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Multinationals must be compelled to list – Addae-Mensah
According to Mr Addae-Mensah this will help enhance the activity on the stock market, reduce the pressure of the cedi, and encourage more transparency with which they operate in the country.
Managing Director of Databank, Kojo Addae-Mensah.
"We cannot just allow them to come in, operate, make profit, take dollars out, put pressure on the local currency, depreciate it and yet still Ghanaians do not participate. I do not quite agree to that," he told the Business and Financial Times.
Mr Addae-Mensah is not the only industry player who is making this call. A former Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr. Adu Anane Antwi, has been championing this campaign so that Ghanaians also share in their success and reduce the menace of capital flight.
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Currently Ghana has relaxed laws, which allow them to repatriate 100percent of their profits. These multinationals also enjoy generous tax breaks. This makes many wonder what the government can do to force the multinationals to list on the stock market.
Kojo Addae-Mensah said a strong-will is required at the political level to ensure a lot more of the value of multinationals remains in the struggling economy.
"The president or the ministry of finance can push it through a bill that goes to parliament and makes it law that as a multinational, if you operate in the country for six or seven years, in your 10th year, you must list a minimum of 20percent of your company on the local bourse," he said.
He suggested that one way to do this is by inserting clauses in contracts that will ensure these multinationals go public after a period of time.
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"It is not about losing control. AngloGold Ashanti Limited, a South African based multinational operating in 11 countries, never lost control after offloading minority shares on the local bourse.”
“We just want Ghanaians to feel a part of it and get the stock market going with some liquidity. It helps everybody and helps the company itself because when you want to expand and retool, you can raise it from Ghanaians," he added.
Out of the 41 listed companies, only 13, representing 31.7percent, are multinational in nature, with another five locally listed ones with majority foreign interest or stake. The rest of the 23, representing 56.1percent are local firms.
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