Hong Kong shares ended higher Thursday, tracking gains in Chinese equities markets and rebounding from a near three-week low Wednesday because of bargain hunting in mainland financial and resources firms.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 422.93 points, or 1.8%, to 23,637.39, slightly lower than the intraday high of 23,671.51. It fell 6% over the past four sessions and ended at 23,214 points Wednesday, its lowest level since Oct. 29.

Market volume totaled HK$92.36 billion, down from HK$103.05 billion Wednesday.

Analysts said they expect the market to remain volatile over the next few sessions due to continuing uncertainty over the debt burden of some countries in Europe and possible monetary policy tightening in China, but that bargain hunting should lend support at 23,000 points.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended up 0.9%, reversing two consecutive sessions of losses, because of bargain hunting after Beijing said it was ready to impose price controls on staple goods to rein in inflation.

'Investors were building up positions on stocks that were oversold, such as Chinese financial and resources companies,' said Patrick Yiu, managing director of CASH Asset Management.

China Construction Bank rose 2.7% to HK$7.30 after falling 7.9% over the past four sessions, ICBC advanced 2.6% to HK$6.33 after falling 9.5% and Bank of China gained 1.6% to HK$4.37 after retreating 7.9% over the same period.

Blue-chip conglomerate China Resources Enterprise rose 2.5% to HK$32.95 after it said Thursday its third-quarter net profit rose 1.4% from a year earlier, boosted by a larger contribution from its retail operations.

Hong Kong-listed gold producers rose because of rising gold prices. Zhaojin Mining surged 7.9% to HK$27.20, Zijin Mining rose 6.5% to HK$7.40 and Real Gold Mining was up 4.3% at HK$14.06.

At 0820 GMT, spot gold was at US$1,355.35 per troy ounce, up US$18.55 from the New York close on Wednesday. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in December traded at $81.44 a barrel at 0703 GMT, up $1.00 on Globex.

'Ample liquidity and a weak dollar will continue to lend support to commodities and gold prices,' said William Lo, an analyst at Ample Capital.

Chinese aluminum producer Chalco rebounded, rising 2.9% to HK$7.21 after falling 9.9% over the past five sessions.

Manganese producer Citic Dameng rose 6.2% on its debut to HK$2.92, supported by strong subscriptions, with the retail tranche of its initial public offering 320 times oversubscribed.

Despite the rally in US market on Thursday night, Hang Seng index opened lower on Friday, loss was once expanded to near 400 points triggered by the soft tone of local property plays, however, it was narrowed near market close, HSI finished the day at 23,605, dropped 31 points. H-share index gained 2 points to 13,170. Market turnover was HK$97.0bn. There is a market rumor that government may impose policy on cooling down the property market, local property developers were soft. Sino Land (0083) and Cheung Kong (0001) plunged 1.4% and 2.6% respectively. IPO stocks continued recent weakness, China Rongsheng (1101) closed 0.5% lower than its offer price on its first trading day.

Ghana to grow economy from oil revenues: finance minister(AFP)

ACCRA — Ghana, to start commercial oil production next month, will use crude revenues to transform its economy, aiming to avoid the pitfalls of nations finding new resources, the finance minister said Thursday.

Oil is expected to account for six percent of Ghana's domestic revenue in the 2011 fiscal year, Finance Minister Kwabena Duffuor said while presenting next year's budget to the parliament.

He did not estimate by how much this could increase after production begins in December but vowed Ghana would "avoid the pitfalls that have characterised some countries on the discovery of new national resources".

"A major challenge will be how the oil revenues will be used to transform the economy and accelerate growth without sacrificing macro-economic stability and accentuating income inequalities," the minister said.

Nigeria is Africa's leading oil producer and the world's eighth exporter but most of its people live in poverty, with revenues mismanaged or stolen, triggering anger in poor communities in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.

Chiefs from Ghana's oil-rich western region are demanding a 10 percent share of revenue when production begins next month.

Duffuor said that for the first three to four years after production begins, "the oil revenue will be considerably lower than the non-oil tax and non-tax revenues." He gave no figures.

"Total revenue from oil into the (2011) budget is estimated at 584 million cedis (406 million dollars)," he said.

Ghana's Jubilee field, discovered three years ago, and one of the biggest finds in West Africa of the past decade, is believed to hold about 1.5 billion barrels of reserves.

The country, the world's second largest cocoa producer, has also announced the discovery of another "extensive deepwater petroleum province" offshore.

Its gross foreign reserves increased to 3.9 billion dollars in October from 3.1 billion at the end of last year, the minister said.

GDP, which grew by 4.1 percent last year, is expected to reach 5.9 percent this year and 12.3 percent next year, he said.

Inflation fell from 20.7 percent at the end of June 2009 to 9.3 percent in October this year due to "prudent fiscal management, continued monetary restraint...(and a) good food harvest," the minister said.

That is why we should re-look at our investments in Ghana and Uganda seriously. Some good prospects expected in these countries. A good substitute for Angola for some of us who cannot utter some Portuguese words.

OIL RAISES HOPE OF GHANANIANS

Some people call it ‘Dino Juice’, ‘Texas Tea’, and ‘Black Gold’ and others say it is the fluid with rising cost. But here in Ghana, where the continental shelf is impregnated with oil, crude may be assuming a new name, HOPE (Help Our People Enjoy). Who wants to be hungry and suffer in abundance of oil wealth? The street view is that by next year Ghanaians must be ready to enjoy wealth like never before and many Ghanaians abroad are returning home to establish themselves and to enjoy the presumed green pastures.

Much has been written about what to do and what not to do with Ghana’s oil revenue. Every Ghanaian hopes to enjoy peace and prosperity as Ghana transforms into an emerging oil economy but the key question is how reliable and truthful are the people, the government and international agencies and multinational oil prospecting companies in their resolve to develop the oil reserves of Ghana to make it prosperous and keep the nation united and peaceful as they found it?

Figure out the scenario. We have four upstream exploration companies and thirteen downstream oil processors and distributors in the field of play, six government regulating agencies acting as referees, the media as coach and on the technical bench, government as match officials, and the Ghanaian public as fans. This makes Ghana’s oil industry looks like a football tournament but once the lifting of oil begins and the green bucks start rolling into pockets you will realize that the nation’s destiny is at stake.

Ghana’s oil discovery is a refreshing piece of news and gives a glimmer of hope that by next year the government will get to serious business for rapid national reconstruction to transform the nation into an emerging and prosperous oil economy to effectively confine poverty to the pages of history. At least this is the view of the layman.

London-based Tullow Oil, the operator of Jubilee Fields, expects to produce initial output of 120,000 barrels of crude per day starting the last quarter of this year.

The latest discovery of excellent quality light crude by Tullow in its Deepwater Tano Offshore Block, 6km to the west of the Tweneboa wells in the Jubilee Fields, gives hope that the country will definitely graduate from the state of poverty to prosperity.

It is reported that there are intense activities at the corridors of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) who has announced a total estimated value of 105 newly registered projects worth US$662.68 million in the second quarter, significant increase of 252.19% compared to (US$188.16 million) recorded for the first quarter of 2010.

Ghana’s oil is indeed attracting massive investment flow and the response to the challenges can be seen in the accelerated development of infrastructure and the building of new star-rated hotels in anticipation of boost in tourism arrivals.

Counting the Chicks

By 1980 Ghana drilled about 31 test oil wells resulting in three significant discoveries at Cape Three Points, Saltpond, North and South Tano. However, we have seven major offshore oil fields in all with proven reserves of over 1.8 billion barrels of oil and gas deposits of which 800 million barrels of the crude is classified as high quality grade oil.

‘God Bless Our Homeland Ghana,’ the intro of our National Anthem says, and indeed God has blessed the nation with oil and gas. But have we put the requisite legal framework and measures in place to harness and effectively manage these national resources? The optimists and pessimists speak of a two-way traffic for the nation’s future but the choice is with the leadership and citizenry.

One route leads to curse characterized by mismanagement, greed and corruption as happening in our backyard, the troubled oil-rich Niger Delta of Nigeria while the other leads us into blessings as in Libya, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other rich oil states whose oil wealth impact the lives of most citizens.

History of Oil Exploration in Ghana

Let me take you on memory lane into history. Oil, the viscous black gold, is undoubtedly an economic tool and has a history spanning a century. Oil exploration in Ghana is not a recent development. In 1896 there was evidence that the much sought after ‘liquid gold’ exits in Ghana. The years 1896-1967 marked the initial phase of oil exploration in the country during which Europeans undertook intermittent and un-sustained exploration activities in the country. Generally, shallow wells were dug during the initial phase and exploration was mainly confined to stratigraphic data acquisition which later proved useful.

Tales in the media suggest that the oil find forms part of Nigeria’s oil. It must be emphatically stated that Ghana’s oil did not migrate from Nigeria but is confined to the geographical boundary of our country from Accra-Keta Basin through Offshore Shallow and Deep Waters of Saltpond, Cape Three Points and Tano Basins that is divided into blocks currently controlled by a number of local and foreign oil and gas exploration companies.

Kosmos Energy and Tullow Oil are the cream of the crop in oil exploration in Ghana with major partners including Anadarko of USA, Sabre Oil of UK and the E.O. Group, a Ghanaian company. Tullow controls two blocks, the Tano Shallow Water Block and the Deep Water Tano Block covering a total 2,083 sq km, whiles Kosmos holds right to West Cape Three Points Block which covers 1,957,05 sq. km. Oil wells from the two major blocks were renamed Jubilee Fields, which contains the richest oil wells ever found in Ghana.

Hess Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of Hess Corporation, USA, signed for Deepwater Tano / Cape Three Points Block covering an area of 3,000 sq. km. while Vitol Upstream Ghana Limited, a UK based company controls two blocks, the Offshore Cape Three Points Block covering approximately 2,080 sq. km. and the 740 sq. km. South Cape Three Points Block

Nigeria-based Gasop Oil Ghana Ltd controls the Offshore Saltpond Basin covering 2,050 sq. km. Another Nigerian company Oranto Petroleum International Ltd partners a local company, Stone Energy for the 1,500 sq. km Offshore Saltpond Basin, whilst the Saltpond Ofshore Fields just about 13 km from the coast is controlled by Saltpond Offshore Producing Company (SOPCL), a joint venture between GNPC and Lushann Eternit Energy Ltd of Houston.

Aker ASA of Norway and its Ghanaian partner Chemu Power Company Limited controls the South Deepwater Tano Block measuring 3,482 sq. km. whilst Afren Energy has rights to the Keta Sub-Basin.

The Vanco, Young Energy and Gassop also have blocks in Shallow and Deepwaters of Takoradi and Cape Three Points.

In all, about four main oil prospecting companies form the core of upstream oil companies whilst thirteen oil companies which include the Tema Oil Refinery, Sahara Energy Petroleum Resources Ltd, Fraga Oil Company Ltd, Ghana Oil Company Ltd, Oando Ghana Ltd, Trigon Energy Ltd, Havila Oil Company Ltd, Universal Oil Company Ltd and Chase Petroleum Ghana Ltd form the downstream companies for the distribution of oil and petroleum products.

About 30 years ago, oil companies fruitlessly searched for oil in the coastal Keta area. Oil seepage was found in the Onshore Keta area of the Volta Region far back as the last decade of the 19th century and in 1965 the Romanian government provided technical assistance for exploratory drills. The Romanian government provided funds and oil wells were drilled at Anloga and Atiavi but the initiative did not yield any significant find.

In the latter part of the 1960's, the search for oil spread up-country to the mid-part of the country, the Voltaian Basin. In 1978, Shell sank one deep well in that huge exploration.

The years 1968 -1980 marked second phase which saw intense exploration activity in the offshore but no drilling activity took place in the Onshore Tano Basin. However large amounts of seismic data were acquired in the continental shelf during which the total number of wells dug reached 31.

In the early 1970's, a consortium of American companies with Mesa Petroleum as the operator started a search for oil at the Dzita area in the Onshore Keta Basin.

In the latter part of the 1970s, some international oil companies scrambled for licences to prospect for oil in the country, notable among them were Amoco, Chevron, Mobil, Occidental, Signal and Union Carbide.

Major sustained exploration activities started during the third phase, from 1981-1995. During that period oil exploration companies became pre-occupied with data retrieval and gathering. It became obvious that Ghana sits on crude oil, the liquid fuel that runs the world economy.

Ghana’s petroleum exploration agency, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) was established in 1985 purposely to act as the regulator in the oil sector and new petroleum laws and proposed structure of petroleum agreements were formulated to lay the foundation for the ground rules for Ghana’s oil industry.

Discoveries of Oil and Gas

The first discovery of oil and gas was made in 1970 in the Saltpond Fields and thereafter more gas and oil were found between 1978 and the year 2000 at various parts of the Tano Basins followed by gas finds in the Cape Three Points area in 1973.

By 1994, more oil prospecting companies joined the search for oil in the country. In that year a consortium of four companies including Phillips, Zapata, Oxoco and Agip made their first discovery of natural gas in the Cape Three Points area but the discovery was never appraised because gas was not of interest to the oil companies at that time.

In 1997 another consortium of American Agricultural Co-operatives, AGRI- PETCO, who was interested in refinery and drilling started prospecting for oil in Saltpond. Initially, production reached 4,000 barrels per day but output dropped sharply. In 1986, the oil rig was sealed because output fell drastically to 600 barrels crude per day.

From 1996 to date the oil exploration landscape radically changed and it experienced intense exploration activities with more oil prospecting companies come on board and many entering into partnership agreements, notable among were Dana Petroleum, Nuevo Energy, Hunt Oil, Devon Energy and West Oil.

Mega Finds and Locations

In June 2007, the GNPC and its partners Kosmos Energy and Tullow Oil announced the discovery of oil in commercial quantities.

More wells were sunk in the West and Central Tano Fields, Cape Three Points, North and South Tano Fields, West Cape Three Points, Saltpond, Jubilee and Odum which gave impressive results.

The precise locations of the oil wells include Odum -1 well, situated in the Tano Basin and located 51 kilometres deep sea from the coastline, 117 kilometres southwest of Takoradi.

The Mahogany-1 Oil discovery was made on June 7, 2007. It is located about 63 kilometres deep sea from Half Assini, 132 kilometres southwest of Takoradi.

The Mahogany-1 Exploration Well and the Hyedua-1 Well drilled by Tullow Oil on the Deepwater Tano Block, were grouped and renamed the Jubilee Field in December 2007 to mark the coincidence of the discoveries with the country’s Golden Jubilee Year. The Hyedua-1 oil discovery was made on August 7, 2007 about 5.3 kilometres close to the southwest of Mahogany-1 Well.

The West Cape Three Points Block is about 140 kilometres deep sea south-west of Takoradi and about 65 kilometres from Half Assini. It is located between the Tano Fields operated by Tullow Oil to the west and the Heliconia Block to the east. The area is part of the eastern extension of the larger Cote d’Ivoire - Tano Basin.

Discovered in February 2008 by Kosmos, The Odum-1 Well located approximately 13 kilometres east of the Jubilee Fields, is 51 kilometres deep sea from the coastline and 117 kilometres southwest of Takoradi.

In the year 2000, prior to the departure from office of former President John Agyekum Kufuor, Ghanaians watched on national television the former President being presented with sample of crude oil at Castle, the seat of government as Tullow officials looked on, which herald the breaking of the news of oil find in commercial quantities.

Revenue Appropriation

Far back in 2008 the GNPC and its partners met and discussed a conceptual field development program, the details of which were worked on by an Integrated Project Team (IPT) based in Dallas.

Analyzing available data and facts, there is no doubt that every government past and present, in a way, contributed to the discovery of oil in the country. Therefore no single government can lay absolute claim to Ghana’s oil find. The question is how revenue generated from oil should be utilized to impact the lives of Ghanaians?

Considering the history and scope of the discovery it is important to highly consider the economic challenges that face the nation before we decide on what to do with the oil revenue as it flows into government kitty. Some experts have suggested various antidotes to the revenue appropriation problem but let us consider the most important ones against the backdrop of the economic realities facing Ghana.

Ghana’s population is about 24 million and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is less than $15 billion with per capita income of about $600.

Experts have estimated the total oil revenue to the government in respect of royalties, taxes and interest payments on oil and gas exploration in the margin of $1 billion and $1.6 billion per annum. This calculation is based on an average crude oil price of $60 per barrel (currently $77.88). Admittedly, $1 billion a year cannot be the universal solution to the country’s numerous problems.

Ghanaians need jobs that will guarantee sustainable income, good education, health, housing, food security and to secured a future for the yet un-born among others. At least these are the priority areas for the man in the street.

The government’s presumption that crude exports will boost annual GDP growth to about 10% in a couple of years and the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) belief that if Ghana utilizes the unexpected fortune wisely, the country could reach the status of a middle-income country in a decade, are all intellectual conjectures.

Taking into account the fact that the oil industry itself is a fertile ground for corruption and greed by reason of the millions of dollars at stake, and the tendency by some unscrupulous captains of business and investors to cut corners and offer inducements to win contracts as is the case in some oil-producing countries, it is necessary Ghana picks a leaf from Nigeria’s bitter lessons in managing an oil economy.

Control of the Oil Industry

The Petroleum Exploration And Production Law, 1984 P. N. D.C.L. 84, and the GNPC Law 1983 P.N.D.C. Law 64 all extensively deal with rules and regulations regarding petroleum exploration and production in Ghana.

However, civil society groups, think tanks, the local media and international NGOs, who are closely monitoring developments in the oil sector, recently launched a barrage of criticisms at the government for the slow pace at which the state is putting up the requisite legal framework for players in the oil industry.

A couple of months ago, the extension of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (ETTI), a law that covers the Oil and Gas sector, received approval from cabinet. This important legal instrument is designed to improve transparency and accountability in the extractive sector.

The Ghana Petroleum Reserves Accounts, which consist of the Ghana Petroleum Accounts to which all revenues collected by the Ghana Revenue Authority on behalf of the government will be transferred, the Ghana Petroleum Funds which comprises the Ghana Stabilization Fund for mitigating the effects of unexpected revenue shocks and the Ghana Heritage Fund that aims at ensuring inter-generational equity and to maintain the value of oil capital, are all still at the proposal stage while the decisive day to start lifting crude oil in commercial quantities is fast approaching.

The lack of rules to effectively control the oil industry and the slow pace at which the rules of engagement are being formulated only helps to increase the fear factor to plunge the nation into an oil curse. However, everyone wants to avoid confrontation and Ghanaians want to remain vociferous and law abiding.

Some Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are mounting pressure on the government to do the right thing. Recently they launched a booklet that gives a brief guide for civil society on oil and gas which also contains definite rules for minimizing negative social, political and environmental consequences of developing Ghana's natural resources. Their effort is seen as a good start.

As preparations are made for crude exports to begin the last quarter of this year, it is crucial the government expedite action on the development the requisite regulatory framework for contract transparency, as well as a proper assessment of the environmental and social impact of oil and gas development.

Oil Spills

On December 26, 2009, a spill from Jubilee Well offshore attracted heavy criticism in the Ghanaian media. The local media reported that over 700 barrels of a substance said to be a mixture of oil and mud was spilled. Media sources said Tullow also spilled some 37 litres of oil on January 1, 2010. Kosmos defended itself saying that its spillage took place under the sea bed and did not affect marine life. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at the time had no clue of what actually happened but sent a team to investigate the incident.

Later, Jubilee’s partner Kosmos was fined $35 million for negligently spilling 699 barrels of mud which contains poisonous heavy metals on three occasions that could affect Ghana’s ecosystem.

Prior to the punitive measures against Kosmos, the media questioned the visiting International Finance Corporation (IFC) Director for Environment and Social Development, Mr. Greg Radford about the actions his organization would take against exploration companies responsible for oil spill in Ghana since IFC is partnering oil exploration in the country.

Kosmos’ spill and the subsequent punitive measures against it make a good case for coastal communities to press for the setting up of a fund for their welfare and a safeguard of their businesses in situations like this. How much will they benefit from the fine since the spill will affect fisher folks? Already there are complains about depleting fish stock in Ghana’s waters and this is attributed to activities of oil companies.

This scenario deepens the fear of the dangers communities living in the catchments of oil wells are exposed to. The government must not ignore the needs of those in the catchments of oil rigs. They are the first to be affected should anything go wrong in terms of accidents or large-scale oil spills. The event of getting things wrong is real hence those in the catchments of oil and gas exploration must enjoy dividends and not wait till they become defenseless and helpless victims.

We must take a cue from events in the Gulf of Mexico where a large oil spill from a damaged oil rig affected the livelihood and marine life and hundreds of communities in the Gulf coast.

Role of the Media

Information dissemination is vital in a vibrant oil economy and the role of the media as watchdog to bring sanity in the oil business is very important. The Ghanaian media is generally ill-trained for this Herculean task, lacks funding and faces new challenges posed by the transforming oil economy.

The media as the fourth estate of the realm is gradually adopting a survival posture. The numerous scandals, bribery and corruption, and cases of blackmail involving some journalists attest to the fact that it is becoming extremely difficult for the media to protect the weak against the strong in society.

Notably, the publication of events in the oil and gas sector affects the world market price for oil. It is imperative that the media must be resourced through the provision of the requisite tools, training and finance from the Ghana Petroleum Fund. There is no doubt that media practitioners need special skills to operate in an oil economy to enable them to present facts objectively.

It is imperative that special training programmes and regular seminars are organized for selected and accredited journalists on oil reporting to prevent sensational reportage that can set off false alarms and adversely affect the oil market and cost Ghana a fortune.

The government must create a fund to assist civil society groups, NGOs and other recognized pressure groups who are working relentlessly to campaign for equitable distribution of the oil wealth and fight against corrupt practices in the oil sector and safe environmental practices in oil exploration.

Greater Local Participation

Every effort must be made to ensure the oil wealth impact the lives of majority of Ghanaians. One way to set the agenda is to involve greater local participating in the oil sector. Priority must be given to local oil companies to engage directly in the oil and gas sector or in allied businesses.

The government disclosed at several public forums that it is developing a local content backed by law that makes it obligatory for oil and gas companies to employ 90 percent of their staff from the Ghanaian population. What about including an aggressive entrepreneurial component that will give special concessions to Ghanaian entrepreneurs in the oil sector? When more Ghanaians are involved, much of the wealth generated would remain in the country.

Countries including China and Japan gave their local entrepreneurs the first choice in their prioritized industrial programmes and in the extractive industries and commerce, As a result, their economies developed rapidly to become global leaders because capital outflow was regulated and confined mostly to their borders which gave them the impetus to build a large capital base.

Accreditation and Manpower Training

Education is the key ingredient in the social and economic transformation of Ghana and a knowledge-based society is a valuable asset to an emerging oil economy.

It is disheartening to note that as at the time of writing this article, apart from the All Nations University College (ANUC) in Koforidua, not even a single university or tertiary institution in the country received accreditation from the National Accreditation Board (NAB) to offer oil and gas programmes.

The situation has created fertile grounds for some tertiary institutions to offer training courses on oil and gas to the public without accreditation. To ensure quality education every tertiary institution by law is supposed to be accredited by NAB who guarantees the quality of students produced for the various disciplines. Will the NAB maintain its silence and see more of such institutions mushrooming throughout the country at the cost of unsuspecting public to affect the manpower development of the nation?

For example, the Centre for Petroleum Studies, CPS-Ghana, has no accreditation from the NAB but took advantage of the vacuum and conduct live-lectures and hands-on training courses at a training center in Accra. Most of its courses are for field-level employees.

Another institution, the Ghana Oil Drilling Academy and Consultancy (GODAC), reputed to be an internationally accredited oil drilling training institution offers rig-workers training in the offshore/onshore oil drilling and its related disciplines, but has no accreditation from the NAB.

A thorough check at the NAB indicated that of all the tertiary institutions both private and public, only the All Nations University College had accreditation on September 2009 to organize a programme in Oil and Gas Engineering and to be monitored for three years for renewal.

What caliber of staff are these institutions producing to fill vacancies on oil rigs and for onshore operations? Will they pass the litmus test and offset disasters that can result in oil spills on the scale of what happened in the Mexican Gulf?

The NAB must fast-track the processing of applications of all pending applicants including the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the University of Science and Technology (UNaT), Tarkwa, who had applied to run programmes in petro-chemicals.

The Ghanaian attitude of ‘let’s wait and see’ is not helpful. What is necessary is that the citizens and civil society groups, the media and international institutions play their roles effectively to keep the government on its toes to do the right thing and set the agenda for a better Ghana.

When this is done it is certain that democracy, free speech, peace and stability will prevail to guarantee a better future for the citizenry but the trustworthiness of the oil companies is a key factor. If the oil companies follow the rules of transparency and publish the revenue due to government then the citizens and interest groups can perform their watchdog role and monitor the utilization of every cent.

Battered by series of negative news, including HK substantially increase stamp duty as well as upward adjustment of reserve ratio, HK stock market dropped on Monday. However, HK market overall selling pressure is not substantial with the HSI falling near 220 points while the Hang Seng Index narrowed its loss to 82 points to 23,524. Market turnover dropped to HK$79.6bn, reflecting market is not in panic. HK government launched harsh measures to hit property market, HK property play declined with major property stocks like Sino Land (0083.HK) and SHK Properties (0016.HK) fell 5.6% and 3.1% each. Mainland banking sector also retreated as PBC adjust RRR upward but not interest rate.

Mzee Young, during our sojourn to Uganda, did you ever think of the new kid on the block Rwanda? We are now with Blariwa IPO. Do you think the two economies are closely integrated or there is more likelihood of upsurge in Uganda than Rwanda?

@Pkoli,

With my stock investment in Kenya and Uganda in view I am done with East Africa.

I am not getting younger as I will be 50 in 18 months time so I will rather consolidate in the years ahead God willing.

In Africa, I invest in

East Africa :- Kenya /Uganda
West Africa:- Nigeria / Ghana
Southern Africa:- RSA / Botswana

I believe I have had enough spread. My only regret is my inability to invest in Egypt, but I have forgotten about it. I was bluntly re refused on three sperate occasions without any plausible reason.

The above in Africa is enough for a life time.

Yep @mwanahisa you are absolutely right.

Hong Kong shares snapped a three-day losing streak Wednesday, as investors concluded geopolitical tensions on the Korean peninsula wouldn't likely escalate further.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 127.72 points, or 0.6%, to 23,023.86 after trading between 22,971.21 and 23,166.69 during the session.

Market volume totaled HK$82.31 billion, down from HK$92.24 billion Tuesday.

Analysts said they expect the index to trade between 22,800 and 23,500 the rest of the week as investors are likely to stay cautious despite the recovery today.

'Obviously we were a little bit oversold because of the Korea news,' said Tanrich Securities Investment Manager Jackson Wong. 'But we are still in a weak trend now. Everybody's treading water and waiting for more news on North and South Korea, and Europe.'

Shares recovered some of Tuesday's losses following North Korea's artillery attack on a South Korean island, which prompted retaliation from South Korea. The Hang Seng Index declined 627.88 points, or 2.67%, to 22,896.14 Tuesday after the incident.

Investors also remained concerned about European nations' debt as they shifted their attention to Portugal and Spain after Ireland agreed to a bailout package on Sunday.

Linus Yip, strategist at First Shanghai, said that expectations China would introduce further tightening policies are likely to continue to weigh on stocks. 'The index is still on a downtrend in the near term, while today's rise is merely a technical rebound,' he said.

Hong Kong property firms led the recovery. Cheung Kong, the territory's largest developer by market capitalization, rose 2.2% to HK$113.90, and Sun Hung Kai Properties, the second-largest developer, rose 1.5% to HK$125.90. Hang Lung Properties ended 1.9% higher at HK$35.30.

Goodbaby rose 18.4% on its first day of trade to HK$5.80 versus its initial public offering price of HK$4.90. VC Group said in a report the company produced one of every 2.9 strollers in China, North America and the European market combined in 2009