The government has taken a final decision to withdraw from acquiring any additional shares in the Takoradi International Company (TICO), the operators of the Takoradi Aboadze Thermal Plant (TATP).
Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) own 90% shares in TICO, while the government owns the remaining 10%.
The new chief executive officer (CEO) of Volta River Authority (VRA), Kweku Andoh Awotwi, disclosed this at Akuse in the Eastern Region.
He noted that TAQA will continue holding its 90%, while the government of Ghana will also hold its current 10%.
According to him, the government’s decision to withdraw from the deal is to save enough funds to develop the power generating sector and also to allow the majority shareholder to fully run the company by investing more in the Aboadze Thermal Plant. “Any additional shares involve lots of money,” he added.
Awotwi indicated that with this new arrangement, the TAQA Company will increase the power generated from the Aboadze Thermal Plant from the current 220 megawatts to 330 megawatts, an addition of 110 megawatts.
The previous government expressed interest in acquiring an additional 40% shares in TICO in order to bring its total stake in the power plant to 50%.
The negotiations started when TAQA became a shareholder of TICO in May 2007 after concluding a deal with CMS Energy to acquire the assets of its subsidiary, CMS Generation, which included the latter’s equity stake in the Takoradi Aboadze Thermal Plant (TATP).
The then government was displeased with the TAQA-CMS Energy deal, which was quickly concluded just about the time the country was battling one of its worst energy crisis.
Readers would remember that the crisis ended September 2007, but it was not certain whether the country’s energy sector would not be faced with yet another energy crisis in the face of the then rising crude oil prices on the international market.
Government was not pleased with CMS decision to sell off its stake at the time it did. It thus decided to buy a controlling share of about 51% before the then offer was put on the negotiation table.
The two parties were working on very divergent interests, while government was bidding for more stakes in the power plant, TAQA was also seriously trying to buy off all of government’s stakes.
CMS Energy concluded the transaction of selling CMS Generation to TAQA by selling its shares for about US$900 million. Apart from its 90% stake in the TATP, other interests went to TAQA. These were the Jorf Lasfar Energy Company in Saudi Arabia and the ST CMS Company in India.
By Fred SARPONG
Monday, November 9, 2009
IMF to offer zero interest rate up to 2011
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that low-income countries of the organization, which include Ghana, will enjoy zero interest rates for all concessional loans up to the end of 2011.
Sayeh indicated that the IMF’s Executive Board approved this during their last meeting in the third quarter of this year.
Antoinette Sayeh, the director of the Africa Department, IMF, announced this when she paid a one-day visit to Ghana.
The visit offered her the opportunity to interact with the government officials and stakeholders in the financial sector.
According to her, from 2011, IMF will offer permanent lower interest rates and also bring in a new set of lending instruments, which will streamline conditions and at the same time strengthen their support to Sub-Saharan Africa.
The new IMF concessional lending commitments to low-income countries through mid-July 2009 reached US$2.9 billion compared with US$1.5 billion for the whole of 2008.
The IMF new support package includes mobilization of additional resources, including the sales of an agreed amount of IMF gold, to boost the Fund’s concessional lending capacity up to US$8 billion in the first two years and further to US$17 billion through 2014.
This exceeds the call by the Group of 20 (G-20) for US$6 billion in new lending over two to three years.
Other packages also include doubling of average loan access limits, an Extended Credit Facility (ECF) to provide flexible medium-term support, a Standby Credit Facility (SCF) to address short-term and precautionary needs and a Rapid Credit Facility (RCF), offering emergency support with limited conditionality.
Sayeh commended the government for its effort for stabilizing the economy, stating that the growth rate of between 4.5% and 5% of the Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the period of 2009/2010 is on the low side, but believed that it would improve economic development and poverty reduction.
She said that under the Balance of Payment (BoP) lending arrangement and also the Special Drawing Rights (SDR), IMF has supported the country with US$603 million, specifically for BoP to strengthen the cedi.
At the July meeting, IMF backed a proposal for a new general allocation of $250 billion of SDR into the global economy, of which more than $18 billion will help bolster the foreign exchange reserves and relax the financing constraints of low-income countries.
By Fred SARPONG
Sayeh indicated that the IMF’s Executive Board approved this during their last meeting in the third quarter of this year.
Antoinette Sayeh, the director of the Africa Department, IMF, announced this when she paid a one-day visit to Ghana.
The visit offered her the opportunity to interact with the government officials and stakeholders in the financial sector.
According to her, from 2011, IMF will offer permanent lower interest rates and also bring in a new set of lending instruments, which will streamline conditions and at the same time strengthen their support to Sub-Saharan Africa.
The new IMF concessional lending commitments to low-income countries through mid-July 2009 reached US$2.9 billion compared with US$1.5 billion for the whole of 2008.
The IMF new support package includes mobilization of additional resources, including the sales of an agreed amount of IMF gold, to boost the Fund’s concessional lending capacity up to US$8 billion in the first two years and further to US$17 billion through 2014.
This exceeds the call by the Group of 20 (G-20) for US$6 billion in new lending over two to three years.
Other packages also include doubling of average loan access limits, an Extended Credit Facility (ECF) to provide flexible medium-term support, a Standby Credit Facility (SCF) to address short-term and precautionary needs and a Rapid Credit Facility (RCF), offering emergency support with limited conditionality.
Sayeh commended the government for its effort for stabilizing the economy, stating that the growth rate of between 4.5% and 5% of the Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the period of 2009/2010 is on the low side, but believed that it would improve economic development and poverty reduction.
She said that under the Balance of Payment (BoP) lending arrangement and also the Special Drawing Rights (SDR), IMF has supported the country with US$603 million, specifically for BoP to strengthen the cedi.
At the July meeting, IMF backed a proposal for a new general allocation of $250 billion of SDR into the global economy, of which more than $18 billion will help bolster the foreign exchange reserves and relax the financing constraints of low-income countries.
By Fred SARPONG
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