|
| Gov’t Targets ¢338bn From Divestitures |
1/12/2007 |
|
Government says it expects to rake in ¢338 billion from the divestiture of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), Ghana Oil Company (GOIL) and the State Insurance Company (SIC), this year. This formed part of the total sum of ¢0.7 trillion expected from overall divestitures this year.
The divestiture of the three enterprises, which has been on the drawing board over the last four years, would be done through the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) by the second half of this year, Hon Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning disclosed to journalists in Accra, while giving an outlook on divestitures for 2007.
On revenue generation, the minister said government expected to raise ¢18.25 trillion by June. He therefore called on revenue agencies to live up to expectation in their collection of taxes.
Mr Baah-Wiredu said government was looking forward to ensuring that all the revenue agencies intensified their efforts to generate the ¢37.5 trillion or more of the total target on the domestic front. The difference of ¢16.3 trillion, he said, would come from grants and loans, lotteries (¢0.1 trillion) and others (¢1.2 trillion).
Government, he said, was also keen on generating substantially from the Ghana five-year bond, which is to reduce the pressure on government funds.
On the recent salary agitations, the Minister said the response to the health sector indicated that there was immense room for improvement, “but we must work at ensuring job evaluation and effecting quality service by workers for money.”
A source at the Ghana Stock Exchange said the news of the divestiture was a welcome one since industry players and practitioners had, over the years, bemoaned the slow pace of government in divesting its holdings in a number of state-owned enterprises.
The source said also that it was preparing a document in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning on a comprehensive divestiture process for the country.
D. Guide
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
