Economics

Government has defended its decision to reduce the syndicated loan for cocoa beans purchases for the 2017/2018 crop season, by about 28 percent.

The country will be seeking 1.3 billion dollars from its lenders for cocoa purchases for the next crop season which starts in October 2017.

This amount is lower compared to the 1.8 billion dollars the country secured last year.

Deputy Agric Minister, William Kwaitoo explains to Citi Business News the move is to avert high losses associated with the declining global prices of cocoa.

A total of about 100 people were said to have been injured after a gas explosion at a company in Sekondi-Takoradi Tuesday morning.

Ghumco, a utensils manufacturing company was said to be receiving liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from a tanker when the explosion occurred.

The tanker split into two, flipped over and landed in a wetland close by.

President Nana Akufo-Addo has revealed that close co-operation between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire will be facilitated by a new initiative dubbed “An Agreement For a Strategic Partnership”, that will be signed by the two countries.

This agreement, according to President Akufo-Addo, will bind Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire “in even closer intimacy and go beyond the bounds of the concept of the Permanent Joint Commission, which is the conventional tool for co-operation.”

The United States have now confirmed an international friendly with Ghana in July in preparation for the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup which takes place across the United States from July 6-21.

The United States, who beat Ghana 2-1 in the opening group game of the Brazil 2014 World Cup, will play Ghana for the first time on Ghana's Republic Day on July 1 at the Pratt and Whitney Stadium in East Hartford, Connecticut, a week before they open their 2017 Gold Cup campaign against Panama on July 8.

The governments of Ghana and Burkina Faso have pledged to work towards strengthening the ties of co-operation that exist between them, after the Presidents of the two countries expressed satisfaction with the current state of the relations between them.

In a joint communiqué issued at the end of the 2-day official visit to Burkina Faso by President Akufo-Addo, it was resolved that the two countries reinforce their co-operation in the areas of railway transport, road transport, agriculture, water, security, trade, works and housing and energy.

The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has given assurance that power will be restored across the country by 10am.

A statement signed by the Head of Public Relations, Albert Kwesi Quainoo said Wednesday night’s nationwide blackout was a result of a surge that resulted in a shutdown of generators in the power system.

The statement noted that details of the cause of the outage would be communicated on the completion of preliminary investigations.

President Nana Akufo-Addo is advocating a 24-hour opening of the Ghana and Togo borders in a bid which he said will boost trade and tourism between the countries.

He said the opening of the borders will give true meaning to the ECOWAS Protocols on Free Movement of Goods and Persons and will spur on progress and prosperity for both nationals.

The President said it will ensure that the peoples of the two nations reap the economic benefits thereof.

The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) is raising red flags about the authenticity of the over 26,589 ghost names government said have been removed on the payroll.

NAGRAT President, Christian Adai Poku told Evans Mensah on Joy FM’s Newsnite Wednesday, a total of 13,800 members of the Association have been captured in the supposed list of ghost names.

He said NAGRAT had anticipated the challenge but thought the Finance Ministry would have taken steps to rectify any outstanding anomalies.

NAGRAT President, Christian Adai Poku

Labour unions including the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) have questioned Government’s claim that it has saved millions of cedis by cleaning the public payroll and removing ghost names.

Their scepticism follows complaints by some of their members whose names have been mistakenly removed from the payroll.

The GMA, for instance, say the exercise has been riddled with errors.

The Association of Oil Marketing Companies (AOMCs) has called on the government to regulate the growing activities of black market petroleum dealers which it says are pushing Ghana towards a petroleum crisis.

“Given the gravity of Petroleum Black Market dealers, we members of the AOMCs give the government 48 hours to bring this menace to an end.