Three organisations pay dividends to government

Accra, July 11, GNA - The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning on Wednesday received a total dividend of GH cedis 3.18 million (31.8 billion cedis) from three organizations at a ceremony in Accra. The Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) declared GH cedis 2.86 million (28.6 billion cedis), Twifo Oil Palm Plantations (TOPP) GH cedis 279,000 (2.79 billion cedis) and Ghana Supply Company Limited GH cedis 50,000 cedis (500 million cedis).

Receiving the dividends, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Finance and Economic Planning Minister, tasked all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) who collected revenue to mobilize additional revenue through increased coverage.

"Heads of MDAs are now required to report on their revenue collections including those from the regions and districts, on regular weekly basis to our Ministry to facilitate cash management," the Minister said.

The Minister appealed to other organizations that had not paid their dividend to government to do so immediately. He pledged government's continued support in maintaining a strong and stable economic environment that would enable all sectors to play their roles in building the nation thereby improving the lives of people.

The Minister said his ministry was satisfied that in 2006, GCB's operating performance improved significantly registering an increase in after tax profit of 68 per cent over 2005 and 102 per cent increase in earning per share.

On the re-denomination exercise, Mr Baah-Wiredu said he was happy with its smooth take-off despite the some minor problems that cropped up in some areas and appealed to all Ghanaians to be patient. He noted that despite progress made in the past in the banking sector, agro-processing and service delivery a lot of challenges still remained to be dealt with.

According to the Minister a large majority of Ghanaians did not have access to banking services, interest rates were low and lending rates were high.

On Oil palm, he noted that most smallholders continued to complain about low process and lack of inputs to expand their farms. He pointed out that government's policy on oil palm had offered best prospects for development and expansion of the oil palm industry and urged TOPP to continue to expand and give more employment to farmers and workers.

"Government will continue to support and nature the initiative to achieve its objectives of creating wealth and employment." On the Procurement Act, the Minister said government acknowledged the numerous issues that had been raised saying "government was committed to working with stakeholders to refine the law."

Mr. Kwabena Gyimah-Bonsu, Board Chairman GCB noted that the resilience of the bank coupled with pragmatic measures employed by management had ensured an impressive performance over the period. He said the bank has successfully networked its 133 branches and 10 agencies and obtained a Universal Banking License which enabled it to provide investment and development banking and brokerage services.