|
Three organisations pay dividends to
government
Accra, July 11, Ghanadot/GNA -
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning on Wednesday
received a total dividend of GH cedis 3.18 million (31.8
billion cedis) from three organizations at a ceremony in
Accra.
The Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) declared GH cedis 2.86
million (28.6 billion cedis), Twifo Oil Palm Plantations (TOPP)
GH cedis 279,000 (2.79 billion cedis) and Ghana Supply
Company Limited GH cedis 50,000 cedis (500 million cedis).
Receiving the dividends, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Finance and
Economic Planning Minister, tasked all Ministries,
Departments and Agencies (MDAs) who collected revenue to
mobilize additional revenue through increased coverage.
"Heads of MDAs are now required to report on their revenue
collections including those from the regions and districts,
on regular weekly basis to our Ministry to facilitate cash
management," the Minister said.
The Minister appealed to other organizations that had not
paid their dividend to government to do so immediately.
He pledged government's continued support in maintaining a
strong and stable economic environment that would enable all
sectors to play their roles in building the nation thereby
improving the lives of people.
The Minister said his ministry was satisfied that in 2006,
GCB's operating performance improved significantly
registering an increase in after tax profit of 68 per cent
over 2005 and 102 per cent increase in earning per share.
On the re-denomination exercise, Mr Baah-Wiredu said he was
happy with its smooth take-off despite the some minor
problems that cropped up in some areas and appealed to all
Ghanaians to be patient.
He noted that despite progress made in the past in the
banking sector, agro-processing and service delivery a lot
of challenges still remained to be dealt with.
According to the Minister a large majority of Ghanaians did
not have access to banking services, interest rates were low
and lending rates were high.
On Oil palm, he noted that most smallholders continued to
complain about low process and lack of inputs to expand
their farms.
He pointed out that government's policy on oil palm had
offered best prospects for development and expansion of the
oil palm industry and urged TOPP to continue to expand and
give more employment to farmers and workers.
"Government will continue to support and nature the
initiative to achieve its objectives of creating wealth and
employment."
On the Procurement Act, the Minister said government
acknowledged the numerous issues that had been raised saying
"government was committed to working with stakeholders to
refine the law."
Mr. Kwabena Gyimah-Bonsu, Board Chairman GCB noted that the
resilience of the bank coupled with pragmatic measures
employed by management had ensured an impressive performance
over the period.
He said the bank has successfully networked its 133 branches
and 10 agencies and obtained a Universal Banking License
which enabled it to provide investment and development
banking and brokerage services.
GNA
|
