Finance and Economics Clinic for Journalists to move to regions

Accra, Sept. 6, GNA – The Management of El de D Consult, organisers of Finance and Economics Clinic for Journalists has announced that it would extend its training programme in basic financial journalism to other regional capitals.

“After two successful workshops in Accra, El de D Consult wants to reach out to journalists working outside Accra.

“The move is in line with the main objective of getting many journalists as possible to understand the fundamentals of Finance and Economics to enhance their work,” Mr Fred Avornyo, Chief Executive Officer of El de D Consult has said.

Mr Avornyo made this known to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Tuesday as part of efforts of Management to assess the second edition of the training workshop, which ended last week.

It was attended by about 15 journalists drawn from different media houses in Accra.

Topics covered included, Introduction to Macro-economics, an Overview of the Financial Sector, Financial Statement Analysis, and an Overview of International Trade.

Newmont Ghana took participants through the process of acquiring concessions through to production, while the World Bank gave an overview of its operations globally and in Ghana.

It is a 10-day training programme, organised quarterly by El de D Consult, a Marketing and Communications Firm, in collaboration with the World Bank Ghana Office, Newmont Ghana Gold Limited and Ghana Journalists Association, to equip journalists with basic knowledge in Finance and Economics.

Mr Avornyo said it would be unfair and incomplete to organise training programmes in Accra without reaching out to other regions to build the capacity of journalists there.

He said providing the training in the regions was imperative since there were less of such opportunities in these areas.

Mr Kwame Anani-Korba, Course Director described the second edition of the Finance and Economics Clinic as very successful.

He said unlike the first workshop, participants had two additional insightful sessions with Dr Joe Abbey of Centre for Policy Analysis on the Economic History of Ghana and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning on International Loan Transactions.

“Our session at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning was so timely, since discussions on loan agreements have been topical lately. Incidentally some of the participants are parliamentary correspondents and I know they have been well informed on this subject,” Mr Anani-Korba added.

He explained that proper understanding of basic Finance and Economics was important to the journalism profession and was therefore pleased with the partnership, El de D Consult had enjoyed from Newmont Ghana Gold and the World Bank.

Mr Anani-Korba urged other corporate bodies to come on board since corporate Ghana stood to benefit from accurate reporting.