Day: June 19, 2023

The amount that people lost through Mobile Money (MoMo) fraud increased by twice in 2022, compared to what was lost in 2021, despite a reduction in the number of MoMo fraud incidents recorded last year.

This is disclosed in the 2022 trends and statistics of Banks, Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs) and Payment Service Providers (PSPs) fraud report of the Bank of Ghana (BoG).

The report showed that GHS27 million was lost in 2022, compared to GHS14.2m losses in 2021, representing a 47-percentage increase, while some recoveries were made, reducing the actual loss to approximately GHS26 million.

The Payment Service Providers recorded 12,166 MoMo related fraud incidents in 2022 compared to the 12,350 incidents in 2021, indicating a one per cent rise in the number of fraud incidents recorded between 2021 and 2022.

The fraud incidents were recorded through wrong transfers (where a victim inadvertently transfers money to a wrong MoMo wallet and the recipient immediately cashes out) and cash reversals (where fraudsters convince victims and demand reversal of a fictitious transaction from their account).

This development comes as the usage of electronic channels for transactions by consumers continues to rise among Ghanaians, with MoMo becoming the predominant means of electronic transactions in the country.

The Central Bank made a call on stakeholders in the financial sector and financial technology (fintech) sectors, including Payment Service Providers to develop adequate fraud mitigation tools to help curb fraud.

In 2022, the value of e-money transactions amounted to GHS1 trillion, with the volume of e-money transactions being five billion, compared to the GHS978.32 billion in value and 4.25bn volume of e-money transactions in 2021, BoG stated.

According to the report, the losses were due multiple factors, including the inability of the vulnerable to read.

The lack of attention to security by most people in using the mobile money application and lack of security awareness had largely contributed to victims easily falling prey to fraudsters, BoG stated.

It was also observed that some users of MoMo did not periodically change their PIN, making them easily prone to fraudsters.

Also, the account of the aged and uneducated were compromised because they had to give them out to a third party for transactions.

The Central Bank indicated that it had engaged the financial entities to put in stringent measures to mitigate the impact of the fraudulent activities.

It also said there was the need to undertake major sensitisation of customers of MoMo in multiple local languages to enable the vulnerable to appreciate it.

The annual fraud report, published by the Bank of Ghana seeks to inform the banking public of fraud trends.

The report reflects trends in fraud typologies observed in relation to services provided by Banks, SDIs and PSPs and measures the Central Bank is taking to address them to promote the integrity of the banking system.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Preparations for the Sixth Volta Trade and Investment Fair are underway as the National Coordination Office of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), a key vehicle and trade facilitator, has agreed to partner with the Regional Co-ordinating Council and partners to deliver a successful Fair.

A delegation led by Dr Archibald Letsa, Regional Minister, last Friday, held discussions with Dr. Fareed Arthur, Coordinator, National AfCFTA Coordination Office (NCO) in Accra, about the impending Volta Fair.

Other members of the delegation included Mr Flolu, Dean of Municipal and District Chief Executives in the Region, and Mr Dela Gadzanku, the Eastern, Volta and Oti Chairman of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI).

Dr Letsa gave an overview of the economic potentials of the region and invited the AfCFTA National Coordintion Office to the Fair slated for 26th November to 10th December 2023, in Ho on the theme: ‘Leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) to promote Local Economic Development.’

The Sixth Edition would be organised by the private sector, led by the Regional Branch of the Association of Ghana Industries, in collaboration with the Volta Regional Co-ordinating Council.

‘I informed Dr Fareed Arthur of my resolve to ensure businesses in the Volta Region export to other African countries under the AfCFTA protocol which is the rationale behind the theme for the Fair,’ the Minister said.

Dr Letsa said the region is making audacious moves under its ‘One District One AfCFTA Product Initiative,’ to ensure that the 18 Municipal and District Assemblies would each nurture at least a product for export targeting other African countries.

He disclosed efforts underway to bring in exhibitors from Nigeria, Kenya and other countries.

Dr. Fareed Arthur was excited about the region’s AfCFTA agenda and said it was exactly in line with the national agenda for Ghana.

He assured that his outfit would support the Volta Fair in diverse ways, including facilitating the participation of small and medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) under the AfCFTA umbrella.

He expressed interest in helping organise seminars to sensitise the business community on AfCFTA during the Fair.

Dr. Arthur gave the assurance of collaborating with the VRCC and partners to identify products from the Region to be exported under the AfCFTA regime.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Nicolas Gebara, Team Leader of Compete Ghana, has said the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and Ghana would reduce trade barriers between the two entities.

He said it would also enhance Ghanaian exporters’ opportunities to the EU.

Mr Gebara made the remarks at the validation workshop on capacity needs assessment results and the development of training modules to discuss key areas of the EPA for public institutions in Accra.

The Economic Partnership Agreement is a trade and development pact, which sought to protect sensitive sectors and local producers who might otherwise struggle to compete against EU imports.

He said the agreement allowed Ghanaian companies to export tariff and quota-free to the EU markets.

‘But there are also some requirements that every exporter must comply with, which includes EU quality standards and norms, rules of origin and certifications, compliance to the regulations of the EU which applies to exports from EU to Ghana as well,’ he indicated.

Mr Gebara said in the process of implementing the EPA, a number of public stakeholders played key roles in guiding the private sector in their efforts to export to the EU.

He added that the Compete Ghana Programme had also embarked on building the capacity of public institutions and assessed the needs of individual institutions to be involved in the effective implementation of the EPA.

Mr Gebara indicated that since December 2016, Ghana had enjoyed duty-free and quota-free access to the EU market.

He added that following the signing of the EPA, Ghana’s exports to the EU almost doubled between 2016 and 2019, from 1.19 billion euros in 2016 to 2.27 billion euros in 2019.

Mr Gebara assured that Ghana would gradually remove its import duties for 80 per cent of EU exports by 2029 and that in the future, the EU and Ghana might decide to expand the EPA to include provisions on investment and trade in services.

He said the agreement provided support to compensate for possible revenue losses because Ghana removed tariffs on 80 per cent of goods imported from the EU and enabled businesses to enhance their exports and increase their production base, thereby generating more jobs in the Ghanaian economy.

Mr Gebara said the EPA secretariat at the Ministry of Trade and Industry was monitoring the processes required in implementing the EPA, and that there were joint committee meetings between Ghana and EU to discuss the progress so far.

He said, ‘The EU was financing for the capacity enhancement of government institutions that were directly and indirectly related to the implementation of the EPA.’

‘Every institution has a role to play in guiding the private sector on how to enhance their exports to the EU market, and so we have identified and invited thirteen institutions to know the level of skills they will require to implement the agreement efficiently,’ Mr Gebara stressed.

Mrs Justina Mensah, a capacity building expert, said it was very important that the Ministry of Trade Ministry and Industry and the EU support and make the necessary arrangements to facilitate access to the priority resources list identified in the capacity needs assessment of the thirteen institutions.

She said the thirteen public institutions should also use innovative approaches to raise funds to support the capacity development process of their institutions.

‘Therefore, efforts should be made by the trade ministry, the EU and the institutions to make available the systems, tools, equipment and software needed as outlined in the capacity needs assessment report by the technical assistance team,’ Mrs Mensah indicated.

Mr Raffaele Quarto, Trade Counselor, EU Delegation, said they were implementing the project to develop the capacity and skills of Ghanaian businesses and authorities to be able to benefit fully from the agreement.

He indicated that the delegation was implementing other programmes on vocational training, agriculture, and other areas not related to business.

The Compete Ghana Programme is in the context of the Ghana Beyond Aid vision, to improve economic governance and the business environment, and to maximise the benefits of the EPA for Ghana.

It also would strengthen the competitiveness of Ghana’s exports and enhance Ghana’s integration into the regional and international trading system.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The contribution of Ghana’s upstream oil and gas sector to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) drops from 3.83 per cent in 2019 to 3.7 per cent 2020.

This is contained in the 2020 annual reports of the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI), which indicated that the decline represented a 4.6 percentage drop, comparing the growth recorded in 2019.

This is the second consecutive decline after the contribution of oil and gas sector to GDP grew by 5.9 per cent and 6.4 per cent in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

The year 2020 marked 10 years of commercial oil production in Ghana, a period that has seen fluctuations in the sector’s contribution, with a 5.6 per cent contribution to GDP in 2013, which increased to 6.6 per cent in 2014 before a dip to 2.8 per cent in 2015.

There was a further decline of the sector’s contribution to GDP in 2016, where oil and gas contributed 0.5 per cent to GDP, the lowest performance of the sector, before it saw an appreciation of 3.7 per cent in 2017.

According to the GHEITI report, the decline in the growth of the oil and gas sector and its contribution to GDP was because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In terms of revenue, a total of US$666.39 million was accrued to the State in 2020 from Royalties, Carried and Participating Interest (CAPI), Corporate Income Tax (CIT) and Surface Rentals.

Meanwhile, a total of 88,418.88 Million Standard Cubic Feet (MMscf) valued at US$606.5 of both associated gas and non-associated gas was delivered for

domestic power generation, with less than two per cent for non-power gas activities.

The report recommended that the Ghana National Gas Company (GNGC) Limited and the State should expedite action on the development of the necessary gas transportation infrastructure.

That would enable early recovery of the due Make-Up-Gas (MUG) estimated at 35,630.32 MMscf as at the year ended 2020, which translates into an estimated amount of USD300 million recoverable to the State.

With respect to disclosure of taxes and revenues, the report recommended that an amendment be made to the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA) to limit the role of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in the collection of surface rental to offshore activities.

It added that such amendment should also make the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands (OASL) manage onshore collections, while making GRA cede the amounts collected onshore to OASL for onward distribution to beneficiaries.

At the launch of the report, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, pledged that the Government would leverage the country’s oil and gas resources and establish the linkages to boost the other sectors of the economy.

‘In line with this, government and a Moroccan company, the OCP Group, have completed the front-end engineering design (FEED) for a US$1.3 billion fertilizer complex in Takoradi in the Western Region towards the production of fertilizer from Ghana’s natural gas,’ he said.

‘The project is expected to be completed in three years and will help increase fertilizer availability and reduce inputs costs to farmers to fast track the industrialisation of the agricultural sector,’ Dr Adam added.

He said that the recent decline of oil and gas production coupled with the potential negative impact of energy transition leading to low investment in the sector called for diversification in the economy, which the government was focused on achieving.

Source: Ghana News Agency