Gambia private sector told to grow from toddling

Economic operators in The Gambia have been urged to form mergers to maintain bigger companies and corporations if they are to contribute meaningfully to the economic development of the country.

Abdou Kolley, minister of finance and economic affairs

Finance and economic affairs minister Abdou Kolley has said small individual enterprises cannot make substantial progress in the development of the country.

“The best way for the private sector to make an impact in this country is that they have to be willing and ready to open, join together and form larger corporations,” Minister Kolley said.

In this way, even government’s support to them will be easier because it is easy to support a few established companies than thousands of individual small companies, he says.

“So it is better for them to really come together and work with government in order to help us achieve the objective set for this country,” he added, saying:  “There are great potentials for growth for the private sector, but this cannot be tapped by individual companies simply because they may not have the adequate financing to expand into the untapped areas but if they form conglomerates they will have solid capital for significant undertakings.”

President Jammeh sacks high profile cabinet ministers

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has fired two high profile cabinet members in the persons of Hon. Abdou Colley, Minister of Trade, Regional Integration and Employment and Hon. Yusupha Kah, Minister of Work, Construction and Infrastructure. Pics: Left, Abdou Colley; Right, Yusupha Kah According to a statement aired on State TV, GRTS, on March 19, 2011, the two were sacked from their posts with immediate effect. The statement said the ministers were dismissed in accordance with the powers vested upon the President by the 1997 Constitution of The Gambia. As usual, no reasons were advance by the Office of the President for the sacking of the two cabinet ministers and up to the time of going to press, no replacement was made. Abdou Colley was appointed by President Jammeh in 2007 as Minister of Trade, Industry and Employment and has worked for the United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP) as an economist earlier. He was sacked in 2009 and reappointed in 2010 as Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs. Yusupha Kah, the long-serving Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Employment, was appointed as Minister in 2009, following the change of name the “Ministry of Trade, Regional Integration and Employment”. Kah has also served as Minister of Economic Planning and Development.

GAWFA Finance Company shares up for sale

Lamin Jahateh, Banjul GAWFA Finance Company, the latest financial institution to be launched in The Gambia, has 6,100,000 ordinary shares for sale, at ten dalasis (D10) per share, Oley Njie Mbye, Chief Executive Officer of the company, has revealed. Mrs Mbye called on the general public to review the company’s prospectus, complete an application, make a sound decision and invest in GAWFA’s shares. The CEO called on the general public to join GAWFA in its cause of building safety net for the poor and promoting the economic empowerment of Gambian women by buying its shares to provide an opportunity to change a woman’s life. “I urge you to please reach out and get GAWFA shares today and not tomorrow. Please help build safety nets for the poor and promote the economic empowerment of women,” she added. Established in 1987 as a not-for-profit NGO, GAWFA - the Gambia Women’s Finance Association - recently launched its own financial institution called GAWFA Finance Company, to provide trade finance for Gambian women who would like to expand their businesses or establish new ventures. She said: “With GAWFA shares you are providing an opportunity to change a woman’s life one day at a time, providing safety nets for the poor, empowering women at the socio-economic level and creating the opportunity to make positive changes to a new generation. “In addition you are contributing to make GAWFA sustainable both financially and institutionally to reach the mission and vision of the organization.” Hannah Davis, chairperson of GAWFA board, said by purchasing the shares of GAWFA Finance Company one is providing an opportunity to contribute to the economic empowerment of Gambian women.   “I urge you to buy GAWFA Finance Company limited shares,” Mrs Davis says. Beatrice Allen, a board member of GAWFA, added:  “The shares of the company are up for sale to the general public but specifically for women, because really we want to be able to do for women what nobody else has done for them so we want to encourage the women first to buy.  Nonetheless, we have got some allocations for other members of the public, both companies and individuals, who want to buy shares.” “We encourage strategic investors both national and international level to invest and buy GAWFA’s shares,” a statement from the company says, adding: “GAWFA is the first and the largest microfinance institution in The Gambia established since 1987 and an affiliate of Women’s World Banking network headquartered in New York. GAWFA’s activities are intended to promote social and economic changes in The Gambia.” Brief background about GAWFA GAWFA’s vision is to build a sustainable financial institution that meets the aspirations of women in the vanguard of an evolving financial system, and to regain market leadership by 2020 with a share of at least 50% of the market represented by low Gambia women. The association has it mission to offer an innovative financial solution that contributes to lasting economic and social benefits for low income Gambian women and their families; and create value for our shareholders and stakeholders. GAWFA was incorporated in September 1987 with the main objective of catering for the financial needs of the poor and low-income women of The Gambia. The association was the first micro-finance institution to be licensed by the Central Bank of The Gambia. Over the years, the association has grown from under 100 members to over 48,948 clients, over 90% of whom live in the rural areas. GAWFA provides financial service to low-income women engaged in income generating activities, such as farmers, traders, and handicraft. It continues to provide services that are innovative, flexible and meet the needs of each category of its clients as they grow in a profitable and sustainable manner. Between 1994 and 2007, GAWFA disbursed over D127 million as loans. The association was also able to build a culture of savings among women with more than 48,000 clients accumulating a net savings of D12 million. GAWFA offers three loan products - individual loans, solidarity group loans, and large group loans. Group loans represent 65% of GAWFA portfolio and are concentrated outside Banjul. Individual loans represent 35% of GAWFA disbursement in 2006, and Greater Banjul accounts for 83% of the individual loans disbursed in 2006. GAWFA achieved a high growth in both credit and savings operations over the past five years, but the credit operations have increased more rapidly than the savings.

New finance company launched with ‘celebration of joy, pride, and victory’ PDF Print E-mail User Rating: / 0 PoorBest Written by Yankuba Thursday, 20 January 2011 15:01 By Lamin Jahateh, Banjul Gambia Women’s Finance Association has launched its owned finance institution – GAWFA Finance Company - with a celebration of joy and pride, a victory in taking ownership to become better citizens and contribute to women economic empowerment. Pic: CEO of GAWFA, Mrs. Oley Njie Mbye Launching of GAWFA Finance Company is a clear testimony that GAWFA is on the verge of achieving it vision to build a sustainable financial institution that meets the aspiration of women in the vanguard of an evolving financial system, and regain market leadership by 2020 with a share of at least 50% of the market represented by low Gambia women. “This is a timely and a very important move by GAWFA towards the economic and social empowerment of women and the development of the country at large,” said Mrs Aja Ida Faye Hydara, Executive Director of Women’s Bureau while launching the GAWFA Finance Company on behalf of the Vice President and Minister of Women’s Affairs on Wednesday at the GAWFA head quarters in Kanifing. She continued: “Launching GAWFA Finance Company today is a welcome move as the company is here to contribute to the empowerment of Gambian women.” She however noted that though GAWFA has contributed and continues to contribute to the development of a lot of women in this country and women themselves are very hard working, “there is still a long way to go”. The Chief Executive Officer of GAWFA, Mrs. Oley Njie Mbye said: “At GAWFA we promote self sufficiency, empowerment and capacity building which are integral not only for economic empowerment but also to human services and development in general. Having the resources for strategies alone is not enough but effective outcomes and sustainability are also fundamental for the advancement of women.” The launching of GAWFA Finance Company is seen by many as a step in the right direction as it will provide banking services to that segment of the society who are hitherto left out by the commercial banks thus unable to access loan. Majority of these unbanked population are women many of whom are poor. Gambian women are faced with the challenge of what is consider as the “poverty trap”; the poor women are willing to escape poverty but are limited to do so by using the meager resources own. The challenges of obtaining loans from financial institutions can be attributed to many factors of the “poverty trap”as it can cause a vicious cycle of poverty, the poor women continues to get weaker and confined into extreme poverty if not economically empowered. “It is therefore a moral obligation as global citizens not to lean back and ask what our governments are doing or can do; we need to get up and stand firm on our feet, roll our sleeves up and do our own part. We have our own part to play and ask ourselves what we can do for our country and the world in general to contribute directly or indirectly in many ways to socio economic development,” the GAWFA CEO, who has been a bank executive with over 16 years of diverse leadership experience, said. She continued: “Women are the most impoverished and underprivileged in the world. But we save bigger long term goals and are more committed to make positive changes in our lives progressively; we have effective leadership skills in managing scarce resources and can start something small and grow it big for better economic conditions. Lack of economic empowerment causes low level of capabilities which is depicted as the basic failure of basic capabilities to reach basic necessities of life hence a form of social exclusion.” CEO Njie-Mbye noted that women are generally expected to take secondary, passive role in obtaining credit, but major role in the household. “We are usually considered less suitable than men for higher responsibility on loan acquisition. It is paramount we solidify our own institution through microfinance, and have the ability to influence, or make decisions that affect our lives and be independent.” The launching of GAWFA also witnessed the presentation of an award by the staffs of GAWFA to their CEO, Mrs Njie Mbye, for being a wonderful and a competent leader who always lead by example. According to Hannah Davies, the chairperson of the GAWFA board, GAWFA is the laeding and the first microfinance institution established since 1987 in the Gambia with over 48,948 members and over 13,682 active borrowers and still growing. “We also have several branch offices spread in the rural areas in The Gambia.” Mrs Aja Adulette Sey, one of the members of GAWF explained that GAWFA is here to uplift the status of women in order to eradicate poverty, as women are at the bottom of the poverty pyramid. GAWFA delivers a breadth of financial services to its clients including capacity building through its partners and interrelated organizations.

By Lamin Jahateh, Banjul Gambia Women’s Finance Association has launched its owned finance institution – GAWFA Finance Company - with a celebration of joy and pride, a victory in taking ownership to become better citizens and contribute to women economic empowerment.  Pic: CEO of GAWFA, Mrs. Oley Njie Mbye Launching of GAWFA Finance Company is a clear testimony that GAWFA is on the verge of achieving it vision to build a sustainable financial institution that meets the aspiration of women in the vanguard of an evolving financial system, and regain market leadership by 2020 with a share of at least 50% of the market represented by low Gambia women. “This is a timely and a very important move by GAWFA towards the economic and social empowerment of women and the development of the country at large,” said Mrs Aja Ida Faye Hydara, Executive Director of Women’s Bureau while launching the GAWFA Finance Company on behalf of the Vice President and Minister of Women’s Affairs on Wednesday at the GAWFA head quarters in Kanifing. She continued: “Launching GAWFA Finance Company today is a welcome move as the company is here to contribute to the empowerment of Gambian women.”  She however noted that though GAWFA has contributed and continues to contribute to the development of a lot of women in this country and women themselves are very hard working, “there is still a long way to go”. The Chief Executive Officer of GAWFA, Mrs. Oley Njie Mbye said: “At GAWFA we promote self sufficiency, empowerment and capacity building which are integral not only for economic empowerment but also to human services and development in general. Having the resources for strategies alone is not enough but effective outcomes and sustainability are also fundamental for the advancement of women.” The launching of GAWFA Finance Company is seen by many as a step in the right direction as it will provide banking services to that segment of the society who are hitherto left out by the commercial banks thus unable to access loan.  Majority of these unbanked population are women many of whom are poor. Gambian women are faced with the challenge of what is consider as the “poverty trap”; the poor women are willing to escape poverty but are limited to do so by using the meager resources own. The challenges of obtaining loans from financial institutions can be attributed to many factors of the “poverty trap”as it can cause a vicious cycle of poverty, the poor women continues to get weaker and confined into extreme poverty if not economically empowered. “It is therefore a moral obligation as global citizens not to lean back and ask what our governments are doing or can do; we need to get up and stand firm on our feet, roll our sleeves up and do our own part. We have our own part to play and ask ourselves what we can do for our country and the world in general to contribute directly or indirectly in many ways to socio economic development,” the GAWFA CEO, who has been a bank executive with over 16 years of diverse leadership experience, said. She continued:  “Women are the most impoverished and underprivileged in the world. But we save bigger long term goals and are more committed to make positive changes in our lives progressively; we have effective leadership skills in managing scarce resources and can start something small and grow it big for better economic conditions. Lack of economic empowerment causes low level of capabilities which is depicted as the basic failure of basic capabilities to reach basic necessities of life hence a form of social exclusion.” CEO Njie-Mbye noted that women are generally expected to take secondary, passive role in obtaining credit, but major role in the household. “We are usually considered less suitable than men for higher responsibility on loan acquisition. It is paramount we solidify our own institution through microfinance, and have the ability to influence, or make decisions that affect our lives and be independent.” The launching of GAWFA also witnessed the presentation of an award by the staffs of GAWFA to their CEO, Mrs Njie Mbye, for being a wonderful and a competent leader who always lead by example. According to Hannah Davies, the chairperson of the GAWFA board, GAWFA is the laeding and the first microfinance institution established since 1987 in the Gambia with over 48,948 members and over 13,682 active borrowers and still growing.  “We also have several branch offices spread in the rural areas in The Gambia.” Mrs Aja Adulette Sey, one of the members of GAWF explained that GAWFA is here to uplift the status of women in order to eradicate poverty, as women are at the bottom of the poverty pyramid. GAWFA delivers a breadth of financial services to its clients including capacity building through its partners and interrelated organizations.

‘Gambia should not depend on grants to finance the economy’

National Assembly Member told Minister of Finance By Lamin Jahateh, Banjul Hon. Sellu Bah, National Assembly Member for Basse, has told the minister of Finance and Economic Affairs that The Gambia should not depend on grants to finance its economy. ”Let us work as a nation to ensure that we collect our domestic revenue to the letter to counter any negative response on grant,” Hon. Bah said on Monday at the National Assembly while seconding the motion that, the National Assembly should consider and approve the draft estimates of revenue, recurrent and development expenditure for the fiscal year 2011, tabled by Finance and Economic Affairs Minister, Abdou Kolley. Tabling the motion before the parliamentarians, Minister Kolley said the national budget balance as at the end of September 2010 stood at a deficit of D733.6 million or 2.6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This steep nosedive of the budget balance is due to negative donor response from the country’s donor partners, the Basse NAM says: “I think this would teach us a lesson.” However, at the time of presenting the 2010 Budget Estimates, the budget deficit of the year was projected at D298.7 million, representing D1.39% of GDP. Hon. Bah urged the Gambia Revenue Authority to be very vigilant in collecting the revenue due to the country.  “There should be no compromise on revenue collection,” he says, adding that The Gambia is a tax-based country, so “we must do all what is possible” to ensure that the taxes are collected. The government has been leaning on external resources to finance its budget deficit.  In 2009, the budget deficit was estimated at D100 million, or 0.5 per cent of GDP.  The full financing for 2009 budget comprised a domestic borrowing and net external financing among others, according to the 2009 National Budget. Again, the 2011 fiscal deficit, which is estimated at D466.36 million or 1.47 of GDP would be financed by “foreign and domestic borrowing amounting to D833.82 million and D120 million respectively”, the Minister Kolley said.

Gambia Government spends out of budget: Deficit D733.6 Million

By Lamin Jahateh, Banjul The Gambia’s fiscal performance continues to be challenged by higher-than-projected expenditures by the government that are not matched by revenue performance of the country. For this reason, the country has a budget deficit of D733.6 million or 2.6 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as at the end of September 2010, though the Minister of Finance, Hon. Abdou Kolley, said his ministry continues to monitor and control expenditures to enable us to achieve an improved fiscal balance by the end of the year. Hon. Kolley made this statement on Monday while presenting the estimates of revenues, recurring and development expenditures for the fiscal year 2011 before the National Assembly for consideration and approval. The Finance Minister told the parliamentarians that fiscal deficit for 2011 is estimated at D466.36 million or 1.47 percent of GDP.  He explained that the deficit would be financed by foreign and domestic borrowing amounting to D833.82 million and D120.00 million respectively.  He said foreign amortization is projected at D506.20 million. He said:  “Interest payment is projected to increase from D762.40 million in 2010 to D918.59 million in 2011.  This is mainly attributable to the securitization of the government overdraft position with the Central Bank of The Gambia in the interest of better fiscal management. “Total expenditure and net lending is estimated to increase from D5.77 billion in 2010 to D6.12 billion in 2011, representing 19.30 of GDP.” This increase in mainly attributed to increases in personnel emoluments, which is projected to grow by 11.5 percent and other current expenditure. The Gambia’s total revenue and grants is estimated to increase from an approved level of D5.50 billion in 2010 to D5.65 billion in 2011, representing 17.82 percent of GDP.  This is attributed o increase in domestic revenue and project grants. “Domestic tax revenue is estimated to increase from the approved figure of D3.99 billion in 2010 to D4.07 billion in 2011.  Project grants is estimated to increase from D636.16 million in 2010 to D981.10 million in 2011,” Hon. Kolley said. He explained that the ministry of finance continues to keep a keen eye on domestic debt stock, line with the recently adopted domestic debt strategy.  “This caution is what also informs our decision to restrain spending,” he said As at end-September 2010, the total outstanding domestic debt stock increased to D1.8 billion, representing 24.67 percent of GDP, from D6.9 billion a year earlier driven mainly by the 30-year Government Bond and increased Treasury Bills issuance.  The sharp surge in domestic debt is mainly explained by the recent transformation of the overdraft in the Treasury Main Account at the Central Bank into a long term bond in the interest of better public financial management and also to help then country conform to borrowing limit of the CBG Act. According to the Finance Minister The Gambia’s performance under our current Extended Credit Facility (ECF) programme with the IMF is broadly satisfactory. “All the quantitative, as well as qualitative targets were met, barring the basic balance which continues to be a challenge for the past two years,” he said. The difficulty in meeting this target is explained by huge expenditures but also some flaws in the computation of basic balance criterion.  Hon. Kolley said the ministry of finance continues to negotiate with the IMF on this issue, whilst trying to restrain expenditure and also come up with additional revenue measures. Hon. Kolley told the parliamentarians that The Gambia economy continues its robust growth trajectory in the face of unfavorable global economic environment.  He said GDP is estimated to grow by about 5.5 percent in 2010, an improvement over the previous projection of 5 percent, underpinned by healthy performance of the agricultural sector. He explained that inflation continues to be subdued with average inflation standing at 4.2 percent in September 2010 compared to 5.6 percent a year earlier.  He said food items, which accounts for 55 percent of the weight of the basket of goods and services, continued to be the main driver of headline inflation. The Finance Minister’s presentation of the estimates to the National Assembly is in conformity with the laws of the land.  Section 152 (1) of the 1997 constitution of the Gambia requires the President to instruct the Minister of Finance to prepare and submit to the National Assembly at least 30 days before the end of each financial year the estimates of revenue and expenditures of The Gambia for the following year. Furthermore, section 22 (1) of the Budget  Management and Accountability Act of 2004 also requires the Minister of Finance to lay before the National Assembly the Appropriation Bill Document at least 30 days before the end of the financial year. However, Section 52 (1a) of the 1997 constitution requires the National Assembly within a maximum of 14 days after receiving the estimates of revenues, recurrent and development expenditures, to consider and approve the estimates.