Finance Students & Associates-FINSA (UGBS)♨
               🇬🇭1st April, 2019
                ⏰6:00pm

BUSINESS SPACE📈
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📡Visa outlines strategies for Ghana as new country manager is unveiled

Payments technology company, Visa, has set up a dedicated office in Ghana in a bid to build stronger relationships with its partners in the country. Country Manager for Visa Ghana, Adoma Peprah, said although the payments solution provider has been operating in Ghana for over ten years, it has done so from its Nigeria office. She explained that the growing sophistication of Ghana’s financial market underscores the need to have a dedicated establishment in the country.

📡Govt signs €34m agreement with EU, UNIDO

Government has signed an agreement worth 34 million Euros with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the European Union to boost the country’s industrial development, trade and exports. The agreement will enable Ghana benefit from the UNIDO’s new Country Program for Ghana and the EU’s West Africa Competitiveness Programme.

📡Over 119 thousand Ghanaians duped in Ponzi schemes in 2018

Data from the Bank of Ghana has revealed that nearly 119, 300 people lost their investments to four Ponzi schemes in 2018. That excludes victims of Menzgold. The victims lost a total of GHS59,568,000. The companies that were used to dupe the unsuspecting customers include, Savannah Brokerage Investment Limited, Bitworld Investments Limited, FX Crypto Trading and Global Coin Community Help (GCCH). Based on the data, Global Coin Community Help Scheme recorded the highest number of victims with 110, 000 people. The victims lost GHS46,869, 043.49.

📡CalBank receives Most Improved and Compliant Taxpayer Award

The Ghana Revenue Authority has named CalBank the Most Improved and Compliant Taxpayer for the year 2018 under the Large Taxpayer Office Silver Category at its Annual GRA Staff and Stakeholders awards night. The award is in recognition of the Bank’s remarkable contribution to domestic revenue mobilization, compliance with tax laws and employment generation. Speaking on the recognition, the Managing Director of the Bank, Frank Adu Jnr, affirmed that CalBank has always remained a good corporate citizen and will continue to meet its tax and other regulatory obligations as a commitment to its stakeholders.

|Policy Rate in Ghana - 16.0%|

|Inflation Rate in Ghana - 9.20%|

|Treasury bills rates|
Period        Discount Rates       Interest Rates
91 - Day           14.1953%                  14.7176%
182 - Day         14.0914%                  15.1595%

Foreign News💤
⚖China's $13 trillion bond market marks a milestone today. Here's what it means.

Starting today, 364 onshore Chinese bonds will be added to the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index over the next 20 months. Analysts estimate that the full inclusion will attract around $150 billion of foreign inflows into China's roughly $13 trillion bond market — the third-largest in the world after the U.S. and Japan. The inflows will help support the Chinese yuan at a time when China's current account surplus is shrinking, said Khoon Goh, the head of Asia research at ANZ Bank.

⚖South Africa Yields Fall and Rand Rallies After Moody’s Forgoes Action

South African benchmark bond yields fell to the lowest in 10 months and the rand extended gains after Moody’s Investors Service chose not to update its investment grade rating on the country’s sovereign debt or the outlook. Yields on rand-denominated securities due December 2026 fell five basis points to 8.55 percent by 8:09 a.m. in Johannesburg, the lowest since May 30. The rand led gains in emerging-market currencies, advancing for a second day to trade 1.3 percent stronger at 14.3077 per dollar.

⚖Erdogan Loses Key Cities as Turkey Feels Recession's Sting

The capital, Ankara, and cities along the Mediterranean coast slipped from the grasp of Erdogan’s nationalist alliance in a municipal election upended by a raging recession and a recent run on the currency. And after hours of competing victory declarations in Turkey’s largest city and commercial hub Istanbul, the election board said the opposition candidate had inched ahead in official counting. Erdogan’s ruling bloc largely stood its ground across much of the country’s rural interior.

|Daily Interbank FX Rates|
Currency         Pairs Code   Buying   Selling
U.S Dollar            USDGHS       5.0809    5.0859
Pound Sterling   GBPGHS       6.6123    6.6208
Swiss Franc         CHFGHS       5.0985    5.1031
Canadian Dollar CADGHS       3.8030    3.8068
Euro                      EURGHS       5.7052    5.7115
Chinese Reminbi CNYGHS      0.7566    0.7575

🌀|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📚
🤔 Ponzi Scheme
A Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors.The scheme leads victims to believe that profits are coming from product sales or other means, and they remain unaware that other investors are the source of funds. A Ponzi scheme can maintain the illusion of a sustainable business as long as new investors contribute new funds, and as long as most of the investors do not demand full repayment and still believe in the non-existent assets they are purported to own. The scheme is named after Charles Ponzi who became notorious for using the technique in the 1920s.

🤔 What are the defining characteristics of a Ponzi scheme?

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