notably Kantamanto in the Greater Accra and Railways in Kumasi.
The GSB is now bent on implementing and enforcing the LI and has since been holding fora with the UCIDA in Takoradi, Kumasi and Accra.
The Accra forum was held at the Allen Gyima Hall in Kantamanto, a place where such clothes are largely distributed and openly sold to the general public.
The meeting was attended by officials from the GSB, Ministry of Trade and Industry and members of the Greater Accra regional UCIDA and the media.
Speaking at the meeting, the acting Director, Inspectorate Division at the GSB, Mr Kofi Nagetey, observed that importers of used clothing were still importing used undergarments after the passage of the LI.
Mr Nagetey said the prohibited goods “are always hidden among other used clothing like trousers and jackets in the bales, thus making it difficult to detect them at the ports ”.
He stressed that used undergarments, handkerchiefs and mattresses posed serious dangers such as skin diseases and bacterial infections to consumers due to their direct contact with the skin and their absorption of fluid from the body.
Mr Nagetey therefore called for the support of the importers and other stakeholders to enable them to implement and enforce the legislation to enable the country to cut down the risks associated with using the used clothes.
As part of measures to ensure the strict and successful implementation and enforcement of the LI, the board, according to Mr Nagetey, would from the first quarter of next year begin the inspection of consignments of used clothing at the various ports and entry points.
“Any consignment of used goods found to contain any used clothing will then be confiscated and destroyed”, he added.
Should the LI be effected, Mr Ankoma, the UCIDA patron said the association would for the time being comply with it but would not hesitate to advice itself at the appropriate time.
During the forum, Mr George Sarpong, Manager of Bast and Son’s Limited, a used clothes company at Kantamanto and member of the Kantamanto branch of the UCIDA, rejected the move and rather called for the review of the LI.
“We have to revisit that LI; it is repugnant, it needs to be reviewed. Even the Constitution is undergoing review, how much more that LI,” Mr Sarpong said.
He further alleged that the confiscation of consignments found to contain used undergarments as indicated by the GSB “is going to create job for the boys” and asked “where will the confiscated goods be sent to”.
Mr Sarpong was also of the view that the February deadline given by the GSB was too close since most of their consignments could take up to six months to arrive in the country.
Responding to their concerns, the acting director urged the members to be dispassionate about the LI, adding that the implementation and enforcement process would be done with a human face.
He further called on them to stop reading politics into the implementation and enforcement process.

Manufacturers receive less at shop floors

Story: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare

MANUFACTURERS in the country received less cash for their produce in November, compared to October since price inflation at the shop floors recorded a dip of 1.18 per cent, after recording 1.45 per cent last October, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has said.
The Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures the average change in the prices received by domestic producers over time for the production of their goods and services recorded, dipped by 1.47 percentage points to 16.01 per cent in November from the October figure of 17.48 per cent.
The PPI reports the price indices with reference to the base period of September 2006.
The Head of Industrial Statistics at the GSS, Mr Ebo Duncan, told the media that the 16.01 per cent producer price inflation for November was an improvement over the 20.36 per cent inflation recorded for the same period in 2009.
While the all industry year-on-year average inflation for the first eleven months of 2010 stood at 18.85 per cent, the sectors recorded mixed rates.
Mr Duncan said manufacturing, the largest industrial sub-sector, recorded the lowest yearly inflation rate of 3.83 per cent. Within that sector, he said, statistics showed that manufacturing of machinery and equipment recorded the highest inflation rates of 33.79 per cent, while publishing, printing and reproduction of recorded media, manufacturing of motors and vehicles, among others, recorded negative inflation rates.
The mining and quarrying sub-sector recorded an inflation rate of 20.35 per cent.
On the other hand, utilities, which include production, transmission and distribution of electricity, as well as the collection, purification and distribution of water, recorded the highest inflation rate of 71.50 per cent.
The sector's 0.02 per cent monthly change rate, however, is the lowest among the three major sub-sectors: manufacturing, mining and quarrying, and utilities.
According to the head of industrial statistics, the inflation rate for mining and quarrying, which recorded the highest monthly inflation change of 3.22 was 20.35 per cent year-on-year.
The all industry inflation rates for the twelve month period of November 2009 to November 2010 was characterised by a hike of 27.71 per cent in December 2009 followed by a decline in the rate between January and May 2010 but increased again in July and September 2010.
It again increased slightly in October 2010 but declined further in November this year.

CEPA critcises savings of oil revenue

Story: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare

The Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA) has critcised suggestions by a section of policy makers and political groups that revenue from the emerging oil find be saved for future use and further described it as a confession of the nation's intellectual inability to manage the oil revenue.
"We would like to provoke debate by saying that banking our oil revenue is a clear confession of our intellectual inability to manage the oil revenue", the Executive Director of the CEPA Dr Joe L. S. Abbey noted.
Dr Abbey further asked "what is good for us as a nation; is it the good-fat bank balance or the prosperous future of our children"?
He made the remarks during the presentation of the center's latest publication on the nation's oil titled "Ghana: Managing the emerging oil economy" here in Accra.
He said expectations from government and the public as to how the revenue can be used to satisfy the investment needs of the country had heightened . "The public are now yearning for a growth rate of 6-7 per cent and with this emerging oil, we, the intellectuals must respond to it" he said.
To him the nation will account for the oil revenue not only in dollars or cedis but "as in using it to get this economy on a solid rock that will push the nation to a high growth path".
As a result, Dr Abbey suggested that the government should use the oil revenue to provide proper infrastructure that would support the economy and "not just to provide infrastructure that seeks to satisfy political demands".
He noted that the volatility and uncertainty of oil prices in the international market creates macro-economic instability which adversely affects growth.
"Volatility in oil prices subsequently leads to unstable public expenditure due to its direct effect on the revenue", the Executive Director said and further urged government to creat an atmosphere that will shield the public and the economy from these volatilities.
To over come these challenges Dr Abbey said "prices above the estimated long run trend should be saved in a stabilisation fund so that below price-shocks will be rebased through this fund"
On managing the oil revenue, the Executive Director was of the view that revenue from the oil sector should be used to support the non-oil sector, a move he said will help "foster broad-base, diversified and reboast the economy".

Dr Joe L S Abbey, Executive Director of the CEPA

He also cautioned the government against too much concentration on the oil sector to the neglect of the non-oil areas. Such trends, he said have the tendencies to creat distress in the non-oil sector and further lead to social and economy instability in the country.
Dr Abbey further called for a balance regional development agenda with the oil revenue to prevent inhabitants in the non-oil regions from trooping to the region with the oil.
According to him demands by the Western regional chiefs for a ten per cent (10%) share of the oil revenue shows that the nation's “inclusive developmental agenda is truly not inclusive".
On mortgaging the oil for loans, Dr Abbey said "the danger of borrowing against the fund is like eating your dinner at breakfast time" adding that the nation must identify what it wants do withthe oil revenue and use it that purpose..
He said Ghana as a country has a poor record of managing revenue from natural resources and thus called for measures that will prevent it's extension to the oil sector.