Amadu Kamil Sanah, GNA
Accra, Sept. 23, GNA –
Dr Osman Tahidu Damba, a Lecturer, at the Faculty of Agribusiness and
Communication Sciences, University for Development Studies (UDS), has said
Ghana is one of the emerging economies in Sub-Saharan Africa due to its
continuous economic performance.
He said the cocoa and
gold business sectors were the major drivers of Ghana’s economic growth which
has been identified by potential investors as the best options for portfolio
allocation.
Dr Damba said this
during a presentation made on: “Options Market for Ghana’s Investment Drive: A
Volatility Transmission and Hedging Approach” at the 13th National Association of
Agricultural Economists Conference, Kahramanmaras, Turkey.
The presentation
assessed the best investments options among the cocoa and gold sectors with a
fluctuating world crude oil price and the continuous weakening of the domestic
currency against the US dollar.
Its findings confirmed
that with the unstable oil prices, the agriculture and mining sectors are
directly influenced by the Cedi’s performance against the US dollar due to the
stock market coupled with transportation and production costs.
This, he said, is evident from the significant
shocks and volatility transmissions from effective exchange rates alone and in
combination with other sectors to cocoa, gold and crude oil prices, adding “oil
combines with other sectors to transmit shocks and volatilities to other
sectors.”
Dr Damba, who is at
the Department of Climate Change and Food Security said, Cocoa presented the
best option for investments compared to Gold.
He said this is
attributed to improved premium prices for Ghana’s Cocoa, adding that, the oil
sector should be an integral part of a diversified portfolio of assets since
Ghana has started drilling oil and increased volatility is expected with time.
He said the oil sector
will enhance risk adjustment of the hedged portfolios and that Ghana’s
government should continue with private-public partnerships of exploring
alternative sources of energy for transporting and processing.
GNA