Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani is taking part in the Davos 2024 World Economic Forum in Switzerland on January 16-18, held this year under the theme: "Rebuilding Trust." The PM will be accompanied by Finance Minister Sihem Boughdiri Nemsia and Secretary of State to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad Mounir Ben Rejiba, according to a Prime Ministry press release on Tuesday. Hachani will hold bilateral talks with a number of international figures, including heads of State and Government, and heads of international financial institutions and structures. A host of heads of State, senior officials and economic experts are expected at this forum, which aims to discuss major global economic and social issues. Their goal is to find practical solutions to problems such as poverty, inequality, climate change and geopolitical tensions. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse Mr Daniel Wilson Addo, Managing Director, Consolidated Bank Ghana Ltd (CBG) says the GHS2.5 billion received recently from the government is making the Bank more resilient to support to economic stability, while aiding more Small and Medium-sized Enterprises to grow. 'In the immediate future, CBG would deepen investment in digitisation, upscale support to SMEs, further prioritise customer service, and operational efficiency,' he said. 'The overriding ambition is to build market leadership in SME financing, while building a resilient institution.' Mr Addo said this at a media engagement with editors on Tuesday, in Accra. 'To position the Bank for further growth, and to restore balance sheet resilience, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) recently provided GHS2.5 billion in capital to the Bank,' he explained. 'It [CBG] is, therefore, ideally positioned to continue its growth trajectory and most importantly to continue to make a positive impact on the economy,' Mr Addo emphasised. He stated that the Bank had al ready provided some GHS1.6 bn in loans to more than 5,600 businesses through innovative programmes, including the 'CBG SME Adesua Series ' and optimising loan processing for swift access. The initiatives in the SME sector earned the Bank various awards, including 'Euromoney Award for SME Market Leadership in 2022 and 2023. 'In the Corporate and Institutional Banking segment, CBG has participated in loans totalling GHS2.35 billion, either as lead arranger or transaction advisor, benefiting crucial sectors such as energy, tourism, and agriculture,' Mr Addo said. CBG he, announced, was working towards providing more assistance to the agricultural sector through partnership between Ghana Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (GIRSAL) and Development Bank Ghana (DBG). That, he explained, was aimed at 'moving Ghana's agriculture forward, and this is CBG, GIRSAL and DBG are committed to.' 'In the next three years, the key thing for us is to build resilience and efficiency - have structure s in place to manage risks, recover when there's turbulence in the operating environment, state-of-the arts equipment and a well-motivated staff,' he said. Recounting the Bank's five-year journey, Mr Addo explained that CBG, had survived difficult circumstances to post an impressive performance through building trust, providing positive customer experience, among offering other values. 'We started under difficult circumstances; there was lack of trust because we were taken over banks that were insolvent, but we quickly got to the hard work of putting everything together in correcting those mistakes,' he said. Total assets had increased from GHS6.9bn in 2019 to GHS13.2bn as of December 2023, while customer deposits increased from GHS5.1bn in 2019 to GHS10.4bn in December 2023, the Managing Director stated. 'Despite the challenges of 2023 - Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), high inflation, exchange rate volatility, we still grew deposits by GHS2.6bn year-on-year, and that's an indication of the resil ience and structure we put together for the business,' he noted. On the Bank's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Mr Addo said CBG provided GHS1m to support government's COVID-19 efforts, and built facilities for some educational and health institutions across the country. It is working towards providing significant support to women-led businesses, pro youth enterprises, environmental sustainability initiatives, among others. Source: Ghana News Agency KEETMANSHOOP: The Keetmanshoop Municipality on Tuesday unveiled its budget of N.dollars 296 million for the 2023/2024 financial year, which had received approval from the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development. Presenting the sanctioned budget to residents and councillors, Lee Mwemba, the head of the information and communication technology division at the municipality's Electricity Business Unit, stated that in comparison to the previous financial year (2022/2023), the budget had increased from N.dollars 255 million to N.dollars 296 million, reflecting a 13.8 per cent increase. Mwemba went on to explain that approximately N.dollars 291 million would be sourced from residents for the services provided, while N.dollars 5.8 million constitutes a grant from the line ministry. He detailed that out of the N.dollars 296 million, 42.2 per cent, equivalent to over N.dollars 26 million, is allocated to the electricity budget, and 27.5 per cent, equivalent to N.dollars 79 million, is designated for salaries. Among the projects slated for completion in the 2023/2024 financial year are the provision of water, sewage, and electricity services to extension 7, construction of 48 houses through the build-together project, the decommissioning of the town's dumpsite and the establishment of a landfill, and the enhancement of the water network in the Kronlien residential area. Mwemba highlighted that factors influencing the approved budget include an increase in bunk tariffs, the town's growing population, aging infrastructure in the electricity, water, and sewage networks, unemployment, and inflation rates, among other considerations. As the outgoing municipal acting chief executive officer, Mwemba urged residents to persist in paying their municipal bills, emphasizing that this is crucial for the municipality to fulfill its commitments. 'What we are presenting here is not actual funds; we are just projecting what we will do if we get the money. So, if all these are not done, do not blame the municipality because we need th e money from you to deliver all these services,' he clarified. Source: The Namibia Press Agency