Finance Students & Associates-FINSA (UGBS)♨
               🇬🇭4th April, 2019
                ⏰6:00pm

BUSINESS SPACE📈
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📡 IMF exit conditions caused exchange rate spikes in March - Bawumia

Vice President, Dr. Bawumia has blamed the depreciation of the cedi the country experienced in March 2019 on some of the exit conditions by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. He says the Bank of Ghana had to implement reforms to ensure an increase in the country's international reserves in a bid to end the IMF's extended credit facility arrangement by April. In March this year, there was widespread concern about the depreciation of the Cedi and it's impact on livelihoods. At the same time, critics lashed out at Dr Bawumia for not being able to save the cedi from a free fall especially when he promised the NPP government will turn such a situation around when in opposition.

📡 Go beyond recapitalising insurance sector - Robert Dzato to NIC

Senior Manager at the audit firm, KPMG Robert Dzato, has challenged the National Insurance Commission (NIC) to go beyond just raising the minimum capital requirement for the insurance industry. According to him, in order for the insurance sector to grow, the need for the introduction of innovative products cannot be overemphasized. He also noted some flaws in the sector and has called for a gradual drift to a risk-based approach by the industry's regulator. He explains that insurers should be made to up their capital depending on risks they are exposed to.

📡 'Supporting' cedi damages Agric sector - Ken Thompson

CEO of Dalex Finance, Ken Thompson has said that supporting the Cedi prevents the right investment decisions from being made. He says it prevents Ghanaians from changing their consumption habits and puts their food security at risk by reducing the price of imported food and making our local food production expensive and uncompetitive. He says the fall of the cedi should reflect it's true value. And this will promote local food crop farming and exports. Agriculture according to him is the silver bullet that can help address the phenomenon in the long-term. He wants government to make agriculture more attractive by providing rural areas with WiFi, roads, health facilities, potable water, good schools, extension services and other things to make life comfortable for people who want to live there.

📡 MTN to acquire two remaining 4G spectrum lots

MTN Ghana is gearing up to acquire the two remaining 2xMHz spectrum lots in the 800MHz band. The spectrums were left after Vodafone Ghana bought one for $30m December last year. When the National Communications Authority (NCA) auctioned three separate 2x5MHz spectrum lots in the 800MHz band, it excluded MTN from the process because MTN already had 2x10MHz lot in the same band in December 2015. The NCA did indicate that other holders of the spectrum would have a chance to buy the spectrum in case it was not allocated at the end of the process.

|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💤
⚖ MIT terminates funding and research links with Huawei and ZTE

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is terminating all research and funding links with Chinese tech companies, Huawei and ZTE in light of recent U.S. federal probes. MIT joins Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley and University of Minnesota in cutting all future research collaborations with the Chinese telecom company. MIT was cited as a collaborator in the Huawei Research Program. The program is a global initiative "to identify and support world-class, full-time faculty members pursuing innovation of mutual interest," during a presentation in 2017.

⚖ Amazon removes promotional spots that gave special treatment to their products as scrutiny of tech giants

Amazon has quietly removed some of the most aggressive promotional spots for so-called private label products on its website as tech giants are facing growing scrutiny over their market power. Private label products are created by Amazon or partners and are sold only on Amazon's website under an exclusive brand name. However, Amazon has in recent weeks significantly scaled down or relocated on-site promotions for its private label products, according to multiple Amazon sellers and consultants. The change comes as a result of an increase in regulatory scrutiny of tech giants.

⚖ India Central bank cuts rates by 0.25%, sees need to spur growth

India's central bank has cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points on Thursday, in a widely expected move to boost the economy, while keeping its monetary policy stance neutral despite subdued inflation. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) highlighted the need to boost domestic growth due to headwinds on the global front. In a policy statement, the RBI wrote that the need to strengthen domestic growth impulses by spurring private investment which has remained sluggish.

⚖ Tencent sells $6bn in bonds to become Asia's biggest this year

According to Reuters, Refinitiv data showed Tencent's sale was Asia's largest this year. The Chinese tech giant, Tencent announced today that it would issues bonds worth $6bn. The notes are expected to be issued on April 11, 2019. The company's board in a statement said they will bring in net proceeds of about $5.98bn. The company had a rough 2018 after the Chinese government halted approvals of new games early in the year. The company reported a 35% year-on-year decline in profit. The freeze also caused over $127bn to be wiped off its shares in the last quarter of 2018.

|Daily Interbank FX Rates|
Currency         Pairs Code   Buying   Selling
U.S Dollar            USDGHS       5.0832    5.0882
Pound Sterling   GBPGHS       6.6920    6.7007
Swiss Franc         CHFGHS       5.0983    5.1041
Canadian Dollar CADGHS       3.8188    3.8226
Euro                      EURGHS       5.7177    5.7222
Chinese Reminbi CNYGHS      0.7563    0.7574

🌀|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📚
🤔 Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial intelligence is an area of computer science that emphasizes the creation of intelligent machines that work and react like humans. Some of the activities computers with artificial intelligence are designed for include: speech recognition,learning,planning, problem solving.

🤔 Can you name the forms of AI there are?

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