Estate agencies showcase housing schemes

Housing remains an integral part of the social and economic growth of a country although Ghana’s housing deficit currently remains over a million housing units amidst rapid population growth and rising urban population.
Accra, which is touted as the hub of modern housing units is currently characterised by a huge number of slums in areas such as Agbogbloshie, Ashaiman and other areas which is fast becoming a habitat for several rural migrants.
Meanwhile, the exquisite housing units which are located in prime areas appear a bit costly with a one bedroom expandable house costing as much as GH₵ 74,800, more than what the average Ghanaian can afford.
Governments housing supply to public sector workers through various housing loan schemes accounts for a minute amount of the total number of houses needed, with the large chunk resting on the private sector through the provision of mortgages and housing units to bridge the housing gap.
Government thus has to create an enabling environment for the private sector in its delivery of housing in Ghana.
As part of attempts to bring total housing solutions to prospective homeowners, mortgage finance experts, Ghana Home Loans (GHL) brought together captains of the real estate industry on April 27 and 28 at its annual housing  fair in Accra.
The two-day fair did not only attract real estate developers, but also saw contractors, merchants and some insurance companies participating, making the fair a one stop shop for complete housing solutions.
It also provided a platform for industry players to meet and interact with clients as well as exhibit and sell their products.
The April fair, which is the first in the series of fairs organised by GHL witnessed scores of potential home owners thronging the venue to get answers to their questions as well as establishing links for further relations beyond the fair.
Some of the exhibiting companies included Blue Rose Limited, Salem Estates, NTHC, Lakeside Estates, Legonman Multi-Concept Limited, RSS Developers, Cedars, Kimo Homes, GLIICO, Starlife Assurance and Devtraco.
Exhibitors at the fair on the first day appeared content with patronage as people did not only come for formality but showed much interest in the products and services they were offering.
At the Blue Rose Limited stand, construction company located in Kasoa, Head of Marketing, Ms Agnes Ama Moses was on hand with her team to provide in-depth information on their products which were mainly houses.
She took the various patrons through various procedures on how they can acquire homes from the real estate company.
She also hinted that plans were far advanced for the company to extend their service beyond Kasoa to other part of the regions.
The general atmosphere at the fair was an exciting one. When the GRAPHIC BUSINESS got to the fairgrounds around 2:00pm, lots of patrons were seen walking into the fair and visiting various stands set up by the exhibiting companies.
A patron, Ms Mathilda Ewura Amma Addo could not hide her excitement about the fair, which she described as “one stop shop for all housing needs.”
She said this was not her first time of participating in the fair but on the whole this year’s edition was one of the finest.
The Business Development Analyst of Ghana Home Loans, Mr Michael Obeng, said their housing fair was a target focused fair for housing related businesses to help the stakeholders in the real estate industry reach out to their clients better.
He said the company deployed several advertising means to get patrons to patronize the fair which he touted as “the best fair in terms of housing.”
According to him, feedback from exhibitors showed an increase in their client portfolio and was thus optimistic this year’s edition would yield more results than anticipated.
Some insurance companies who were present at the fair were also on hand to introduce their policies that can help people acquire properties through investments.
Home furnishing companies like Furniture City were also present at the fair as well as suppliers of paints and decorative wall coatings for homes.
The second edition for the year is slated for the last quarter of 2013.

Toyota to expand operations

Toyota Ghana Company Limited is to focus on expanding its market share in the Ghanaian automobile industry by making customer satisfaction a priority.
Although the 22 per cent market share holder would not divulge the share it was targeting for this year, the  General Manager in charge of Operations, Mr Eric Dako told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS  that the bottom line was to    maintain sales  and maintainance actvivties.
 That notwithstanding, he stressed that the growth in market share  on year by year was a clear indication of the confidence that customers have in Toyota.
Mr Dako was speaking in an interview after the 2012 Toyota Marketing Awards Ceremony, which saw Toyota Ghana winning three awards; one for a new sales record, a gold prize for increase in sales volume and improvement in market share and a diamond award for sales, marketing and customer service activities.
According to Mr Dako, Toyota Ghana has  put measures in place to improve on the level of satisfaction that was offered to clients.
One of such measures was the after sales support given to their clients explaining that “if you are given a vehicle and you are not well supported, you will never be happy.”
Giving an overview of the sales performance of the company for the first quarter of 2013, Mr Dako said “the first four months have been very good and we are expecting to continue to improve upon sales by the end of the year.”
He also explained that a lot of analysis had been done and the company would make sure it meets the all year round demand of their clients adding, “once you walk in you will get what you want.”
The Managing Director of Toyota Ghana, Mr Takahiko Takabayashi said the awards were in recognition of their hard work and are currently stands tall among other Toyota distributers in Africa.
“In addition to these, Toyota Ghana has also earned two more awards from Toyota Motor Corporation – the “outstanding Customer Service Award” and the “Best Practice Award” for our excellent customer first initiatives,” he said.

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Collateral registry comes on board

Ghana’s collateral registry has registered a total of 49,096 charges with 104,308 collaterals since its inception in 2010.
Also, about 160 institutions both foreign and local have accessed the registry for registration while 14,608 searches were conducted by various lending institutions, law firms and the general public.
 Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Henry Kofi Wampah has at the launch of the collateral registry in Accra said the new registry would provide services including the registration of charges and collaterals, provide avenue for lending institutions to conduct searches on registered charges as well as see to the renewal of registrations.
“By the end of March 2013, a total of 49,096 charges with 104,308 collaterals had been registered. Of these, 80.6 per cent were movables assets, 13.3 per cent were immovable assets and the rest consisted of both movable and immovable types,” he said.
According to him, the central bank has worked in collaboration with appropriate government agencies on a number of reformed programmes aimed at improving the efficiency of the country’s financial system.
Dr Wampah also revealed that the registry has attracted significant interest from other sister Central Banks on the continent.
That notwithstanding, the BOG Governor said there were a few challenges which the bank has had to deal with to ensure that the full benefits of secure transaction regimes benefit the economy.
“The most important of these which requires immediate policy focus is the problem of duplication of registration and disjointed records associated with the absence of harmonisation between the collateral registry and other registries,” he explained.
He also advised banks to strengthen their research departments so that their work can inform the comments of their executives on key macroeconomic issues.
He also said “as we officially launch the collateral registry, I wish to assure all stakeholders that the bank will continue to work to improve credit access, which is important for economic growth.”
The collateral registry which was launched with a new logo is aimed at ensuring a prudent credit delivery system in the financial services sector.
The registry, which is the first of its kind in Africa has been established at an opportune time to address some fundamental challenges in the credit system and the economy at large.
The Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Mr Millison Narh in his address said the collateral registry would strengthen the financial markets to ensure improved credit delivery and economic growth at large.
The Minister of finance and Economic Planning, Mr Seth Tekper congratulated BoG for supporting government in its efforts towards promoting macroeconomic stability and sustainable growth of the economy.  
He was optimistic that the collateral registry would enhance transparency and information disclosure in the credit delivery system.

Will govt meet its year end inflation target?

The government in its 2013 budget statement and economic policy projected a stable economic growth for the year with inflation expected to remain in single digit in 2013.
This projection was made on the back of government’s plans to reduce its deficit and maintain stability in the exchange rate to achieve its end year inflation target of nine per cent.
Inflation, also known as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the change over time in the general price level of goods and services that households acquire for the purpose of consumption.
Surprisingly, despite this projection, inflation has reverted to double digit in the first quarter of 2013. In February the rate stood at 10 per cent and  increased to 10.4 per cent in March and subsequently to its current rate of 10.6 per cent.
The last time the economy recorded double digit rate was in June 2012 (10.68%) after which it kept fluctuating between nine and eight per cent, with the last single digit pegging at 8.8 per cent in January 2013.
In February 2013, when the economy recorded the highest rate of 10 per cent, it  was attributed to a rise in the ex pump prices of petroleum products in that month and that had a rippling effect on prices of goods and services.
Again in March, when the rate inched up to 10.4 per cent, the rise was attributed to the constant increase in the food and non food components in the inflation basket and on  the back of the hikes in fuel prices that took a while to settle.
The Ghana Statistical Service,  again blamed the rise of the April rate (10.6%) on the reflection of the seasonality trend of inflation rate over the years and the crippling effect of the currency depreciation.
It reports that the Cedi depreciated by about 1.45 per cent as compared to the US dollar in April 2013 and since Ghana is an import dominant country; imported items would be costly thereby resulting in higher prices.
Meanwhile, the GSS has hinted that it will start using the revised CPI basket to compute inflation from June this year.
The revised CPI index is to make sure that various household consumption patterns over time are reflected in the rate. This new index would have 2012 as its base year against the current 2002 index being used by the GSS.
The new basket will comprise 272 commodities, up from the current basket composition of 242 items to better reflect what pertains on the ground.
Acting Deputy Government Statistician in charge of Technical Support explains that the year-on-year non-food inflation rate for April was 13.0 per cent compared to 13.2 per cent recorded in March 2013.
The price drivers for the non-food inflation rate were miscellaneous goods and services (15.6%), transport (14.7%), clothing and footwear (14.1%) and Education (14.1%).
The year-on-year food inflation rate was 6.4 per cent, up from 5.5 per cent rate recorded for March 2013.
The price drivers for the food inflation were mineral water, soft drinks and juices (16.8%), milk, cheese and eggs (15.4%), sugar, jam, honey, syrups, chocolate, confectionary (11.4%) and coffee, tea and cocoa (11.3%).
On the regional level, the Greater Accra Region recorded the highest year-on-year inflation rate of 12.6 per cent, followed by Ashanti Region with 10.7 per cent while the Western Region recorded the least rate 8.5 per cent. GB

UT Bank to issue VISA cards

RETAIL clients of UT Bank will, from May this year, be issued with VISA cards, the bank’s General Manager in-charge of Wholesale Banking and Investor Relations, Mr John Ackom, has said.
That, he said followed moves by the bank to migrate onto the VISA platform next month.
Mr Ackom disclosed this when UT took its turn at the Ghana Stock Exchange’s Facts Behind the Figures programme in Accra.
He added that the bank had already gained the accreditation to use the VISA platform and would thus, migrate interested clients unto it as part of innovations to reach its targeted customers as well as attract new clients.
The VISA card allows clients to make purchases and withdraw cash from automatic teller machines (ATMs) that accept VISA cards and will also offer clients with instant access to their bank funds in a secure, safe and convenient manner.
Mr Ackom also hinted that the bank would focus on improving its trade business as well as increasing its presence by opening four new new branches in the country by the end of the last quarter of the year.
This, he said was part of measures to help the bank acquire more deposits that costs less from its clients.
The bank will also invest in its brand and service quality to maintain the strong image that UT Bank has created for itself, Mr Ackom added.
The bank posted a profit before tax of GH¢26.7 million for 2012 against GH¢17.3 million recorded in 2011.
It also grew its total assets by 38.5 per cent to GH¢987 million with non-performing loans reducing 13.9 per cent in 2011 to 11.9 per cent in 2012.

Govt to review Standards Authority Law

THE government is to review the National Redemption Council Decree (NRCD), 1973, that established the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) into a Bill to help make the authority more effective to carry out its duties.
The review of the law is in line with the government’s quest to establish standards and ensuring that foods meant for local consumption and exports met the required standard and quality.
The Trade and Industry Minister, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, who gave the hint, said the review would be done soon and would result in the passage of the GSA Bill 2013, possibly before the end of the year.
He explained that the review would clearly outline the GSA’s mandate as well as streamline it along the powers of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to enable the two bodies to collaborate effectively in promoting standardisation in industry and commerce.
Mr Iddrisu was addressing the media at the end of a familiarisation tour of some laboratories at the GSA in Accra.
The occasion was used to interact with management of the authority, which is one of the lead agencies under the trade ministry.
The minister, who is also the NDC Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, said the GSA had been doing extremely well in its quest to promote industrial efficiency and prohibiting the manufacture and imports of unwholesome goods into the country.
Mr Iddrisu, however, challenged the board and management of the authority to show its physical presence in the Upper West Region of the country before the end of December 2013, to ensure their complete presence in the country.
He said there was the need to increase their products and systems audit, adding that unannounced visits to industries must also be intensified to ensure that compliance with health and safety standards were followed.
The Executive Director of the GSA, Dr George Ben Crentsil, was grateful to the minister and his entourage for the visit and subsequently pledged his support for the collaboration between the authority and the ministry.

Advans Ghana receives €400,000 grant to support SMEs

ADVANS Ghana Savings and Loans Company has received a €400,000 grant from the Agence Francaise Developpement (AFD) to help boost its capital base and reach out to more small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country.
Advance Ghana and the AFD have subsequently signed an agreement to that effect at a ceremony in Accra.
The outgoing Chief Executive Officer of Advans Ghana, Mr Cedric Henot, signed on behalf of Advans Ghana while the AFD Resident Manager, Mr Bruno Ledlerc, signed on behalf of the AFD.
The grant is expected to help the company to create policies and procedures that would best fit the credit needs of SMEs, build the capacity of Advans Ghana’s staff, as well as train SME clients on best management practices.
Mr Cedric Henot said the grant would help the company to support ore entrepreneurs through the provision of sound financial services which have been adapted to their needs through simple credit processes and savings solutions.
He was also optimistic that in the coming years, their partnership would extend to other parts of the country to ensure that their aim of providing adapted financial services is achieved while helping the economic growth of the country.
The AFD Resident Manager, Mr Bruno Ledlerc, said the agreement signed with Advans Ghana was in the category of grants for capacity building.
He said €300,000 out of the grant would finance a technical assistance programme to build Advans’ upscaling strategy towards SMEs by its staff.
“In three years’ time, the SME portfolio should amount to GH₵3.7 million; meaning an increase by three compared to the current situation,” he explained. ????
The remaining €100,000, he said, would be used to support a Business Development Services (BDS) component to train, at least, 250 SME clients of Advans Ghana on how to run their business.

Fan Milk to expand operations

Industrial Company of the year 2012, Fan Milk Limited, is set to continue its expansion drive to other regions of the country.
This forms part of strategies to increase capacity, enhance production and reduce cost in a bid to stay competitive.
Areas that the company is focusing on are Kasoa, Cape Coast, Tema, Nsawam and Sunyani from 2013 to 2016 and then subsequently to Wa in the Upper West Region by 2017.
Managing Director of Fan Milk Limited, Mr Jesper B. Jeppesen, in an interview with the Daily Graphic said investing in other areas through the expansion drive was to help the company stay abreast of the demands of its numerous customers and meet them accordingly.
The company, he said, was thus, poised to look at other avenues they could also invest in so they could increase their revenue but would not divulge the other sectors it was targeting.
According to him, the erratic power supply in the country was adversely affecting the company; hence, revenue had not increased more than three per cent in the first quarter of 2013. However, earnings before tax increased by 25 per cent.
Meanwhile, executive of the Ghana Association of Industries (AGI)?? and members of the industry awards committee have met with management of Fan Milk Limited in Accra.
Led by AGI council member, Ms Awurabena Okrah, took the team round the factories after the Public Relations and Human Resource Manager; Mr Jonathan Ocansey, had briefed them on the corporate social responsibility programmes of the company and other social issues.
Ms Okrah, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Winglow Clothes and Textile Limited, said the industry awards was an AGI initiative to reward and honour companies that had achieved outstanding success in various areas of industry and innovation in the year under review.
She explained that the team was there to appreciate Fan Milk for emerging the Overall Best Industrial Company in 2012 and to show that their performance was valued.
According to her, the performance of the company had been impressive and thus, urged other companies to also strive to succeed as their achievements would be recognised accordingly.
The launch of the 2013 AGI Ghana Industry Awards is slated for this week.

GCCI calls on private sector minister

The President of the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Dr Seth Adjei Baah, has called for collaboration between the private sector and other government agencies to help mitigate challenges facing the private sector.
According to him, the private sector, which is the engine of growth of the economy, has had to contend with a lot of challenges in recent times, with the high cost of borrowing being paramount.
Also, the lack of infrastructure and inability of operators in the sector to access long-term credit facilities was adversely affecting businesses in the country.
Dr Adjei Baah raised these concerns at a meeting with the Minister in charge of Private Sector Development at the Presidency, Mr Rashid Pelpuo, in Accra.
Present at the meeting were some past and present executive members of the GCCI, officials from the Private Sector Development Centre and the media.
The meeting, which is the maiden one after the minister assumed office, was aimed at congratulating him on his appointment and to discuss solutions that could be implemented to address challenges of the sector.
He stressed that although the Private Public Partnership (PPP) policy is a laudable initiative, the private sector in Ghana was not actively involved although real economic development is spearheaded by the sector.
He thus urged the minister to see how best the trend could be reverted so more private sector operators are involved, adding that if the issue of high cost of borrowing is addressed, the sector can move forward.
Mr Pelpuo, in response, pledged the centres resolve to collaborate with the GCCI to help the sector grow.
He explained that a number of policy initiatives with regards to private sector development would soon be rolled out to help the sector and would include creating a healthy business environment, export diversification and a number of financial innovation initiatives.
The minister was thus optimistic that these interventions would effectively change the face of the economy, lower cost of doing business and increase the ease of doing business in the country.

Inflation rises to 10.6% in April

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has announced that Inflation for the month of April was 10.6 per cent, up from the 10.4 per cent recorded in March this year.
The monthly change rate also rose from 1.7 per cent in March to 1.8 per cent in April.
Inflation, which is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), looks at the change over time in the general price levels of goods and services that households acquire for the purpose of consumption.
Announcing the rate at a news conference in Accra, the Acting Deputy Government Statistician in charge of Technical Support at the GSS, Mr Baah Wadieh, said the increase can be attributed to the depreciation of the cedi.
According to the GSS, the Cedi depreciated by about 1.45 per cent as compared to the US dollar in April.
The year-on-year non-food inflation rate was 13.0 per cent compared to 13.2 per cent recorded in March 2013.
He said “the price drivers for the non-food inflation rate were miscellaneous goods and services (15.6%), transport (14.7%), clothing and footwear (14.1%) and Education (14.1%).
The year-on-year food inflation rate was 6.4 per cent, up from 5.5 per cent rate recorded for March 2013.
“The price drivers for the food inflation were mineral water, soft drinks and juices (16.8%), milk, cheese and eggs (15.4%), sugar, jam, honey, syrups, chocolate, confectionary (11.4%) and coffee, tea and cocoa (11.3%),” he said.
On the regional level, the Greater Accra Region recorded the highest year-on-year inflation rate of 12.6 per cent, followed by Ashanti Region with 10.7 per cent while the Western Region recorded the least rate 8.5 per cent.

Advans Ghana and Star Microinsurance supports fire victims

Some victims of the recent Kantamanto fire outbreak who took loans from Advans Ghana Savings and Loans have been financially supported with a first phase of GH¢115,000 as insurance cover from Star Microinsurance through its MicroEnsure policy.
Apart from the payment of the outstanding loans, all individuals who were affected by the fire were given a benefit token of GH¢200 free of charge.
Making the presenting, the Head of Operations of Star Microinsurance company Ltd, Mr Solomon Larbey, said “This claims has been made possible because of the credit life protection policy which gives protection to the loan beneficiary (death), the business property(fire and allied perils) and hospitalisation cover”.
“No one expects a tragedy or mishap to happen but we all need to prepare for it. Death, property destructions and even sickness can come when one least expect. The credit life policy is, therefore, arranged to protect the customer against such events such as the fire which gutted the Kantamanto market”.
The Chief Operating Officer of Advans Ghana Savings and Loans Company, Mrs Barbara Odei, on her part, said “We want to use this opportunity to admonish all savings and loans and microfinance companies to take up the credit life protection policy to cushion them against such occurrences and???? to our business men and women to ensure that they access loans from institutions which have such policies in place so that in case of such happenings, the insurance company can come to their aid”.?????
The traders who benefitted from the insurance claims from Advans Ghana and Star Microinsurance were full of praise for the gesture and urged their colleagues to take insurance policies seriously.

UBA introduces new product

The United Bank for Africa (UBA) Ghana has launched its UBA Africard, a visa-enabled re-loadable card for its customers, to enhance its service delivery.
The card, according to the Managing Director of the bank, Mr Oliver Alawuba, is a better alternative to a bank account as it is not tied to any bank account but can be used on over 1.9 million ATMs and 30 million Point of Sales (POS) terminals in over 179 countries across the world.
Speaking at the launch in Accra, he said Africard was in furtherance of their commitment to bring world-class, customer-driven banking services to the doorsteps of as many Ghanaians as possible.
Africard uses PIN and Chip and it is far more secure than most cards.
He explained that the card would offer convenience to clients as there was no need to visit banking halls to collect cash and added that “it allows you to travel without carrying large sums of cash or foreign currency as the card can be used worldwide.”
The card also offers maximum security as it enables users to do secure payments via the Internet with Verified By Visa (VBV) and the value on the cardholder’s account remains intact when the card is misplaced or stolen.
He said the launch of the product provided them with a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between the banked and the under-banked with the right channel strategy that would give customers greater flexibility in accessing basic banking services.
Mr Alawuba, however, revealed that it was common knowledge that Ghana in particular and Africa as a whole remained largely cash-based societies in spite of the introduction of new payment modes such as debit cards and ATMs.
“However, with the introduction of Africard and its many advantages, we do not have any more excuses but to enjoy the convenience and security of card usage,” he said.
He added that UBA Ghana was offering Ghanaians the opportunity to seamlessly transfer funds either for business or personal needs.
The addition of Africard to the bank’s array of products, he explained, was yet another manifestation of the bank’s responsiveness to the need of its customers.
The service is initially available in all 25 branches of UBA nationwide, while plans are far advanced to enter into agency agreements with credible organisations to bring Africard services even close to the doorsteps of their clients.