Bussiness
As Ethiopia opens up banking sector to foreign players, there is an important caveat
- Foreign banks seeking to operate in Ethiopian following liberalisation of the country’s banking sector would be required to do so in partnership with local banks.
- Business Insider Africa observes that this could give room to some mergers and acquisitions in the Ethiopian banking sector.
- Ethiopia is in the process of liberalising its banking sector, with the aim of ending a decades-long restrictive banking policy that has prevented foreign banks from operating in the country.
One of the newly proposed rules that would guide Ethiopia’s banking sector liberalisation is that foreign banks hoping to operate in the Horn of Africa country must do so in partnership with local banks.
READ: [Op-Ed] On the road to a digital economy, Ethiopia is ramping up activity
This was disclosed by the lead consultant that is overseeing the liberalisation process, who also mentioned that only regional banks are eligible to the opportunity for now.
“The opening up might only be limited to regional banks in a joint venture basis with local banks… That will be easily manageable for the central bank. The first target is to boost the foreign currency inflow. There are many legal framework revisions underway and many are in a draft stage,” the consultant was quoted by Ethiopian newspaper The Reporter.
READ: Why is the dollar shortage crisis in Africa getting worse by the day?
The important caveat is coming just months after the Ethiopian Government announced that it had constituted a liberalisation committee whose job it is to establish the modalities that would guide the liberalisation process.
The implication, therefore, is that we might be seeing some mergers and acquisitions in the Ethiopian banking sector anytime soon.
Business Insider Africa reported earlier that the Ethiopian banking sector liberalisation committee has begun working towards replacing the country’s decades-old financial services code with a new one.
READ: Ethiopia is in the process of establishing its own stock exchange
The primary aim of the new financial services code is to end Ethiopia’s restrictive banking policy which has, up till now, prevented foreign banks from investing and setting up shops in the country.
The first draft of the new code is expected to be ready by December 2022. It will, among other things, stipulate the modalities for foreign banks to operate in Ethiopia.
READ: Amid fintech boom, report details how African banks can still gain an edge
Recall that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was the first to disclose Ethiopia’s ongoing plan to open its banking sector to foreign banks. Last month, he declared that “we will bring foreign banks because we need additional wealth and hard currency. Regarding this, the government is now preparing a policy amendment. Once preconditions are met and banks are prepared, we will (implement) that.”
The banking reforms in Ethiopia presents an opportunity for some of Africa’s biggest banks to position themselves in the Horn of Africa country.
READ: Paga announces official launch in Ethiopia following regulatory approval
Source: www.pulse.com.gh
Bussiness
Ghana’s GDP shows economy is fast recovering despite DDEP – Finance Ministry
Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) indicates a rapid economic recovery despite global challenges and ongoing debt restructuring, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
The Ministry in a statement today indicated that latest data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), cumulative economic growth for the second quarter (Q2) of 2024 reached 6.9%, a notable increase from the 4.7% recorded in the first quarter of 2024.
The MoF statement further noted that, “The economy’s robust recovery is in response to the macroeconomic stability and growth interventions that government is pursuing under our IMF-supported Post Covid-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG).”
According to them, the overall real GDP growth for the first half of 2024 rebounded strongly, with year-on-year GDP growth averaging 5.8% for the period, significantly higher than the 2.9% recorded in the same period in 2023.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
Read full statement below
Bussiness
Facebook, Youtube, online trading companies must be taxed – Deputy Finance Minister
The Deputy Finance Minister Dr Alex Ampaabeng, has proposed that online trading companies should be taxed to bolster the economy.
He noted that these companies, both local and international, generate significant revenue from their Ghanaian clients, which underscores the necessity for taxation.
In an interview with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV’s The Point of View, Dr Ampaabeng pointed out various potential revenue sources for Ghana, including online businesses and content creation companies.
He questioned why other national companies operating in Ghana are taxed, but social media platforms like Youtube and Facebook, which run numerous advertisements, are not included in the Ghanaian tax system.
According to him, these social media companies earn profits from the advertisements they display, and online trading companies also generate income from the sale of their products and services.
He mentioned online trading companies such as Jiji, Jumia, and Tonaton, which he believes surpass all physical marketplaces in Ghana in size.
According to him, “I can’t think of a country which has not gotten a digital service tax system of some sort, so Ghana is long overdue. Just to make an example so that people will appreciate where I’m coming from. Go to Youtube and play a video, within one or two minutes, you are going to watch about two, or three adverts.”
“What it tells you is that Facebook or Youtube is making profits right here in Ghana. Go to your Facebook account, and you are going to see a number of adverts on your right, left. What it is telling you is that Facebook is making profits right here in Ghana and not being taxed. Meanwhile, there are companies operating in Ghana, for jurisdiction reasons, of course, that are being taxed,” he said.
The Deputy Minister added that “So then, it comes to the question of the application of our tax laws. Revenues generated in Ghana are subject to taxes. We have Facebook, TikTok and all those players, these are digital platform owners.”
He stressed, “Then we have the digital or market players, here we are talking about individuals who are using the digital platforms. We have Jiji, Jumia, Tonaton, these combined, are bigger than all physical marketplaces in Ghana. And it tells you the volume of transactions, that are going on there.”
He expressed his hope that individuals earning online profits from Ghanaian residents would be taxed.
“There are conversations ongoing, I wouldn’t want to pre-empt anything, maybe in the future, it might not be anytime soon, what I would like to see, is a Ghana where people who are earning all forms of profits in the country are subject to taxes. People who are trading online to Ghanaian residents, people who are generating revenue from Ghana are allowed to pay taxes,” he noted.
Additionally, he proposed a collaboration with the government to curb cybercrime by registering and verifying these online trading companies.
“We can have a system where the government engages these operators, so individuals will submit their Ghana Card and are registered and verified,”he concluded.
Source: Citinewsroom.com
