Foreign direct investments into developing countries to increase by 17% in 2010 – Report

Foreign direct investments (FDI) into developing countries are expected to increase by 17% in 2010, a new report released by the World Bank Group, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) has said. The report is the second after one in 2009.

Overall, FDI inflows to developing countries are projected to increase by 17% to an estimated $416 billion in 2010. They should continue growing by a modest 20% and 13% a year in 2011 and 2012, respectively, as the global economic recovery strengthens.

By 2012, FDI flows to the developing world are expected to reach $575 billion— a figure still below the pre-crisis peak of 2008, thus highlighting the severe impact of the recent downturn, the report said.

According to the report investors are optimistic about prospects for a global economic recovery led by the developing world.

The report which was released December 9, 2010, also sheds light on investors’ political risk perceptions in conflict-affected and fragile economies, where top worry is adverse government intervention and not overt political violence.

The report is the outcome of a survey of 194 executives from Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) worldwide commissioned by the MIGA in June 2010, the composition of which mirrored that of actual FDI flows by sector and region.

Around 40% of those respondents who were surveyed in both 2009 and 2010 expect to increase their investments in developing countries over the next 12 months.

The report noted that investors from the extractive industries, as well as those based in developing countries, are particularly bullish in their investment intentions.

The finding represents the business world’s confirmation of economists’ projections – that FDI is expected to recover over the next couple of years, having declined sharply by 40% in 2009.

The report also found that the top worry for multinational executives when operating in developing countries over the next three years is political risk.

Political risk tops business concerns such as market size, lack of finance, and quality of infrastructure. About a fifth of the investors surveyed use political risk insurance to mitigate this risk, the report said.

The 2010 report also focuses on FDI into conflict-affected and fragile economies, where investors are primarily concerned about adverse government intervention (for example changes in regulations, breach of contract, non-honoring of sovereign guarantees, currency restrictions, and expropriation) rather than overt political violence. In fact, adverse changes in regulations not only rank first among investors’ concerns in conflict-affected and fragile economies, but also are most often responsible for losses in these destinations, the report found.

Commenting on the report, MIGA Executive Vice President Izumi Kobayashi, said, “This upsurge in FDI into developing countries is welcome news, especially considering last year’s drop,” adding, “FDI flows directed to productive assets can spur economic growth and reduce poverty.”

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
ghanabusinessnews.com

Ghana's T-Poly to train aircraft maintenance technicians

The Takoradi Polytechnic will sign a memorandum of understanding next year, to begin the training of aircraft maintenance technicians with the assis­tance of the Aircraft Maintenance Train­ing Institute of Florida, in the United States of America, the Rector of the Tako­radi Polytechnic, Rev. Professor Daniel A. Nyarko has announced.

He said the polytechnic was expected to secure accreditation from the City and Guilds of the United Kingdom soon to run spe­cialised training programmes in the fields of welding, fabrication, logistics, transport, freight forwarding and clearing, and ware­housing, among others.

Rev. Prof. Nyarko said the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) through the Canadian High Commission in Ghana, was working out a similar package for the Takoradi Polytechnic.

The Rector announced this at the 10th congregation of the polytechnic in Takoradi at the weekend.

“We cherish these collaborative relationships. A lot more institutions and individuals are showing remarkable interests in Takoradi Polytechnic and are holding talks with us towards collaboration to run new pro­grammes or assist us in human resource and infrastructural development,” he said.

In order to take advantage of the current goodwill, he said a new outfit to be known as the Office of International Programmes and External Relations would be created next year to co-ordinate all such activities.

He said plans were far advanced for the Bachelor of Technology degree to be award­ed in conjunction with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the University of Cape Coast as appropriate and that the polytechnic had been assured of affiliation by the two universities.

“Takoradi Polytechnic hoped to receive accreditation from the National Accreditation ­Board (NAB) to run a new Bachelor of Tech­nology programme in Civil Engineering soon”, he assured.

For the 2010/2011 academic year, he said the institution had introduced two new programmes in printing and procurement.


Source: Daily Graphic

Investigations affecting $225m political risk insurance for FPSO to be completed in January

The investigations that lead to the suspension of $225 million political risk insurance for Ghana’s Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel will be completed in January 2011 and everything will normalise, the World Bank has said.

The FPSO is used to drill oil at the Jubilee oil field. It was used to drill Ghana’s first commercial oil December 15, 2010.

The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a member of the World Bank Group and its partners suspended a $225 million political risk guarantee contract for the FPSO sometime in July 2010 to conduct investigations into allegations into a service contract between MODEC and Strategic Oil and Gas Resources (Strat Oil).

In a joint statement issued on MIGA’s website Thursday July 29, 2010, it said the parties agreed to this suspension in order to conduct due diligence into the conditions of a service contract between MODEC and Strategic Oil and Gas Resources (Strat Oil).

The Ghana Country Director of the World Bank, who conceded though that he does not speak for MIGA but can comment, said he has been told that the investigations will be concluded by January 2011.

Speaking to journalists at a media get-together at the Knowledge Centre of the Bank in Accra, Ishac Diwan said, “I am quite confident that it is not affecting the real side of the business,” adding that , “It is taking longer than we would have wanted.”

He also revealed that it is MODEC and not MIGA that is conducting the investigations.

Diwan however, indicated that “it is good to get political risk insurance, because these are investments for 30 to 50 years But none of us believes that there is serious risk of expropriation in the next few months or few years. And MIGA is for financing that was already in place, so it’s not the case either that rates are going up.”


By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
ghanabusinessnews.com

Ghana drivers to be arrested for talking on mobile phones while driving

The Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police has said that it will arrest all persons who make and receive phone calls while driving, according to a Daily Graphic report.

According to the newspaper, the MTTU Boss, ACP Angwubutoge Awuni issued a directive to his men to arrest all persons culpable of this offence and arraign them before a law court.

ACP Awuni said offenders will be charged with an offence of posing danger to other road users.

He said the operation is not only to prevent road accidents but also to protect other road users.


By Ekow Quandzie
ghanabusinessnews.com

Ghanaian man jailed in UK for fake passports, visas

A Ghanaian man resident in the UK has been jailed for four years for the processing of fake documents including passports, visas and birth certificates.

A press release issued by the UK High Commission in Ghana and copied to ghanabusinessnews.com says the 40-year-old Dominic Owusu-Ansah was jailed following the discovery of a forgery factory in Milton Keynes.

It says officers from the UK Border Agency’s South East Region Immigration Crime Team discovered dozens of fake documents such as blank visas, passports and birth certificates when they raided a property in Oldbrook on October7, 2010.

They also found computers, stamps, scanners, and printers which were being used in the manufacture of fake documents, along with numerous templates for forging work permits, bank statements, pay slips and Home Office letters, the release says.

Owusu-Ansah was among four people that were arrested.  According to the release, he admitted charges brought under the Fraud and Identity Cards Act when he appeared before Huntingdon Crown Court on December 22, 2010 and was

Sample of fake permit retrieved in the raid.

sentenced to four years in prison. He will be deported at the end of his sentence.

He is the second person to be jailed in connection with the investigation. At a previous hearing on December 15, 2010, Abel Agyepong, a 33-year-old Ghanaian citizen also admitted possessing false identity documents with intent and fraud. He was sentenced to six months in prison, the release added.


Source: ghanabusinessnews.com

Ghana media urged to focus on dangers of e-waste dumping

A Ghanaian journalist, Mr Emmanuel  K. Dogbevi has urged his colleagues in the media to help focus the public’s attention on the problems of electronics waste (e-waste) dumping in the country.

Speaking in an interview with DanWatch, a Danish environmental action group, Mr Dogbevi, said the media in Ghana generally has not given much attention to the problems and health hazards that e-waste poses to the environment and human health.

Asked about how much focus the Ghanaian media has on the subject, he said the media shows what he describes as “intermittent interest in the subject when there is something huge on the subject.”

Mr. Dogbevi who is also the Managing Online Editor of ghanabusinessnews.com added that as far as he could remember,  the last time the media focused on e-waste dumping in Ghana was in 2009 when there was an international event and a press statement was issued on the matter.

“I remember because I was interviewed by one radio station,” he said.

He said the low focus on the issue by the media has led to a general lack of knowledge of the dangers that e-waste poses to Ghanaians.

“The e-waste situation in Ghana has reached crisis point, it is a grave situation because of the very serious dangers that the poisonous chemicals contained in e-waste pose to the environment and human health and more importantly when the country’s health budget is mostly spent on malaria leaving  nothing to be spent on other diseases,” Mr Dogbevi said.

In order to curb the menace, Mr Dogbevi called on government, civil society and the media especially to get involved in the campaign, adding that education, policy implementation and laws are the keys in dealing with the situation.

Mr. Dogbevi who has been writing about the environment in the past 12 years, began writing about e-waste in Ghana with his first article in the Daily Graphic on June 15, 2007. Since that first article, he has been waging a relentless campaign against the e-waste menace using mostly his articles. He has also created a Facebook Group called ‘Ghanaians against dumping of e-waste’.

Even though some inventory of the quantity of e-waste present in Ghana has been taken, it is not yet known how many tonnes of obsolete computers enter Ghana from Europe or the United States, but it is believed thousands are shipped into the country and a good number of these end up being dismantled and precious parts extracted for sale.

According to a report published by the Basel Action Network and the Silicon Valley Toxins Coalition titled ‘Exporting Harm: The Techno-Trashing of Asia’, between 50 to 80 per cent of e-waste collected for recycling in the United States is exported to developing nations such as China, India and Pakistan, where the environment is being polluted and local men, women and children are being exposed to toxins.

According to the European Environment Agency (EEA) more than 15,000 tonnes of colour television sets were exported from the EU to African countries in 2005. On average 35 tonnes, or more than 1000 units of used television sets, arrive every day in Ghana, Nigeria or Egypt.

“It would appear that the EU exports a significant quantity of used electrical and electronic products to developing countries that do not have an adequate waste management infrastructure,” the EEA report ‘Waste Without Borders’ concluded. “These are then probably subject to treatment that poses a threat to the environment and human health.”

Ghana, meanwhile is a signatory to the Basel Convention, which is the international convention against the trans-boundary movement of hazardous wastes, including e-waste, the country has no localised legislation to deal with the problem.

The interview has been posted on Danwatch’s Youtube page. Click here to view.

By Ekow Quandzie
ghanabusinessnews.com

Mills’s administration moving at cruising speed – World Bank

The World Bank has commended the Mills’s administration for handling the economy of Ghana well and for moving faster than usual in getting things done. The Bank describes government’s pace as “moving at a cruising speed.”

The Ghana Country Director of the Bank, Ishac Diwan says the administration is focusing on the developmental projects it has taken over from previous governments.

“Your government is very focused now,” he said.

He said there are various contracts for infrastructural development in their various phases that are being discussed with the Bank. These include transport and road projects.

He said there are about 40 contracts that are in negotiations to be financed by the Bank.

“Actually, it’s moving very swiftly. We’ve had the pre-election and the post election, I can say there were a couple of years where the work in government was slower than usual, but now it’s moving at a cruising speed, things are moving quite swiftly,” he said.

By Ekow Quandzie
ghanabusinessnews.com

World Bank to invest over $150m into key areas of agric

The World Bank says it will invest an amount of over $150m into five key areas in the agricultural sector in Ghana.

The five key areas are agriculture research, modernization of the fisheries sector, commercial agriculture, livestock and small scale agriculture.

Ishac Diwan, the World Bank Country Director for Ghana disclosed this during a media interaction in Accra Thursday to discuss some of the bank’s programmes and the way forward into 2011.

According to the Mr Diwan, commercial agriculture will receive the highest amount of $100m. He indicated that this is to create more jobs and most especially to expand the agric field in order to balance the country’s economy since Ghana has found oil.

The fisheries sector will receive an amount of $50m. The amount will be used to fight illegal fishing along the coasts of the country as well as streamlining licensing regime, he said.

He added that this investment was to ensure that fishermen have a broad based knowledge about how fishermen can use modern technologies in their fishing activities.

The other areas in the sector to receive support are irrigation, livestock and small scale agriculture.

Mr. Diwan said some of these projects would be carried out in partnership with the
Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

By Ekow Quandzie
ghanabusinessnews.com

Ghana will be affected if ECOWAS uses military force to oust Gbagbo – Dogbevi

ECOWAS is not expected to use military force to oust Laurent Gbagbo from power even if diplomatic and politic efforts fail.

A Ghanaian journalist Emmanuel K. Dogbevi has suggested that if ECOWAS uses military force there will be a spill-over that would affect Ghana because of the country’s close relations with Ivory Coast.

Mr. Dogbevi, who is the Managing Online Editor of ghanabusinessnews.com made the remarks Tuesday December 28, 2010 when he was asked about the economic effects of the Ivorian situation on Ghana on the BBC World Service programme World Today.

He told the BBC’s Pascale Harter that there is a strong link between Ghana and Ivory Coast.  “There are Ghanaians with families living on the other side of the border in Cote d’Ivoire.”

“I do not expect ECOWAS to move an army into Ivory Coast in trying to remove Gbagbo by force since that will escalate the situation and create a more serious condition in the West African sub-region and especially Ghana which shares direct economic links with Ivory Coast,” he said.

He said economic activities have already been affected in some communities in Ghana especially a border town called Gonokrom in the Dormaa Municipality where Customs officials have said that revenue collection has reduced because business activities have fallen drastically due to the political crisis in Ivory Coast.

He also said even though there are no reports of refugees streaming into Ghana at the moment, they are reported to be moving into Liberia, and he fears if violence escalates, refugees might start streaming into Ghana.

His comments come hours before an ECOWAS delegation made up of three Head of States has been sent to Ivory Coast to meet Laurent Gbagbo about a possible peaceful exit from power to allow Alassane Ouattara to take over as the President of the country that produces 40% of the world’s cocoa .

Ivory Coast has been plunged into political turmoil after a November 28, 2010 election run-off which both incumbent Gbagbo and opposition candidate Ouattara claimed to have won. The two men subsequently got themselves sworn into office, leading to a situation of two presidents in Ghana’s western neighbour.

Mr Dogbevi indicated that like many other rich African countries, even though Ivory Coast produces 40% of the world’s cocoa, most of the citizens are poor, because of mismanagement and corruption.

He therefore, suggested that it would not be worthwhile for ECOWAS to take a war to Ivory Coast as it would escalate the situation and push refugees into Ghana.

You can listen to the interview from this recording.

Ekow Quandzie
ghanabusinessnews.com