Joy Business Report @1

Top story: President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is considering three persons to present the 2021 Budget to parliament next week Friday, March 12, 2021. They are the Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Trade Minister-Designate Alan Kyerematen and Dr Owusu-Afriyie Akoto.

Topic story: The Ghana Covid-19 Private Sector Fund (GCPSFund) has announced that it is commencing a new project that will see it partner government to secure more Coronavirus vaccines. The latest project from the Ghana Covid-19 Private Sector Fund has been named the ‘PVAX Project’ which aims to procure and deploy Covid-19 vaccines for up to 20% of Ghana’s eligible population in support of the Government’s vaccination program.

Top story: Ghana loses 1.9billion cedis in petroleum tax revenue and regulative margins in the year 2019 as energy experts pushes for review in the country's Gas supply agreement

Top story: Some Major Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have made slight upward adjustments on the prices of petrol and diesel at the pumps.

The latest upward adjustment is the second increment in the prices of fuel in a month. Checks at some major fuel pumps like Shell and Total have revealed an increment of prices of petrol and diesel by 6 pesewas.

Top story: Many banks are rejecting the new Voters' and National Identification Cards as a form of identification for account opening and transaction purposes. It is however not the fault of the banks as both cards have not been validated.

Top story: International Trade Expert and Senior Partner at AB and David, David Ofosu Dortey has charged private sector players to formalize their business strategies in line with government policies or risk losing out on the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.

Top story: Senior Economic Analyst with Databank, Courage Kingsley Martey, is confident the Cedi will sustain its stability throughout the year 2021.

The Cedi, which began the year selling at 5 cedis 76 pesewas, has remained strong so far against the US dollar.

Top story: The Bank of Ghana has issued directives and guidelines such as the Cyber Security Directive that banks must meet on an on-going basis to effectively manage cyber risk and fraud. This trend is indeed welcome, as it broadly aligns with the overall objective of digitising the Ghanaian economy, and promoting financial inclusion and economic growth.

2020 Election petition hearing day 16

The Director-General of the Ghana Standards Authority has declared 2021 a year of enforcing standards for every item sold in the markets. According to Professor Alex Duodo, the failure of manufacturers and traders to ensure that the same standards apply for all products is costing the economy.