Joy Business Report @1

Currency outside banks dropped significantly in the last quarter of last year, signaling low money in circulation during the period, the Summary of Economic and Financial Data of the Bank of Ghana has revealed. This may have affected aggregate supply and demand during the last quarter of 2021 and subsequently the rate of economic growth.

Ghana’s indigenous bank, Agricultural Development Bank, continued its strong performance in 2021, as it registered a 78% year-on-year growth in profit to ¢116.9 million, its 2021 Unaudited Financial Statement has revealed. The significant growth in net interest income and net fees and commission were the major drivers of the bottom-line, whilst cost was managed within acceptable limits.s

Banks in Ghana recorded ¢7.4 billion profit before tax in 2021, the Bank of Ghana has said.

This is compared with ¢6.1 billion recorded in 2020. According to the Monetary Policy Committee report, net interest income grew by 14.5% to ¢12.8 billion, lower than the growth of 20.9% recorded a year ago. This is partly due to declining in interest rates.s

Fuel prices are expected to go up by 25 pesewas per litre from February 1, if the suspended Price Stabilisation and Recovery Levies (PSRL) is reintroduced, the Institute of Energy Security (IES) has disclosed.

Players in the rice industry, including the Rice Millers and Peasant Farmers Associations, are warning that the local rice industry may collapse due to the suspension of implementing the reversal of the benchmark value discount policy. The groups say importers currently benefit from lower import duties made possible by the 15% benchmark discount policy, which has led to the flooding of the Ghanaian market with cheap imported rice.

The Hospitality Sector maintained its position as the best ranked sector in customer services in the country in 2021 by the Ghana Customer Service Index report. The sector recorded a score of 73.16%, a marginal decline from 2020.

Businesses without data protection license may not be able to bid for government contracts, a directive from the Data Protection Commission in collaboration with the Public Procurement Authority has indicated. The Data Protection Act mandates all firms to obtain data protection license before beginning operations.

Two-thirds of households surveyed by the Ghana Statistical Service Household and Job Tracker Survey during the 3rd COVID-19 Wave revealed that their income has not recovered to pre-pandemic 19 levels. Also, only 26.7% of respondents indicated that their total household income stayed the same as compared to the period before COVID-19 (March 16, 2020).

The current economic situation will sooner than later compel the government to return to the International Monetary Fund for bailout fund or programme, Economist and Associate Professor at Niagara University in Canada, Dr. Dennis Nsafoah has revealed.

The CEO and Co-Founder of C-Energy Global Holdings and Investment Analyst, Mike Cobblah has advised government to desist from embarking on a universal roadshow as a means of raising funds especially following Fitch’s downgrade of the economy. According to him, such a move will prove futile and might hasten the country’s economic collapse.