Business24 Newspaper (May 20. 2020)

EDITION B24 | 46

WEDNESDAY MAY 20, 2020

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Gov’t kickstarts recovery with GH¢600m stimulus African finance ministers pledge to keep servicing commercial debts MORE ON PAGE 3 The Akufo-Addo led government will be hoping for quick gains from the stimulus package to restore economic growth

BY NII ANNERQUAYE ABBEY

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is confident the GH¢600m fund set aside for small and medium-sized businesses affected by the economic fallout of the novel coronavirus pandemic would help resuscitate the ailing economy.

The fund, to be administered by the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), is part of the GH¢1.2bn Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP) which the government introduced in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

According to Akufo-Addo, the fund will be complemented by an additional syndicated GH¢400m loan facility from commercial banks to support economic recovery plans.

“I am confident that the proper application of these funds will help our nation bounce back

FBNBank introduces Unity Link money transfer MORE ON PAGE 5

stronger and better than before,” the President added.

Commenting on the terms of the facility, the President revealed that the GH¢600m will be disbursed as soft loans to the businesses, with up to a one-year grace period and a two-year repayment period.

Businesses that are successful in tapping the fund will be expected to pay up to three percent as interest.

“Additionally, selected participating banks will provide negotiated counterpart funding to the tune of GH¢400m, making, in all, GH¢1bn for disbursement under this Business Support Scheme, with the entire scheme set to attract some 180,000 beneficiaries across the country,” the President said at the launch.

The fund disbursement will be done through

Newly established universities get board MORE ON PAGE 5

MORE ON PAGE 2

Hospitality sector offers investors high promise— Osório MORE ON PAGE 3

Stimulus package for industry must be wellstructured—GNCCI MORE ON PAGE 7

ECONOMIC INDICATORS *EXCHANGE RATE (INT. RATE)

USD$1 =GH¢5.6896*

EXCHANGE RATE (BANK RATE)

USD$1 =GH¢5.6127.*

*POLICY RATE

14.5%*

GHANA REFERENCE RATE

15.12%

OVERALL FISCAL DEFICIT

6.6 % OF GDP

PROJECTED GDP GROWTH RATE PRIMARY BALANCE.

1.5% -1.1% OF GDP

AVERAGE PETROL & DIESEL PRICE:

GHc 5.13*

INTERNATIONAL MARKET BRENT CRUDE $/BARREL

32.50

NATURAL GAS $/MILLION BTUS

1.65

GOLD $/TROY OUNCE

1,743.67

CORN $/BUSHEL

329.50

COCOA $/METRIC TON

2,435

COFFEE $/POUND:

+5.70 ($108.30)

COPPER USD/T OZ.

220.15

SILVER $/TROY OUNCE:

17.07

Copyright @ 2020 Business24 Limited.

All Rights Reserved.

Tel: +233 030 296 5297 editor@thebsuiness24online.net

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EDITORIAL

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Wash your hands 2

Cover your cough 3

Huge relief for small and medium enterprises Private sector businesses can heave a sigh of relief with the launch of their share of the GHS1.2billion Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP) by President Nana Addo Dankwa AkufoAddo yesterday.

The GHC 600million to be disbursed to some MSMEs with interest pegged at 3percent comes in handy to businesses that face collapse amid the virus crisis.

Close to 80percent of private sector businesses are SMEs and it is such businesses that provide the most jobs but unfortunately the ravaging effect of the Covid-19 has placed these businesses in dire straits.

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, at the launch of the scheme noted that while the scheme is

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Editorial Team Dominic Andoh: Editor Eugene Kwabena Davis (Head of Parliamentary Business & Commodities) Benson Afful (Head of Energy & Education) Patrick Paintsil (Head of Maritime & Banking) Nii Annerquaye Abbey (Online Editor) Marketing Alexander Lartey Agyemang (Business Development Manager) Ruth Fosua Tetteh (Dept. Business Development Manager) Gifty Mensah (Marketing Manager) Irene Mottey (Sales Manager) Edna Eyram Swatson (Special Projects Manager ) Events Evelyn Kanyoke (Snr. Events Consultant) Finance/Administration Joseph Ackon Bissue (Accountant)

government’s response and strategic initiatives it continues to roll out to cushion private business and Ghanaian entrepreneurs considering proposed packages for other key sectors of the economy, especially aviation and hospitality sectors.

Whiles commending the government for these support programmes, we urge beneficiaries of this package to use the facility judiciously and for the intended purpose for more businesses to access such interventions as and when they are needed most.

Gov’t kickstarts recovery with GH¢600m stimulus (…CONTINUED FROM COVER )

Wear a mask

targeted at businesses affected by the economic downturn caused by the pandemic, businesses in growth sectors that require additional capital to expand and meet growing demand for COVID-19-related goods and services are also eligible to apply.

Some of the sectors the scheme is expected to benefit include agriculture and agro-businesses; manufacturing; water and sanitation; tourism and hospitality; education; food and beverages; technology; transportation; commerce and trade; healthcare and pharmaceuticals; and textiles and garments.

Business24 applauds the

selected participating banks.

The President noted that while the scheme is targeted at businesses affected by the economic downturn caused by the pandemic, businesses in growth sectors that require additional capital to expand and meet growing demand for COVID19-related goods and services are also eligible to apply.

Some of the sectors the scheme is expected to benefit include agriculture and agro-businesses; manufacturing; water and sanitation; tourism and hospitality; education; food and beverages; technology; transportation; commerce and trade; healthcare and pharmaceuticals; and textiles and garments.

To be eligible for the scheme, beneficiaries are expected to be either self-employed, sole proprietors, or engaged in a limited liability, partnership, or joint-venture arrangement.

“A total of 99 employees is the limit of employment for any qualifying enterprise. The qualifying enterprise will be encouraged to belong to a trade association or group, and be registered with NBSSI. The application process starts tomorrow, 20th May, and ends on Saturday, 20th June,” the President said.

Akufo-Addo tasked the businesses that will be successful to use the funds for the

intended purpose.

“Together, we can work to grow our economy once again. Smaller enterprises can access funds from the Adom Micro Loans, and larger ones from the Anidasuo Soft Loan. This whole scheme is meant to engender compassion and hope, the pillars upon which we will build a new postCOVID Ghana.”

The NBSSI last week revealed that to ensure a smooth application process for all eligible candidates, application forms have been made available online on the website of NBSSI (www.nbssi.gov.gh) as well as via a USSD code across all mobile networks.

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African finance ministers pledge to keep servicing commercial debts

BY BENSON AFFUL The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has convened a meeting between African finance ministers, the Africa Private Sector Working Group, and the African Union (AU) Special Envoy on COVID-19 as the search continues for solutions to ensure African economies enjoy continued market access and meet their private sector debt service obligations.

The meeting aimed at finding new financing solutions to provide additional resources for countries to mitigate the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and ways to improve the profile and terms of Africa’s commercial debt obligations so that Africa can better confront the health crisis.

The discussion engaged the recently formed Africa Private Sector Working Group (PSWG), which represents leading private creditors to African countries.

Ms. Vera Songwe, ECA’s Executive Secretary, said African countries are committed to meeting all their obligations to commercial creditors in a timely manner and want to maintain access to international debt markets for the build-back period.

“Most African countries were on a successful reform track prior to the crisis; that is why they had access to the capital markets,” she said.

Discussions focused on ways in which the interests of both African governments and commercial creditors could be aligned to deal with the double crisis of a health pandemic and an economic recession.

The finance ministers agreed on the importance of maintaining Eurobond coupon payments so as to maintain post-pandemic access to international debt markets for development finance, and on having an ongoing coordinated dialogue with creditors.

Speaking on behalf of the creditor group, Mr. Kevin Daly, Senior Investment Manager at Aberdeen Asset Management, said: “We expressed our desire to support African countries address liquidity pressures that have arisen due to the crisis, and by ensuring they remain current on their Eurobonds, we believe financing opportunities will materialise soon.”

He said the creditor group was proposing some innovative financing solutions, such as special purpose bonds that are targeted to social development goals.

“These would be appealing to

Ken Ofori-Atta has been championing African finance ministers’ debt talks with creditors

investors who are increasingly focused on social development goal issues and instruments that are partially guaranteed by multilateral institutions and that could help to ease liquidity pressures,” Mr. Daly said.

For his part, former Credit Suisse boss and Ivorian cabinet minister, African Union Special Envoy Tidjane Thiam, who chaired the meeting, said: “We are all aligned; we want Africa to develop and grow, so let us work together on concrete solutions.

Time is of the essence.”

The Africa PSWG coordinates the views of over 25 of the world’s foremost asset managers and financial institutions providing private finance to nations and companies through Eurobonds, syndicated loans and other credit

products across the continent.

The group expressed the view that a one-size-fits-all solution would be counterproductive for African nations but welcomed the need to discuss coordinated approaches where possible and expedient.

All ministers, including the ones from Kenya, Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana, stressed the importance of keeping market access, and agreed that more work is needed to communicate the good economic track record of their countries prior to the crisis.

The meeting agreed to continue discussions towards rapid, pragmatic and effective solutions on Africa’s commercial debt to manage the COVID-19 crisis and turn Africa back to growth-restoring policies and actions.

The ECA, in its report launched early this month, estimated that a full one-month lockdown across Africa would cost the continent about 2.5 percent of its annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP), equivalent to about US$65.7bn per month.

This is “in addition to the wider external shock of lower commodity prices and investment flows,” the commission said in the report titled “COVID-19: Lockdown Exit Strategies for Africa”, which was issued on May 7.

Hospitality sector offers investors high promise—Osório

BY DOMINICK ANDOH Investment in hospitality-related real estate presents a unique opportunity for investors to strategically position themselves to benefit from post-COVID-19 expected growth in the hospitality sector in Ghana, despite the prediction of a year-long aftershock.

Given the impact of the current pandemic on the tourism and hospitality and real estate sectors, many are worried that there will be another financial crisis, similar to that of 2008, that will impact confidence in real estate.

Indeed, some banks in Europe have instituted measures that require up to 40 percent deposit or equity for a new mortgage to be approved.

Some workers have been made redundant, and this will significantly impact on individuals’ abilities to

pay rent and mortgages.

Jorge Osório, the Group Sales and Marketing Director, Devtraco Group—a leading real estate company—writing for Business24 notes that these present challenges make investing in the hotel market an ideal option.

“This is the best time to invest [in the hospitality industry] precisely on the back of the current economic recession. According to a report that we have just received from HTI Consulting, our preferred partner in feasibility studies when it comes to hospitality, and data gotten from STR, a global hospitality data analytics firm, the average annual international hotel occupancy rate in Accra grew 22 percent between 2016 and 2019 and stood at 66 percent.

“This growth [was] despite the increased number of hotels in Accra, like Kempinski, Marriott, Kwarleyz,

and Ibis’ rebranding. Average daily rates in Accra, for the same period, increased by 23 percent, from GH¢714 to GH¢877, and the average revenue per available room (RevPAR) increased by amazing 55 percent to GH¢578,” he noted.

The high demand for few existing quality international hotels portends a vibrant sector post-COVID-19 that will yield good returns to those who invest now.

Mr. Osório adds that: “First and foremost, there are different kinds and sizes of hotels, from small boutique establishments to global hotel chains. As such, a hotel investment may not be as out of

reach or beyond your budget as you might think, especially through a smart investment.

“Unlike other types of commercial real estate, like residential property or retail spaces, hotels can adjust their room rates daily. There is no fixed medium- to long-term lease: each night is an opportunity to increase revenue by raising prices to match demand.

“Although this means that the hotel industry is usually one of the first to suffer in an economic downturn (as is the case presently), it also means that it has the capacity to recover quicker than other industries.”

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FBNBank introduces Unity Link money transfer

BY BENSON AFFUL FBNBank Ghana Limited has announced a new partnership with Unity Link Financial Services for instant money transfers to all FBNBank Ghana accounts in a fast and secure way.

This forms part of the bank’s commitment to improve virtual payment and money transfer services in the country and the global financial space.

Country Head, Technology & Services at FBNBank Ghana, Mrs. Rachel Adeshina, said the bank’s introduction of the Unity Link money transfer service is based on its proposition to always put customers first by ensuring that its products and services are tailored to meet their needs and aspirations.

She said FBNBank Ghana rolled out the Unity Link money transfer services to leverage the wide e-platform capabilities it offers to further ease the money transfer process for their numerous customers that constantly seek new and easier payment options.

The Unity Link money transfer service allows customers to receive their remittances directly into their accounts with the bank.

With the introduction of the service, FBNBank Ghana now provides money transfer services for a total of seven operators such as Western Union, MoneyGram, Ria, Sigue, TransFast, and Wari.

Non customers of the bank can also pick up their Unity Link remittances from any branch of the bank.

Unity Link is a non-bank financial institution authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and registered with the HMRC in the UK and by regulators in other European countries to provide money transfer and other related business services.

FBNBank Ghana Limited, formerly International Commercial Bank (ICB) has been in the business of banking for 24 years in this country. FBNBank has 21 branches and agencies in Ghana, employing over 400 Ghanaians and providing indirect employment for its numerous Ghanaian service provider companies.

Newly established universities get councils

BY BENSON AFFUL Minister for Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has urged two newly-established universities to be mindful of their core mandates as reflected in their names and work assiduously towards achieving them, and to ensure that they provide the strategic direction needed for your university to remain true to this path.

He made these remarks when he inaugurated, on behalf of the President, the governing councils of two new universities at a brief ceremony in Accra.

It would be recalled that in November 2018, President Akufo-Addo, speaking at the 25th graduation ceremony of the University for Development Studies (UDS) in Tamale, announced that Cabinet had given approval for the Wa and Navrongo campuses of the university to become autonomous universities.

The C.K Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences and the S. D Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies were thus established respectively by Parliament in 2019.

The minister further urged the two councils to ensure the prudent use of the universities’ financial resources to ensure that it is getting value for money. This means keen oversight and adherence to rigorous financial and accounting principles.

He reminded them that they

are ultimately responsible for the financial health of the university.

“Your charge is to ensure peace and stability for a conducive atmosphere to enable academic work to proceed smoothly. That conducive atmosphere should have as its principal aim the building of a tent that is accommodating, diverse and tolerant.

A university campus must not serve as the breeding grounds for

violence, unsocial behaviour or ethnic division because it is the grooming ground for future leaders of this country”, he reminded them.

The Council of the C.K Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences is chaired by Prof.

Gordon Akanzuwine, whilst the S D Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies council is chaired by Prof. Felix Dapare Dakora.

Officials present at the event included Prof. Kwesi Yankah, Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education, Mrs. Gifty Twum-Ampofo, Deputy Minister of Education (TVET), Mr. Benjamin Gyasi, Chief Director, Ministry of Education and Prof. Mohammed Salifu, Executive Secretary of the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE).

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Stimulus package for industry must be well-structured—GNCCI

BY KWASI ANKU The Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) has said government’s stimulus package for industry should be structured to address input supplies and production capacities of businesses.

Nana Dr. Appiagyei Dankawoso I, President of the GNCCI said as the single largest procurer and consumer of goods and services, government should leverage this to stimulate local production, growth and development.

Dr. Dankawoso I, was speaking in a webinar organised by the Chamber on the theme: “COVID-19, Strategies for Business Survival and Growth.”

He urged government to consult with the financial industry players to urgently make known the modalities required to enable large enterprises to access the GH¢3billion syndicated loans, adding “businesses needed to be supported and this must be done quickly.”

Nana Dankawoso I said government’s stimulus package should be structured to address input supplies, production capacities, end markets, and employee management given firm size and business sector.

He said the outbreak of COVID-19 has affected entirely every aspect of human life and National economies were faced with disruptions in their usual activities with severe risks to the global economy.

“In particular, there have been shutdowns of factories, lay-offs, reduction in working hours, redundancy and disruptions in global value chains as attendant effects of the current pandemic,” he said.

The President commended government for implementing, a number of measures in consultation with key stakeholders.

He said as the representative organ of the business community, the GNCCI undertook a business survey to elicit the concerns and expectations of the business community on the pandemic towards ensuring an effective engagement with government and other stakeholders.

He said the results show that business respondents were generally satisfied with the communication on COVID-19 and government response.

Dr. Dankawoso I said businesses have been proactive in curbing the spread with the predominate responses being increasing awareness and keeping workplace safe and hygienic.

“Others include investing in personal protective equipment, working from home, or taking paidleave,” he said.

He said the total estimated financial cost of COVID-19 per the 108 sampled business respondents was GH¢39,823,407 and the results showed that, on average,

the estimated financial cost of the pandemic on businesses differs and increases with firm sizes.

He said for the micro enterprise it was estimated at GH¢22,500; small enterprise GH¢50,000; medium enterprise GH¢500,000; and large enterprise GH¢600,000.

The President said the survey suggested that government’s stimulus package of GHc600 million to be disbursed among about 200,000 SMEs was woefully inadequate Professor Peter Quartey, Director, Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, University of Ghana, said there was the need for salary support for employees as has been done in other countries.

He said loans could not be used to

pay salaries of workers, especially, when SMEs are not operating.

He said government interventions, though significant, was inadequate to steer the economy from recession.

Prof Quartey said the intervention was approximately about 3.2 per cent of GDP compared to South Africa’s 10 per cent of GDP stimulus support.

He explained that the NBSSI loan of GH¢600 million does not support payment of salaries of employees of businesses but in the case of South Africa, 40 million Rand out of 500 million Rand was allocated for salaries of employees of affected businesses. He urged government to seek additional support, including expenditure prioritization to stimulate private businesses.

RSIF PhD Scholarship opens The Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and technology (PASET) is calling for applicants to apply for it 3-4year doctoral training in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology The Partnership for skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET) is an African-led initiative with the goal of strengthening skills in the Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology to further socioeconomic transformation in subSaharan Africa (SSA).

The Regional Scholarship and innovation Fund is the flagship program of PASET. RSIF focuses on transformative technologies that have a far-reaching positive impact on society. It is funded by contributions from African governments, the World Bank and the Government of Korea and facilitated by the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Nairobi, Kenya.

RSIF aims to train quality PhD students and post-doctoral

researchers at selected African universities (African Host Universities) to address the human resource gap of highly qualified specialists in the fields of applied sciences, engineering, and technology (ASET) and to contribute to improving research

and innovation capacities in those fields in SSA. RSIF also supports the strengthening of research and innovation ecosystems at the African Host Universities by providing funding through competitive grants.

RSIF supports training, research

and innovation in five PASET Priority Thematic Areas: (1) ICT including big data and artificial intelligence, (2) Food security and agri-business, (3) Minerals, mining and materials engineering, (4) Energy including renewables and (5) Climate change.

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Making economies more resilient to downturns

BY JOHN BLUEDORN AND WENJIE CHEN

T

he world is in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing Great Lockdown has pushed many countries into deep recessions—worse than during the 2008–09 global financial crisis. In response, governments and central banks all over the world have introduced strong discretionary (one-off and specific) fiscal and monetary measures to counteract the economic fallout caused by the spread of the coronavirus. Existing automatic stabilizers (such as income-based taxes and unemployment and household benefits), which differ across countries, have generally operated freely, providing some further cushion.

But with interest rates at record lows and public debts at historical highs in many countries, how can advanced economies best prepare for and respond to future downturns? Analysis in our recent World Economic Outlook completed before the pandemic looks at how advanced economies could build their resilience to negative shocks in such an environment. It finds that rules-based fiscal stimulus— where the stimulus is automatically triggered by deteriorating macroeconomic indicators—can be highly effective in countering a downturn under such conditions.

A larger role for fiscal policy With interest rates at or near zero in advanced economies, the scope for further conventional rate cuts is limited. But central banks may still use unconventional monetary policy tools more intensively—like large-scale asset purchases—to deliver additional support, as they have recently in response to the pandemic. However, relying on monetary policy alone to respond to shocks might not be enough and also raises questions about side effects on future financial stability and threats to central bank independence.

While keeping an eye on debt sustainability concerns over the long term, fiscal policy needs to play a larger role. Putting in place more automatic fiscal responses in advanced economies could help build their resilience to future adverse shocks. If rules for fiscal stimulus are well communicated and established before shocks occur, they can help shape expectations and reduce uncertainty, thereby dampening the drop in activity once a negative shock materializes.

A case for more automatic fiscal stimulus Our study shows that rules-based fiscal stimulus measures—such as temporary targeted cash transfers to

liquidity-constrained, low-income households that kick in when the unemployment rate rises above a certain threshold—could be highly effective in countering a downturn caused by a typical demand shortfall.

Although these stimulus measures would be automatic, they are very different from traditional automatic stabilizers, which instead respond to an individual’s circumstances (for example, being laid-off in the case of unemployment insurance or lower incomes in the case of progressive income taxes). Rulesbased fiscal stimulus is particularly effective when interest rates are at their effective lower bound (when rates cannot be cut further) and discretionary fiscal policy lags are long. Moreover, fiscal stimulus after demand shocks tend to be especially powerful when the economy has unemployed resources and monetary policy is accommodative.

When demand falls suddenly, the fall in output and rise in debt ratios are smaller when a rulesbased fiscal stimulus is in place to support the economy. In fact, our findings suggest that when rulesbased fiscal stimulus measures are adopted, economic downturns can be countered nearly as effectively as when monetary policy is able to operate at full strength.

The current economic shock from the pandemic is unusual as it has affected both supply and demand.

Even though the political will for action has rapidly coalesced in response to the current shock, its unrivaled speed and depth have complicated the design and timely delivery of discretionary fiscal support. When workers and firms are unable to operate while the epidemic is active, the effectiveness of fiscal stimulus to boost output (the multiplier) is low. Nonetheless, even in these circumstances, a rulesbased fiscal stimulus implemented ahead of time could have been helpful, especially in the form of targeted transfers. These measures could provide further income insurance and strengthen the social safety net for the vulnerable.

Our findings suggest that policymakers should consider enhancing fiscal policy’s automatic response to negative shocks, helping to improve the economy’s resilience. In parallel, even if interest rates cannot be cut further, monetary policy can support fiscal stimulus in a recession by maintaining an accommodative stance, including by easing financial market conditions.

Designing and adopting new fiscal tools—like rules-based fiscal stimulus measures—and improving existing automatic stabilizers will take time and require political agreement. But with automatic policies for fiscal stimulus in place, the risks that political hurdles

delay responses when economic conditions deteriorate are lower.

Moreover, when monetary policy is constrained, having in place rulesbased fiscal stimulus measures can markedly reduce the likelihood of demand-driven recessions.

This does not mean that discretionary fiscal policy becomes redundant. In fact, discretionary fiscal measures, appropriately tailored to the specific circumstances and the nature of the negative shock—like the pandemic shock—are essential to provide powerful countercyclical support. But they must be adopted and deployed in a timely manner.

A more agile response to future recessions Given historical delays in the implementation of discretionary

fiscal stimulus and the helpful effects of setting expectations by adopting rules for action in advance, there is a strong case for a more automatic fiscal response to economic downturns. Our analysis shows that adopting rules-based fiscal stimulus measures can be highly effective and more timely, particularly when central bank interest rates are close to or at their effective lower bound and monetary policy is constrained.

Based on Chapter 2 of the World Economic Outlook, “Countering Future Recessions in Advanced Economies: Cyclical Policies in an Era of Low Rates and High Debt,”

by Michal Andrle, Philip Barrett, John Bluedorn (co-lead), Francesca Caselli, and Wenjie Chen (co-lead).

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The number of female CEOs in the Fortune 500 hits an all-time record

T

he number of women running America’s largest corporations has hit a new high; 37 of the companies on this year’s Fortune 500 are led by female CEOs. The Fortune 500, which ranks America’s largest companies, has long been seen as a microcosm of U.S. business at large. For that reason, the number of female chief executives on the list is closely watched statistic among those who track gender diversity in board rooms and C-suites across the country.

This year’s tally soundly beats last year’s 33, which was itself a new record. Yet the big picture is less encouraging: even with a record 37 female CEOs, women run just 7.4% of the 500 businesses on the ranking. (For perspective: Twenty years ago, women ran two.) Only in the past four years has the growth of women in these roles accelerated past 30—a general upwards trend, though there have been dips along the way.

The number of women running Fortune 500 companies is influenced by several factors, including executive leadership changes and companies either growing to make the list for the first time, or shrinking to fall off of it. So while the ever-vacillating number is not a scientific assessment of the state of women in American business, it does provide a useful snapshot.

Some of this year’s new additions arrived on the list after taking over Fortune 500 companies from male predecessors in the past year.

Carol Tomé, a longtime Home Depot executive, will begin her run as CEO of UPS on June 1.

Heyward Donigan, a veteran health care executive, became CEO of Rite Aid in August 2019—

in time to keep the drug store running through the pressures of the coronavirus pandemic. After Gap Inc. scuttled a plan to spin off Old Navy into what would have been a standalone Fortune 500 company, Sonia Syngal, who had been tapped to run that business, was instead promoted to run the entire corporation. Kristin C. Peck became chief executive of the $6.3 billion animal health company Zoetis in January. And Jennifer Johnson took over her family business, the $5.8 billion investment manager Franklin Resources, from her brother in February.

Some women among the group of 37 are leaders of companies that broke into the Fortune 500 for the first time this year (the revenue threshold for a company to make the list was $5.7 billion). That group includes Barbara R. Smith, the CEO of $5.8 billion materials business Commercial Metals, and Nazzic S. Keene, CEO of the $6.4 billion government information technology company Science Applications International.

Within the ranks of the 37 women who make up this list, a longstanding problem persists: there is starkly little racial diversity.

Only three of the 37 are women of color: Gap Inc.’s Syngal, Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su, and Yum China CEO Joey Wat. Not one of the 500 companies on the list has a black woman at the helm. That’s a drop-off from last year, when Mary Winston, interim CEO of Bed, Bath, and Beyond, was the only black woman among these chief executives; she has since been replaced with a permanent CEO. No Latinas are in these roles either. (Past black and Latina Fortune 500 female chiefs include former Xerox CEO Ursula Burns and former PG&E CEO Geisha Williams.)

There are some familiar names missing from the list of female Fortune 500 chiefs this year.

Eight-year IBM CEO Ginni Rometty stepped down in April; she is now serving as chairman through the end of 2020. As of June 15, Marillyn Hewson will no longer be CEO of Lockheed Martin; when she assumed the job in 2013, she became the first woman to run America’s biggest defense contractor. KeyCorp CEO Beth Mooney left her role of nearly a decade in May, while Melisa Miller lasted just five months as chief executive of $6.6 billion Alliance Data Systems.

Other changes of note in the past year include Safra Catz’s leadership at Oracle; she is now the sole CEO of the company after the death of her co-CEO Mark Hurd. At AutoNation, the country’s largest dealership chain, CEO Cheryl Miller is on a health-related leave of absence but is still included in this tally. And Judy Marks is the CEO of $13 billion Otis Elevator, but a technicality prevents her from being included in this group. Otis spun off

from Raytheon Technologies in April, a development not considered for this year’s Fortune 500, which is based on the 2019 fiscal year; if Marks is still in charge of the new standalone company when it is expected to make the Fortune 500 this time next year, she will be added to the list.

While the overall picture—that women run 7.4% of the businesses on the Fortune 500—is significant, there are some more micro trends worth noting. Many of these women leaders are concentrated at the bottom of the Fortune 500, where the companies are smaller. Only seven women run Fortune 100 companies; Mary Barra, CEO of the $137 billion auto giant General Motors, runs the largest. Several female CEOs are concentrated in retail, from Corie Barry’s Best Buy to Barbara Rentler’s Ross Stores to Laura Alber’s Williams-Sonoma, while female leadership among the Fortune 500’s tech companies remains rare. (fortune.com)

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Covid-19 and Climate Change

BY KOFI AKPABLI

L

ast week, during a phone chat with Mrs. Stella Appenteng of Apstar Tours, the matter of COVID-19 and the healing of our environment came up.

Mrs. Appenteng, who is also a Council member of Ghana Tourism Federation (GHATOF) said that she has started seeing blue skies as well as the new movements of certain birds where she lives. This gave me the idea for this piece.

The streets of the world are half-deserted after authorities implemented restrictions on movement. Flights have been cancelled and thousands of factories closed to production.

All these are aimed at controlling the spread of Covid-19, and hopefully reducing the death toll.

But something magical has also been happening in the air. These changes have led to some unexpected but happy consequences. As industries, transport networks and businesses have closed down; it has brought a sudden drop in carbon emissions.

The skies have cleared around Beirut, Lebanon – a city known for high levels of air pollution Compared with this time last year, levels of pollution in New York have reduced by nearly 50% because of measures to contain the virus.

In China, emissions fell 25% at the start of the year as people were instructed to stay at home.

In Europe, satellite images show

nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions fading away over northern Italy. A similar story is playing out in Spain and the UK. Only a pandemic like COVID-19 could have led to such a profound change so fast. Economic activity has stalled and stock markets have tumbled alongside the falling carbon emissions.

A global pandemic that is claiming people’s lives certainly shouldn’t be seen as a way of bringing about environmental change either. For one thing, it is far from certain how lasting this dip in emissions will be. When the pandemic eventually subsides, will carbon and pollutant emissions “bounce back”?

In terms of routine trips like commuting, those miles left untravelled during the pandemic aren’t going to come back. These moments of crisis can highlight how important those priorities are and help people focus on the health and wellbeing of family, friends and community.

This is not the first time an epidemic has left its mark on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Throughout history, the spread of disease has been linked to lower emissions – even well before the industrial age.

Epidemics such as the Black Death in Europe in the 14th Century, and the epidemics of diseases such as smallpox brought to South America with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th Century, both left subtle marks on atmospheric CO2 levels.

The impact from today’s outbreak is not predicted to lead to anywhere

near the same number of deaths, and it is unlikely to lead to widespread change in land use. The reduction in emissions then was largely due to reduced industrial activity, which contributes carbon emissions on a comparable scale to transport.

Combined emissions from industrial processes, manufacturing and construction make up 18.4% of global anthropogenic emissions.

The financial crash of 2008-09 led to an overall dip in emissions of 1.3%. But this quickly rebounded by 2010 as the economy recovered, leading to an all-time high.

One factor that could influence whether or not these emissions bounce back is how long the coronavirus pandemic lasts.

According experts, overall, 2020 may still see a drop in global emissions.

There are other, less direct ways that coronavirus could have a longerterm impact on sustainability, too.

One is pushing the climate crisis off people’s minds, as the more pressing concern of immediately saving lives takes precedence.

The other is quite simply making discussion around climate more difficult as mass events are postponed. There may be another way that the behavioural changes taking place around the world could carry over beyond the current coronavirus pandemic.

During the coronavirus outbreak, those habits that are coincidentally good for the climate might be travelling less or, perhaps, cutting down on food waste as we experience shortages due to

stockpiling.

One response to the coronavirus outbreak that has drawn mixed reactions from climate scientists is the ways that many communities have taken big steps to protect each other from the health crisis. The speed and extent of the response has given some hope that rapid action could also be taken on climate change if the threat it poses was treated as urgently.

It’s safe to say that no one would have wanted for emissions to be lowered this way. Covid-19 has taken a grim global toll on lives, health services, jobs and mental health.

But, if anything, it has also shown the difference that communities can make when they look out for each other – and that’s one lesson that could be invaluable in dealing with climate change.

Kofi Akpabli is an academic, journalist, publisher, tourism consultant and cultural activist

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The pandemic is shaking the dollar’s supremacy

BY BENJAMIN J. COHEN

W

ith the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, the United States seems to have developed a severe case of what psychologists call dissociative identity disorder: it is simultaneously projecting two distinct personalities.

On the one hand, the US Federal Reserve has responsibly assumed a leadership role in international finance, as it did during the 2008 global financial crisis. In March, the Fed quickly resurrected a network of bilateral currency-swap arrangements with some 14 foreign central banks, and introduced new repurchase (repo) facilities for an even broader array of monetary authorities, thus ensuring an ample supply of US dollars to meet global liquidity needs. America’s central bank has once again become the world’s lender of last resort.

On the other hand, America’s president, Donald Trump, has irresponsibly rejected the idea that international cooperation is needed to combat the impact of COVID-19 on public health and economic activity. He remains beholden to the principle of “America First,” which means that other governments must look elsewhere for any semblance of leadership. When given the opportunity, the Trump administration has made clear that it will act alone and solely in the “national interest,” as defined by the president’s own narrow transactional worldview.

This display of conflicting identities

is hardly a sign of American fitness, nor does it augur well for the US dollar, long the world’s dominant currency. The longer America puts two faces forward, the likelier it will be to fall from its long-held position atop the international monetary and financial system. After all, how much longer will international investors and foreign governments trust the money of an increasingly unreliable partner?

To be sure, there is little risk of a mass exodus from the dollar at the moment. The Fed’s latest actions are a response to higher demand for dollars (rather than a safeguard against panic sales). This suggests that, if anything, the COVID-19 crisis has reaffirmed the greenback’s critical role as the ultimate safe haven.

Nonetheless, before the pandemic erupted, it was increasingly evident that investors and central banks were looking for alternatives to the “unloved dollar standard,” owing to the Trump administration’s unpredictable behavior and toxic brand of xenophobic nationalism.

Around the world, there is palpable resentment over Trump’s indiscriminate use of financial sanctions to punish countries such as Iran, as well as any country that does business with it, including US allies. By “weaponizing” the dollar’s central role in international settlements, Trump has long been inviting others to return fire.

China, in particular, has been increasingly proactive in promoting the renminbi as an alternative to the dollar, not least by gradually opening its $13 trillion domestic bond market (the world’s secondlargest) to foreign institutional

investors.

Likewise, European countries have launched a new mechanism specifically designed to bypass US sanctions on Iranian oil exports.

With the greenback already slowly bleeding out, the pandemic inevitably will open the wound even wider. That, in turn, will have far-reaching implications for America’s influence in the world and, ultimately, for the US-led postwar international order.

The greenback’s contribution to US power is well understood. As the issuer of the world’s dominant currency, America has long enjoyed what Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, then France’s finance minister, famously called an “exorbitant privilege.” As long as foreigners are hungry for dollars, the US can spend whatever it needs to project power around the world, simply by speeding up the printing press. It also can wield influence more directly, such as by making greenbacks available to friends while withholding them from foes.

But now, Trump’s capricious behavior and pursuit of isolationism threaten to erode US geopolitical power significantly. And once US power is widely seen to be on the wane, the greenback will start to lose some of its appeal, setting in motion a vicious circle: a weaker dollar begets a weaker US, which begets a weaker dollar, and so on.

Indeed, the pound sterling followed a similar pattern in the twentieth century. Sterling’s loss of international standing was both a cause and an effect of Britain’s slowmotion decline from an imperial power to a middling island power off the coast of continental Europe. The

dollar is not immune to the same kind of progressive degeneration.

The decline of the US and the dollar’s standing would remove one of the key pillars of the postwar liberal order. For many, that order has been synonymous with US geopolitical dominance. But in the absence of US leadership, competing political models are coming to the fore, promoting nationalism, populism, and various stripes of “illiberal democracy.”

America’s split personality will affect more than just Americans. Barring a return to form in Washington, DC, the prognosis for the dollar-centric post-war order looks grim.

Benjamin J. Cohen, Professor of International Political Economy at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is the author, most recently, of Currency Statecraft: Monetary Rivalry and Geopolitical Ambition.

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2020. www.project-syndicate.org.

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Galamsey is killing Ghana’s renewable energy dream

BY SAMSON ADDO

G

hana, a peaceful West Africa nation, is known for its welcoming people. It was the dream of the First president of the then Gold Goast to make Ghana, the Gateway to Africa. To achieve this there needs to be pragmatic and bold policies that harness natural, human and technology to accelerate development.

Successive governments from Kwame Nkrumah through to Nana Addo Dankwah Akuffo-Addo made notable efforts to drive economic development by attracting foreign direct investment whilst at the same time stimulating indigenous production of goods and services through adoption of sound business practices that boost growth. Despite these efforts, certain challenges continue to present themselves in Ghana as fleas on a poor dog’s skin.

One of them is the galamsey menace which successive governments have unsuccessfully attempted to combat. This article attempts to examine the effect of galamsey on our quest to improve our energy mix through development of renewable energies.

Renewable Energy Policy Space The world is in dire need of clean energy to drive economic growth. This need has engendered several efforts aimed at promoting renewable energy use across the globe. Ghana has also instituted a number of policy interventions to position the country as a nation capable of driving the clean energy agenda. In 2011 Ghana passed the Renewable Energy Act 823 to set the broad legal framework within which renewable energy interventions can be sustainably executed in line with its development dream.

The purpose for developing the legislative instrument as stipulated in section 1 of the Act is to provide for the development, management and utilization of renewable energy sources for the production of heat and power in an efficient and environmentally sustainable manner.

In the attempt to actualize the desire to improve the contribution of renewable energies like wind, solar, hydro and biomass in the energy generation mix of the country, Ghana with the support of development partners developed the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4LL) Action plan in 2011. The aim of the plan is of plan is to help Ghana to take result oriented actions to realize the SE4LL global goals including ensuring universals access to modern energy sources and doubling the share of the renewable energy in the energy mix. As far as renewable energy is concerned Ghana planned in 2010, to attain a 10% contribution of renewable energy sources to the total energy mix of the nation by 2020 but this target has been shifted

to 2030 in line with SE4LL global goals.

Additionally in Feb 2019 Ghana again developed the Renewable Energy Master Plan to push the renewable energy sector with the capacity to sustainably utilise resources and transform Ghana into a country with expertise in renewable energy research, production, and services. Also according to the National Energy Strategy of 2010 Ghana aims at achieving Universal Access to Electricity by the year 2020, but this timeline has been shifted to 2025 due to some challenges.

Gradual gains are being made within the renewable energy space. The actual contribution of renewable energy to the total energy mix was 0.20%, 1.00% and 1.60% in 2013, 2015 and 2019 respectively. The implication is that more concerted efforts need to be activated both at the National and local government levels to achieve the goal.

Renewable energy – mini or Medium Hydro Potentials One source of renewable energy is mini and medium hydro. Feasibility studies have been conducted on our numerous water bodies to access their potential contribution to renewable energy of the country.

Ghana is indeed abound with a lot of opportunities and we are not lacking in the ability to generate additional energy through the mini and medium hydro infrastructure.

Nine regions from the north to south are identified to hold the potential for the development of electricity through mini/medium hydro facilities. Included are Western, Western North, Central, Bono, Volta and Ashanti Regions. Some of the rivers identified in these regions to hold the capacity to host medium or mini hydro dams include Pra, Ankobra, Enu, Offin, Tano and Tain.

In terms of capacity, for example Oti, Tano and Pra rivers are estimate to support generation of 90MW, 118MW and 220MW of electricity respectively. In 2019 the first 45KW mini hydro (without dam) facility at Tsatsadu was commissioned by the Bui Power Authority in Volta Region to contribute to the generation of electricity. This is a testament that we hold the resources to attain sustainable electricity supply through hydro.

The Challenge to Renewable energy (Hydro) In spite of the availability of the water bodies to support future development we are faced with real challenges. Apart from weak currency, inadequate technical knowledge and financing deficiency, the Renewable Energy Master Plan identified human and sociocultural challenges as one of the impediments to developing mini hydro sites to improve renewable energy generation. At the core of the human and socio cultural challenge is the menace of illegal small scale mining otherwise known popularly

in Ghana as galamsey.

Galamsey is practiced notoriously in many communities, in the regions mentioned above, such as Asakragua, Prestea, Twifi Praso, Obuasi, Tain, Oda and some communities around Black Volta.

Most the activities of the local illegal miners, with the connivance of foreign nationals from other African Countries and Asia, especially China, have rendered our water bodies heavily polluted posing dander to human lives, aquatic organisms and jeopardizing the capacity of the identified water bodies to support mini/medium electricity generation. Rivers such as Pra, Ofin, Birim, Tano and Ankobra are heavily polluted to the extent that one needs no scientific study to understand the extent of destruction because the mere natural coluour of the rivers is completely lost i.e. from colourless to distressing yellow or brownish.

Do you need a well written theory to understand the galamsey business? Probably not. For those who live in the Western, Central, Eastern and Bono regions of Ghana, describing galamsey ‘business’ is just a story one yearns for its quick end. Not only has it almost become a normal business but there are suspicions about the sincerity of authorities in taking the right actions to end the illegal activity.

People who engage in galamsey are considered by authorities as engaging in illegal mining activities but only few people are arrested and dealt with the law.

The pollution of the river with excessively high levels of mud and chemicals has significantly impeded the swift flow of the identified waterbodies hence limiting their hydro potentials. The current state of the river bodies is not an impetus for attracting investment and this can negatively affect our renewable energy dream in future.

The destruction of forest along the waterbodies also goes to negatively affect rainfall patterns which in turn limits the volume of water that flows to our existing large hydro dams.

Way Forward A bold and a non-political decision is needed to address this national problem. The issue is that it’s difficult for a political institution to make a non-political decision.

A non-partisan task force whose

leadership is not appointed by the government but nominated by relevant professional and other concerned stakeholders must be resourced to strictly enforce the law on galamsey.

I strongly agree to the suggestion that there is the need to collaborate with relevant stakeholders to create buffer zones and undertake reforestation along river bodies, and prevent mining, farming and logging activities. The punitive regime for dealing with recalcitrant illegal miners must be very deterrent enough and political interference must be absent.

At the institutional level there needs to be enhanced collaboration among the relevant institutions including Forestry Commission, Lands commission, Mistry of Food and Agriculture, Water Resources commission, The Police and Military, Traditional authorities, Ministry of Science and Technology, Local Government structures (Municipal and District Assemblies and the Media.

The government must ensure taxes paid by the citizens are used well to among other things create alternative livelihoods, especially in Agriculture for youths in the affected communities. Educational Opportunities should be opened up for young people to pursue their academic dreams at affordable cost because enhancing relevant education among the youth increases knowledge which limits their engagement in illegal mining.

Let’s all support the effort to improve renewable energy solutions through enhanced environmental practices.

Samson Addo, MSc Energy Economics, GIMPA. Contact: 2010risk@ gmail.com

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The Fable of the Chinese Whistleblower

BY STEPHEN S. ROACH AND WEIJIAN SHAN

P

ublic opinion in the United States pins the blame for the COVID-19 pandemic squarely on China. After all, that’s where the virus started.

And President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have fanned the flames by accusing China of covering up the outbreak and knowingly allowing the novel coronavirus to spread. But their supposed smoking gun, the tragic fate of the heroic whistleblower, Li Wenliang, fires only blanks.

Li, a doctor, was purportedly silenced and chastised by Chinese officials for warning on December 30, 2019, about a new virus in the Wuhan hospital where he worked.

When it became evident that he was on to something serious – so serious, in fact, that it ultimately killed him – the Chinese government changed its tune and celebrated Li’s bravery.

If only that had happened sooner, the argument goes, the world would have avoided this horrific pandemic.

But that’s not what happened. Li was a courageous young man. His actions, however, were relatively unremarkable. Indeed, his role has been distorted without regard for fact.

The first Chinese doctor to report a new virus was not Li, but Zhang Jixian, the 54-year-old director of the respiratory and intensive care departments at the Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, also located in Wuhan. On December 27, three days before Li’s actions, Zhang diagnosed a family of three suffering from a viral pneumonia of unknown type and immediately submitted a report to her hospital, which, in turn contacted the Wuhan Health Commission on December 29.

Contrary to the Western narrative, the initial response of local authorities was prompt, albeit not without error. Facts and dates are important here. One day later, on December 30, the Wuhan Health Commission sent an urgent warning to all medical institutions under its jurisdiction about the outbreak of a mysterious new pneumonia.

Within hours, the central government dispatched an expert working group from the National Health Commission to conduct onsite investigations and organize a potential epidemic response. The team arrived early the next morning, December 31, and by 1 p.m. that day, the Wuhan Health Commission issued a public announcement about 27 pneumonia cases of unknown origin. The warning added that there was “so far no discovery of cases of obvious human-to-human transmission or infection of medical workers” – a mistake that would haunt China.

Following standard protocols for infectious diseases, the World Health Organization was informed immediately on December 31. The WHO’s Disease Outbreak News acknowledges receiving a report that day “… of cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology (unknown cause) detected in Wuhan City.” In other words, the WHO sounded a global alert only two days after Zhang’s hospital filed its initial report.

Li, an ophthalmologist, was not trained to diagnose complex respiratory diseases. He and a few other doctors probably saw the December 30 urgent notification from the Wuhan Health Commission. Out of understandable concern, they sent instant messages to friends a little before 6 p.m. that day, warning of a potential outbreak.

The message went viral. Local police then came in, having tracked Li’s warning through China’s notorious Internet surveillance.

Yes, the police reprimanded Li on January 1 for spreading a rumor, and he signed a “paper of admonishment” on January 3.

But this is not as disturbing as it may seem. At that point, no one, including Zhang and Li, had any insight into the true nature of the disease. Nor did the Wuhan police, who were understandably concerned about seemingly alarmist messages. But Li was not arrested or otherwise punished for rumormongering. Unfortunately, Li died of the coronavirus on February 6, the same day Zhang was officially honored as the real whistleblower.

So where is the smoking gun? After testing a stricken family for known viruses, all Zhang knew was that this ailment was different and sounded the alarm, which was enough to spur a quick response from officials at both the local and national levels.

The major early mistake – the failure to consider the possibility

of human-to-human transmission – was a judgment error, which probably reflected an underreporting of cases. Sadly, that lesson has been lost on the US, which continues to suffer from a glaring deficiency of testing and a related undercounting of infections.

This is where the Trump administration’s conspiracy theory falls apart. COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus – it had never occurred before. Local Chinese officials were just as confused as anyone at the first signs of this outbreak. And they remained confused for some time.

Why else would they have allowed street parties and holiday travel out of Wuhan prior to the Chinese Lunar New Year? When China’s national health officials did comprehend the virus’s highly contagious nature, Wuhan was shut down and sealed off, on January 23, 2020.

Moreover, contrary to the Trump administration’s cover-up narrative, China did not deliberately keep US officials in the dark. The director of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) briefed his US counterpart on January 3 – within a week of Zhang’s initial report.

While initial contact between the two CDCs was interrupted by the New Year holiday, the coordination between the two countries’ public health officials was much closer – and, as WHO Disease Outbreak documentation verifies, the time lags were considerably shorter – than is widely believed in the West.

The contrast with America’s response is striking. Whereas 27 days passed from Zhang’s initial report to the Wuhan shutdown on January 23, the US took exactly twice as long (54 days) to go from its first official diagnosis of COVID-19 ( January 20) to Trump’s declaration of national emergency (March 13).

Li’s death plays a central part in the conspiracy theories that drive the anti-China discourse of Trump’s Republican Party. The

“Corona Big Book,” a leaked 57page GOP Campaign 2020 strategy document is, in fact, filled with distorted accounts of the so-called intimidation of Li. It makes no mention of Zhang.

Equally important to the GOP strategy is the charge that COVID-19 was spawned in a lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Notwithstanding the rejection of such allegations by US and other Western intelligence sources, leading scientists, and Anthony Fauci, America’s foremost expert on infectious diseases, the GOP’s mendacious claims persist.

Whether it’s the lab in Wuhan or the alleged martyrdom of Li, the implications are the same: the more the US struggles with the ravages of COVID-19, the more desperate Trump and his loyalists are to blame China. In a political strategy laced with conspiracy theories, facts matter little.

Stephen S. Roach

Stephen S. Roach is a faculty member at Yale University and the author of Unbalanced: The Codependency of America and China. Weijian Shan, CEO of PAG, is the author of Out of the Gobi and the forthcoming Money Games.

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2020. www.project-syndicate.org

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Nigeria: Lagos eyes full re-opening of economy, embarks on businesses’ readiness assessment Lagos State government says it is working to fully re-open critical sectors of its economy The state governor Babajide SanwoOlu, stated this on Sunday during an update on the COVID-19 pandemic, adding however, the move would not be pushed in a hurry.

Sanwo-Olu said in the coming days, the state government would be rolling out Register-to-Open initiative as part of the plans that would enable it assess the level of readiness of the players in the identified sectors for supervised operations.

Sanwo-Olu said officials from the Lagos State Safety Commission (LSSC) and Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) would be visiting restaurants, companies, religious houses to assess their level of readiness.

With the size of the state’s economy and numbers of businesses that operate in its domain, the governor said the government could not afford to keep people and businesses on lockdown permanently.

“We are at a level where we are reviewing the other arms of the economy. In the coming days, we will be starting what we call Register-to-Open, which means all players in the restaurant business, event centres, entertaiment, malls and cinemas will go through a form of re-registration and space

management.

“There is a regulation that will be introduced to supervise this move. We will be coming to their facilities to assess their level of readiness for a future opening. I don’t know when that opening will happen in the weeks ahead, but we want these businesses to begin to tune themselves to the reality of COVID-19 with respect to how their work spaces need to look like.

“For us, it is not to say they should re-open fully tomorrow or any time; there has be a process guiding the re-opening. We will be mandating LASEPA and Safety Commission to begin the enumeration process and the agencies will be communicating with all relevant businesses and houses in the days ahead. I must, however, caution that this should not be misinterpreted as a licence for full opening; it is certainly not.

The State’s economy is not ready for that now,” he said.

Sanwo-Olu added that the government agencies would also be visiting places of worship to evaluate their level of preparedness ahead of full reopening. He stressed that social distancing and hygiene would be fully considered in determining whether mosques and churches can re-open in the future.

“We are reviewing and considering how the phased unlocking will happen. If we see huge level of compliance, then it can happen

in the next two to three weeks. If not, it could take a month or two months. It is until we are sure all of these players are ready to conform to our guidelines,” he asserted.

Sanwo-Olu urged businesses, religious houses and residents to maintain the status quo while the state works out modalities for full re-opening.

The governor disclosed that all the 10 staff of the Government House who tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19) had fully recovered and returned to their beats. He said the disclosure was necessary to further promote transparency in the reporting and management of coronavirus cases by the state government.

He urged banks and markets to strictly enforce orderliness in their premises. He directed that elderly people must be given the priority to transact their businesses in bank and markets between 9am and 10:30am, after which other younger customers should be allowed to transact.

Lagos residents, the governor charged, must not take the easing of lockdown for granted, saying everyone residing in the State must collectively take responsibility for public health safety.

He reiterated that the use of face mask in public places is compulsory, while disclosing that the State had distributed a million free face mask

to residents in the last two weeks.

Thousands more will be distributed in the course of the week, the Governor said.

Sanwo-Olu said those walking in public places without face mask are risking their lives, urging residents to fully comply with public health guidelines.

The governor, however, frowned at laxity observed in the enforcement of ban on inter-state movements.

He also said commercial buses still lag in complying with spacing of passengers and 60 per cent load capacity.

Sanwo-Olu said: “We are not happy with the level of compliance by yellow buses despite assurance from their union. We do not want to use force to drive compliance; we want it to be self-compliant. We have also not seen the level of compliance we wanted for inter-state travels. We are seeking collaboration with Ogun State government and the police to ensure obedience to the directive on this.”

Sanwo-Olu said the state’s whistleblowing policy had yielded encouraging feedbacks, adding that incidents reported by whistleblowers had helped the Government to further drive compliance in business places. (businessday.ng)

ArcelorMittal declares lockdown on Buchanan concession area Barely four days after the steel and iron ore mining giant, ArcelorMittal, announced that one of its employees had tested positive for the novel Coronavirus at its concession area in Buchanan, Liberia, the company has decided to declare a total lockdown of the concession area.

That first confirmed case on the ArcelorMittal Liberia (AML) concession area in Buchanan became the first case of the virus in Grand Bassa County, following Montserrado, Margibi, Nimba, and Grand Kru where cases, some of which remain in a state of controversy, have been reported since March.

An AML release indicates that since the first case was reported on May 14, there are other cases being confirmed since May 16, 2020, all related to the first confirmed case.

All of the confirmed positive case patients, however, are said to be well without showing a symptom of the virus.

With the Ministry of Health and the

National Public Health Institute of Liberia overseeing the management of cases being confirmed in the concession area, the company itself is placing premium on the health protocols and measures put in place amid the state of emergency to be in strict compliance.

Going forward, according to the AML statement, the lockdown takes effect as of Tuesday, May 19, with restriction of movement in and out of the concession — “… no entry or exits, except for essential staff. Private vehicles will be denied access and essential employees who live outside of the loop will continue to go to work, but only utilizing the company’s vehicles, which will be disinfected regularly during the workday. Additionally, all residents in the concession will be required to remain indoors and not go beyond 2 meters of their home.”

The ArcelorMittal release also said that all domestic workers living outside of the concession area will be denied access for the 14 days,

and security will be posted outside the home of any staff in isolation to ensure strict compliance. Ecobank and ERA supermarket branches in the loop will be closed to the public while employees working during the lockdown will be required to abide by all safety protocols including the wearing of masks, frequent handwashing, and social distancing.

The company, while taking additional precautions to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic, maintains its core operations and employment levels. According to the release, the management of the company recognizes the threats posed by the COVID-19 and the need for a concerted effort, and has been working closely with the Government of Liberia, county Superintendents and local health authorities to combat the disease.

Meanwhile, Amid concerns that the lockdown might affect ArcelorMittal Liberia’s ongoing mining operations in Yekepa, a source told the Daily Observer that its other concession

areas in Nimba (Yekepa) and Bong counties remain fully operational and are not affected by the lockdown. “The lockdown does not affect the railroad. ArcelorMittal Liberia will continue to ship ore through the port of Buchanan,” the source said.

With concern for the safety and wellbeing of staff and the public, ArcelorMittal Liberia in the release assures of its continued commitment and support to efforts to combat the spread of the Coronavirus in Grand Bassa County and across Liberia. (liberianobserver.com)

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3 Foundation & Herona Company donate medical equipment to health facilities Media General’s 3Foundation and Herona Company Limited, suppliers of medical equipment and pharmaceutical products on Friday 15th May 2020 donated medical equipment and devices to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Ridge and Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. The previous week, on Friday 8th May 2020, the two organizations also made a donation to the Ho Teaching Hospital in the Volta region.

The items donated to the three institutions are worth over GHC600,000 and included; surgical and examination gloves, umbilical cord clamp, mother – baby identity bracelet, ward screen four fold, specimen container, kick buckets, baby weighing scale, infrared thermometer, disposable gowns with face masks, infusion stands, spraying machines, suction machine, ambu bags and oxygen mask pvc.

Other items also donated were shoe covers, caps, stool and urine containers, patient monitors, electronic spraying machines, nebulizers for asthmatics, stretcher beds ward

screens, vaginal speculums, and Sphygmomanometers (Reister).

Commenting on the motive for the donation, Major Christine Oko (Rtd), the Director of Herona Company Limited, said “the donation is one of the series of activities we have partnered with 3 Foundation to undertake.

We are all aware of the difficult times we find ourselves in at the moment and we have come to the aid of these medical facilities with these items to contribute our quota to the fight against this pandemic. During the lockdown, we also partnered with 3 Foundation to feed over 4,000 people in the nation’s capital”. ` Mr. Chris Koney, the Group Head of Corporate Affairs, Media General, who represented 3 Foundation spoke about the need for everyone to come on board in order to win the fight against coronavirus. “As they say, united we stand and divided we fall. This is the time to get everyone to come out to help in various ways be it sensitization, observing the protocols, supporting the needy and

frontline staff to enable them to execute their duties diligently”, he added.

The 3 Foundation is the Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility management structure for Media General.

South Africa: Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga to reveal 2020 schooling plan As South Africa looks ahead to the possibility of entering Level 3 lockdown before the month is done, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga is expected to reveal government’s final back-to-school proposal. Meanwhile, Cape Town’s burgeoning caseload comes under Health Minister Zweli Mkhize’s microscope as a ‘serious concern’.

After numerous delays and disruptions to the original timetable proposed by the Department of Basic Education, Minister Motshekga is expected to finally reveal government’s plan to save the 2020 school year.

Motshekga, who has been locked in meetings with unions, ministers, provincial MECs and the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC), will expand on government’s phased approach to reopening schools. Motshekga’s original proposal, which called for a return to class for Grade 7 and 12 learners on 1 June, was dealt a blow when School Management Teams

ignored the call to report for duty earlier this month.

Teachers’ unions cite the dire lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and insufficient directives from national government as primary causes for concern.

According to recent reports, only education departments in Gauteng and the Western Cape have confirmed their states of readiness.

(Source: thesouthafrican.com)

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