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Business News of Tuesday, 31 August 2010

Source: Thompson, Nii Moi

Now, it''s S&P Against Ghana

Folks, I'm sure by now you are all familiar with S&P's downgrading of Ghana's creditworthiness and the question of whether or not it was based on economics or politics. S&P would have us believe that it was based on economics, citing "large fiscal deficits and a lack of clarity on oil-industry laws"

I have attached a graph on actual and projected deficits from 2004 to 2013. You decide if the economics argument holds water. About oil industry laws, be reminded that two bills, the Petroleum Exploration and Production Bill and the Petroleum Revenue Management Bill, were recently submitted to Parliament following extensive national public discussions. I took part in one and indeed made a presentation on how best I thought we should spend the oil money.

Little wonder then that, Samir Gadio, a London-based emerging-markets strategist with Standard Bank Plc, described S&P's action as "a bit strange". That surely must be in contention for the under-statement of the century.

One can only conclude that, like the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and the Washington Times, S&P has also fallen under the manipulative spell of Kosmos-Exxon and their array of relentless operatives. Bear in mind that government's action on Kosmos' intended sale of its shares to Exxon had been anything but arbitrary. It has been in accordance with the rule of Ghanaian and international laws and certainly nowhere near the kind of savage beating that BP, for example, has taken from Obama and the American public.

Why, isn't a government allowed to seek the interest of its people without coming under the evil manipulations of organizations like Standard & Poor's?

Quote: "The European Commission has already proposed new transparency rules for rating agencies, and Barroso has called for them to be brought under the direct supervision of a planned EU market governance body to limit the power of ratings agencies, especially when it comes to the debts of a sovereign nation."

See the links below for full stories.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5554679,00.html

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5524523,00.html

The graph of Ghana's deficits is attached.

Enjoy. And see you in Ghana soon. Nii Moi.

"What others have done we can do." - Marcus Garvey.