GHANA’S INFLATION RATE TO RISE FURTHER THAN PROJECTED

On Wednesday 13th January, 2016, Dr. Philomena Nyarko the Government statistician in a media conference announced that the year on year inflate rate for the month of December 2015 surged to 17.7% compared to 17.6% recorded in November 2015. The Government Statistician attributed this increase to the recent utility price hikes which hit the economy in the later parts of 2015. Utility prices were increased by an average of about 56.9% in November 2015 and took effect in December 2015. Outlook for 2016 Fuel and Utilities Early 2016, the economy was further hit by an increase in fuel prices at the pumps as a result of the Energy sector Levy passed by Parliament in December 2015.The increase in fuel prices has already started having an impact as most commodities have seen slight price increases in the early weeks of 2016. The economy seems to rely much on fuel and electricity since it is the major source of energy for most households and businesses and with the increase in the prices of utilities by 56.9% in December 2015 and the recent increase in fuel prices at the pumps, inflation is expected to rise in the beginning of the year. Exchange Rate The Cedi performed poorly against its major trading currencies last year depreciating cumulatively by 14.8%, 12.6% and 7.6% against the US dollar, the Pound sterling and the Euro respectively over the 9 month period from January 2015 to September 2015 as indicated in the 2016 budget. Ghana has had problems with production internally and this has led to the economy importing almost everything it consumes which further leads to a widening trade deficit gap in the external sector. Low revenues are expected from major export commodities like crude oil and cocoa as a result a fall in the world market prices and low productivity. Low foreign reserves as a result of the low revenues expected coupled with the ever increasing demand for the country’s major trading currencies to support imports and repayment of loans, the Cedi is expected to further depreciate in value leading to high price of imports resulting in increased inflation. Others This year, Ghana goes to the polls to elect a president for the period 2017-2020 and as it has been observed for some time now, inflation in election years plummets to higher rates than projected. This is mostly attributed to the increased spending behaviors of the “politically active minds” in the quest to win power for the above stated period and beyond if they are re-elected. The printing of posters and political paraphernalia mounting of banners as well as convincing the populace by giving out money for votes (goods and services unproduced). The IMF last week Wednesday asked Ghana’s Central Bank to tighten its monetary policy by raising the policy rate which the BoG had increased last year further to reduce the rate at which credit is given out to correct the inflationary pressure. This same intervention will result in less credit being made available to producers which if not so would have been given out at lower interest rates to produce goods and services to correct the excess demand. The Government in the 2016 budget projected an end of year inflation rate of 10.1% but with the general economic outlook and happenings projected for 2016 inflation rates should be expected to rise above the 10.1% projected.

WHY YOU NEED TO PRACTICE FORWARD INTEGRATION

There are several reasons you need to cut away that guy you call the middle man if you really need more cash. The middle man you see there is also in to make profits and not there only for the purpose of getting you to the final consumer. The person the middle man sells to is the middleman’s customer and not yours. Your customer is the middle man. In the first episode of Marcus Lemonise’s TV series the profit the manager at Car Cash was asked to take out all persons who acted as middle men and sell directly to customers and this was intended to increase profit. The middle man will not sell to his customers at the price which he buys from you the producer. A margin is added to the item bought before finally being sold to the final consumer. This gives the middle man his or her income, which is the main motivation for the presence or the existence of a middle man [the making of unnecessary profit which can be avoided and made by the producer]. The profit made by the middleman can be made by the producer at a cost or nothing at all. The cost of making this profit which is made by the middleman is the cost of getting to the consumer who needs the product. The elimination of the middleman and selling directly will increase the profits made by producer

The Old Testament Is As Important As the New Testatment (No Expiry)

We should take heed that the bible says “heaven and earth shall pass away but my words will not pass away” and the words referred to here are the words of God. God’s word makes up both the old and new testament so there is no point is saying you will study the new testament only and neglect the old testament. Remember God’s words do no expire and that is why what was prophesied in the old testament came to pass in the new testament and is still taking place today. Take away the thought that the old testament is not needed in present times because the birth, life and death of Jesus were all prophesied in the old testament and it came to pass. Heed therefore to all that is said in the Bible both old and new testament because God’s words never expire. Shalom

"DeLIveR fREsh, FroM naTuRe GOD" (Lesson Learnt: BraNDiNg)

At the beginning of this year “two thoozin & 15” a video circulated on social media and it was all about a guy’s resolutions about the year 2015 and that video made the mark. Though he Franklin Quartey didn’t expect the interview at the time he was approached I guess he was always prepared to make a mark to brand himself and he made it that night during the interview with his words “deliver fresh from nature God”.

Just a month and some weeks after his first interview the two thoozin and fifteen guy has over 1200 face book likes and over 600 twitter followers just within a short period of creating the accounts. This has been possible because of the brand Franklin Quartey created on new year eve with the phrases “two thoozin & 15” and the most talked of “deliver fresh, from nature God”. Other videos of two thoozin are circulating on social media and these videos are receiving good views. And this is from his twitter account @two thoozin “tems by tems is abt learn frm each oda on nature words & tru respec and hamble u wil get u wat u want frm dis way" Vibly Vibly lol Twitter @two thoozin Facebook : two thoozin Looking into the future, I will not be surprised if I see two thoozin feature in about two or more adverts before the end of the year.He’s made the mark and I like him for that.

Dumsor And The Student

Dumsor And The Student The Ghanaian student will have to face a lot this time round battling with “DUMDUMSOR” Hmm 24 hours of light out and 12 hours of light on. That’s why its now “DUMDUMSOR”. Talking of the basic level student thus the nursery, primary and Jhs students its not going to be easy at all with the power outages. Yes don’t take the nursery pupil out because after he/she gets back from school and parents get back from work, the innocent nursery pupil must be guided with home work and which will be used if the lights are out?.The primary and Jhs student face the same plight of being forced to learn right after school else they suffer at the hands of #Dumsor during the night where they have no light to learn. Now to the secondary education student, our popular “prep” cannot be done at night since Dr Dumsor might be at work at night and remember during the day you are required in class to be taught. One will ask why not after class?. Hmm be reminded that after the whole day in class rest is needed to refresh the brain for another session of studying. If you are lucky and the lights don’t go off at night thank your STARS. Then the favorites tertiary education students(first degree, diploma,masters etc). For this group light is needed for almost everything. This category consists of full time workers,part time workers and full time students and the work load is fairly the same at this level (end of semester exams determines your class of graduation) hmm yes even in DUMDUMSOR. From activities such as personal learning,lectures,research to extra activities that ensure a comfortable stay in school light is needed.How do the students cope without light? Personal learning,lectures,researching and other activities should go on right? If all theses activities require light and there is “..UM...OR” how do the students survive? The spaces were left blank because we all know the missing letters “D & S” to make it DUMSOR. ‘Fill in the blanks’ is a good exercise carried out at the early stages of basic education along side other educational activities to aid students advance from the basic through secondary to the tertiary level. Remember Education Is A Very Important Ingredient In The Delicious Soup Of Development. Lets not think of this only but if brainstorming is possible i guess it will help a lot. #DumsorSeries

Are Ghanaians Ready To Drop Their “Yams”

Are Ghanaians Ready To Drop Their “Yams” In this era of continual power outages where Ghanaians are assured of only 12 hours of light within every 48 hours, are Ghanaians really ready to drop their so called yam phones and rush in for smart phones? Smart Phones are known to drain battery life faster due to the no of apps that run in the background even when the phones are on but not being used. Am not creating the impression that smart phones are not good but only trying to access how helpful it will be considering its power(battery) consumption in this era of “dumsor dumsor”. Before the power outage was intensified in Ghana quite a number of smart phone users had other phones now popularly called YAMS, which they used alongside their smart phones in other to save battery life and here we shall call these group of persons the dual phone system users. Those who practice the dual phone system use the yams for calls and long hours of text messaging while their smart phones help them browse and use apps like whatsapp,instagram and other apps with the intention of preserving the battery life of their smart phones for a longer period. Just recently when the power outage was intensified, a couple of people came in to a public facility which had light to charge their smart phones and other gadgets because they had gone off while being used. The “yams” actually take away that long battery life problem of the smartphones by running for longer hours without going off. Ghana has not had it well this time round and we have only 12 hours of light and 24 hours of light out. Most people have to wait 24 hours before getting their phones charged and the question is ‘Will your smart phone be able to stand 24 hours of usage without going off? If the current power outage is to persist for a longer period, will you be willing to miss certain calls which are very important to you? Several questions arise when one thinks of this “Dumsor Dumsor” problem the nation has gotten into. What then do we do. Your guess is as right as mine. Joining the group of dual phone system users will be of great help. Supporting the smart phone with a “yam” will be off very good help to the smart phone user. #DumsorSeries..........

Are Ghanaians Ready To #Droptheiryams

smartphones are known to consume more battery life(power) than the so called ‪#‎yams‬ because of several apps running in the background of the smartphones. In this era of "DUMSOR DUMSOR" are Ghanaians ready to ‪#‎droptheirYams‬ or go in for more Yams???. ‪#‎DumsorSeries‬ ........Watchout

Drawing Customers Close And Making Profit

Drawing Customers Close and Making Profit

“BALANCE”

It’s really surprising how most small scale enterprises claim not to have balance(smaller denominations) and let their customers go away. To them, they loose nothing but they actually loose a lot.

These businesses at that moment of sending the customer away loose the profit that would have resulted from that sale and also they loose the cash flow lets get it straight cash sales are better than credit sales. Another thing lost is; sales of goods and services are slowed down the moment the transaction is deferred and continues only if another customer comes in and he/she is not sent away with the same problem of not having change.

No bank has and will ever close its doors to the public preventing it from changing bigger denominations into smaller denominations. Just make sure at the end of the day you have enough smaller denominations to serve as balance for the next day’s transactions.The banks doors are opened,walk in, change into smaller denominations and let business continue. 

The moment a customer is not sent away because of unavailability of smaller denominations as balance he/she grows confidence in your business.