Bussiness
Government accepts all bids worth ¢1.68bn for 2-yr bond; gets favourable yield
Government accepted all bids worth about ¢1.68 billion for the 2-year bond auctioned on Thursday 2 December, 2021 at a favourable price.
This came after the 2022 Budget and Economic Policy was approved by Parliament.
The interest rate or yield of the debt instrument was however pegged at the upper band of 19.75%, but is a rate many analysts consider as encouraging.
This is because the interest rates on the secondary market are presently going for more than 20%.
Senior Economic Analyst at Databank Research, Courage Martey said “within the context of prevailing market conditions, it is satisfactory to see that the Treasury was able to cover its calendar target. On the pricing side, it’s also very impressive to note that the Treasury was able to price this transaction below where the secondary market was trading for similar tenors [periods].”
“Currently on the secondary market, the 2023 tenors are going for above the 20% handle. So it’s quite impressive to see the Treasury clearing a new 2-year tenor (2023 maturity) below 20%”, he added.
He however asked questions such as “what is not clear is how the secondary market would react to this new trade, in terms of pricing. Are we going to see a downward correction in the secondary levels from the 20% area to converge with the 19.75% area?”
In recent times, the market has been encountering liquidity challenges, as analysts attributed the financial challenges to a combination of factors including the sustainability of the rising debt, inflation, and the fiscal deficit.
This is manifested from Treasury bills sale which has been undersubscribed.
It’s therefore unclear how the month of December, which apparently is the last month of 2021 will pan out with regard to the sale of T-Bills.
Source: www.myjoyonline.com
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
