Business and financial journalists have been urged to upgrade their knowledge and skills to enable them to have greater understanding to better interpret and analyse the country’s current economic situation and business environment.

Mr John Awuah, Chief Finance Officer of the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), said it was important for them to accurately report on business and financial issues to aid the people to make informed decisions. Mr Awuah was opening a day’s training workshop on Financial Journalism for a cross section of business and financial reporters in Kumasi on Friday.

It was the second in a series organised by the GCB to equip journalists to do thorough and quality job. Mr Awuah said many journalists were unable to analyse and present financial and business issues in the most appropriate manner due to the lack of proper understanding of the sector.

It is against this backdrop that the GCB has taken it upon itself to sponsor the training to assist journalists to present their stories in an effective manner. He spoke of the major transformation the GCB had undergone which had improved the fortunes of the bank in the last few years.

“The media played a key role in this success story and that is why it is important to assist the practitioners with appropriate skills to raise the performance of the business and financial sector of the economy,” he said. He encouraged them to focus on assisting the business sector through their writings to attract export financing for local products.

Dr Messan Mawugbe, Director of the Centre for Media Analysis, who was the resource person, called on financial journalists to make effective use of financial analysts to give greater credibility to their reports. They should also generate and develop their own business stories instead of following events.

Mrs Thyra Obuobi, Director of Public Affairs, GCB, said the bank would continue to create mutually beneficial partnerships with the media to take financial reporting to a higher level.