Finance Students & Associates-FINSA (UGBS)♨
                🇬🇭21st March, 2019
                ⏰6:00pm

BUSINESS SPACE📈
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📡 IMF approves final disbursement of $185.2m to Ghana

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved the final disbursement of about US$185.2m to Ghana. According to the IMF, the seventh and eighth reviews were completed on March 2019, under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) supported arrangement. The find pointed out that considering Ghana's resolved to tackle difficult reforms, the Executive Board also approved the authorities' request for a waiver of the nonobservance of a few program targets. Ghana is scheduled to compete an IMF programme with the find in April 2019.

📡 Trade Ministry begins to make Ghana most business friendly

The Ministry of Trade and Industry has outlined a seven point strategy that it believes will aid in making Ghana a business friendly Nation in Africa. The seven key components include Targeted Reform Initiatives towards improving Ghana's ranking in the World Bank ease of doing Business, Establishment of a One-Stop Electronic Registry of all Business Regulation, a centralised Public Consultation Portal, Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) Training and capacity Building, Rolling Review of Business Regulations Using Regulatory Guillotine Principle, Targeted Regulatory Relief for SMEs and Permanent Public-Private Dialogue Mechanism. The Ministry says they will provide an enabling environment for businesses to thrive on the international market. Robert Ahomka-Lindsay, the Deputy Trade and Industry Minister in an interview with Citi Business news stated that various interventions are in place to fulfill governments promises. This was at a regulatory impact assessment stakeholder's sensitisation forum in Accra.

📡 COCOBOD signs new $300m facility to boost cocoa production

Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has signed a new 3-year receivables-backed trade finance facility of US$300m. The facility will be used to refinance Cocoa Bills raised by Bank of Ghana on behalf COCOBOD and/or to Finance production enhancement Programmes. COCOBOD's mission is to facilitate the production and marketing of good quality cocoa, coffee and shea nut. So to ensure the sustainability of the cocoa economy in Ghana, they continue to institute strategies and programmes to ensure good agronomic practices. To achieve these objectives, they have chosen to include environmental and social objectives in the credit agreement with the arranging group.

📡 Cedi depreciation pushes PPI to 5.4%

The Producer Price Inflation for February 2019 went up by 5.4%, representing a 2.0% increase from the 3.4% recorded in January 2019. The 5.4% means retailers paid more on goods they purchased at the factory level compared to that they paid in January. Prices in the Mining and Quarrying industry recorded the highest increase from 8.9% to 13.4%. This was followed by the manufacturing sector recording a 2% increase to 5%. However, prices in the utilities sector did not record any increase.

|Policy Rate in Ghana - 16.0%|

|Inflation Rate in Ghana - 9.20%|

|Treasury bills rates|
Period        Discount Rates       Interest Rates
91 - Day           14.1929%                  14.7150%
182 - Day         14.0833%                  15.1501%
364 - Day                                             18.1898%

Foreign News💤
⚖ Chinese companies are defaulting on their debts at an 'unprecedented' level

According to the numbers from two banks, defaults for Chinese corporate bonds issued in both U.S. dollars and the Chinese yuan soared last year due to an economic slowdown and extremely tight credit conditions. Analysts blamed the difficulties on tighter monetary conditions, aggravated by high borrowing costs, as well as a crackdown on shadow lending. Defaults look set to continue this year although at a more manageable pace, experts say. But that doesn't bode well for already-high debt levels in China.

⚖ Go-Pay sets out to 'strengthen' its digital wallet presence in cash-reliant Indonesia

Digital payment is becoming increasingly popular in Indonesia - yet 99% of transactions by volume are carried out using cash according to management consultancy McKinsey and Company. And to tap the massive payment market, Go-Pay, the mobile wallet of ride-hailing app Go-Jek is planning to "strengthen and deepen" it's position in that space, according to Go-Pay CEO Aldi Haryopratomo. According to him, Go-Pay is the country's market leader in the e-wallet space, where online credits can be used for in-app purchases of goods and services or with partner merchants.

⚖ South Korean semiconductor stocks surge on the back of Micron earnings

Industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics and chipmaker SK Hynix saw their stocks surge 4.09% and 7.66% respectively on Thursday. The moves came on the back of a strong earnings report by the U.S. chipmaker Micron overnight. Beating on the top and buttom line, Micron reported earnings per share of $1.71bn on revenue of $5.84bn. Wall Street had estimated earnings per share of $1.67 on revenue of $5.82bn, according to Refinitiv. Micron's revenue compares to the $7.35bn they earned in the same period last year.

⚖ Norway raises rates as expected, sales further hike this year

Norway's Central Bank raised its main interest rate on Thursdays, as expected, and reiterated plans to hike rates later this year, while the outlook for the longer term had softened. The bank raised its key policy rate to 1.0% from 0.75% previously, in line with the forecast of 23% our of 26 economists in a Reuters poll.

|Daily Interbank FX Rates|
Currency          Pairs Code    Buying    Selling
U.S Dollar             USDGHS      5.2373      5.2426
Pound Sterling     GBPGHS     6.9138       6.9229
Swiss Franc          CHFGHS       5.2524      5.2573
Canadian Dollar   CADGHS     3.9278      3.9319
Euro                        EURGHS 5.9468       5.9521
Chinese Reminbi  CNYGHS      0.7820       0.7829

🌀|Sources|
www.citibusinessnews.com
www.bog.gov.gh
www.myjoyonline.com
www.bloomberg.com
www.cnbc.com 
www.wikipedia.com
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Term of the day📚
🤔 Producer Price Index
The producer price index (PPI) is a family of indexes that measures the average change in selling prices received by domestic producers of goods and services over time. The PPI measures price changes from the perspective of the seller and differs from the consumer price index (CPI), which measures price changes from the perspective of purchasers. The PPI considers three areas of production: industry-based, commodity-based and commodity-based final demand-intermediate demand. It was known as the wholesale price index, or WPI, until 1978.

🤔 How do you calculate PPI?

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📍Compiled & edited by:   
Philip Elike Gagah
Agnes Boatemaa Appiadu