IMF board approves $918 mln assistance deal with Ghana-By Kwasi Kpodo

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen at the IMF headquarters building during the 2013 Spring …

ACCRA (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund on Friday approved a three-year $918 million financial assistance deal for Ghana aimed at restoring economic stability and boosting job growth, and said it would disburse about $114.8 million immediately.
The deal should help government efforts to tame inflation, reduce a budget deficit and restore currency stability, all of which have curbed economic growth in the West African state.
Sustained GDP growth of around 8 percent per year, coupled with a stable democracy, made Ghana one of Africa's best-performing economies. But the government forecasts growth at 3.9 percent for 2015, below an IMF forecast for sub-Saharan Africa.

"One of the main objectives of the programme is to achieve an ambitious and sustained fiscal consolidation," Joel Toujas-Bernate, the IMF's Ghana mission chief, told reporters, adding that implementation would be subject to two reviews per year.

Ghana's large fiscal and current account deficits and its rapidly increasing public debt are particular problems, he said.

"Achieving key fiscal objectives will require strict containment of expenditure, in particular of the wage bill and subsidies," the IMF said in a later statement. Ghana should also continue to clean its public-sector payroll, improve control of public hiring and adopt a prudent borrowing strategy, it said.

The government embarked on talks with the IMF last year when it saw that investors were unconvinced by its own programme to restore fiscal balance.

Some analysts say the government may struggle to implement with elections due next year, not least because Ghana's fiscal crunch began when it overshot a budget deficit target for the 2012 election year because of wage increases for civil servants.

Toujas-Bernate said the Fund was confident the government would remain committed to implementing the terms of the programme before the election and it had received assurances from President John Mahama on the matter.

Moody's Investors Service in March downgraded Ghana's sovereign rating and put the country on a negative outlook, citing an increasing debt burden, large fiscal imbalances and a currency that has fallen sharply since the last review.

An IMF programme is seen as a key to restoring investor confidence. It should yield budget support for donors but, more importantly, it will make it easier for the country to gain access to domestic and international debt markets.

Ghana will seek bridge finance of between $300 million and $1 billion in the first half of this year to redeem maturing domestic debt and will also issue a Eurobond of up to $1.5 billion in the second half of the year.

Culled from

Solid U.S. job growth anticipated despite weak economy-Reuters

A woman walks past a "Now Hiring" sign as she leaves the Urban Outfitters store at Quincy Market in Boston, Massachusetts September 5, 2014. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. job growth likely remained solid in March, which should allay fears over recent economic weakness and keep the Federal Reserve on course to start raising interest rates this year.
Nonfarm payrolls probably increased 245,000 last month after rising 295,000 in February, according to a Reuters survey of economists. March would mark the 13th straight month of job gains above 200,000, the longest streak since late 1993.
The labor market has largely shrugged off a harsh winter, a buoyant dollar, weaker global demand and a now-resolved labor dispute at West Coast ports, which have combined to undermine economic activity in the first quarter.
Growth braked sharply over the past three months. Gross domestic product estimates are as low as a 0.6 percent annual pace, but the slowdown is expected to be temporary.
"If we get a number that's around consensus, then the arguments that the economy slowed for fundamental rather than weather-related reasons will disappear," said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania.
The Labor Department will release its March employment report at 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT) on Friday. Most overseas financial and U.S. stock markets will be closed for the Good Friday holiday, but U.S. bond markets will open for a few hours, with the jobs data setting the tone.
The unemployment rate is forecast to hold steady at a more than 6-1/2 year low of 5.5 percent. It is now in territory that some Fed officials consider consistent with full employment.
There is a risk, however, that payroll growth could print well below expectations after a report on Wednesday showed a big step back in private hiring in March. Still, any number above 200,000 will be seen as positive for the economy.
"Job growth over the last months has been booming; some moderation is expected," said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
According to Sweet, the economy needs to create between 100,000 and 120,000 jobs a month to keep up with population growth and continue to absorb the slack in the jobs market.
Average hourly earnings will be closely watched for clues on the timing of a Fed rate hike. Average hourly earnings are expected to have increased by 0.2 percent in March, a tepid pace that could offer little fresh direction for investors.
SEPTEMBER LIFT-OFF?
With Wal-Mart (WMT.N) and McDonald's (MCD.N) announcing pay increases for their hourly workers, wage growth could gain some traction in the months ahead. Other companies, including TJX Cos Inc (TJX.N) and health insurer Aetna (AET.N), also have announced wage increases.
The U.S. central bank has sounded keen to raise overnight interest rates, which it has kept near zero since December 2008. But the economy's recent softness has led investors to push back bets on the rate lift-off. Some believe the Fed could even wait until 2016.

"We expect activity to rebound, but it's probably not going to be strong or fast enough for the Fed to entertain the idea of rate hike before September," said Sam Bullard, senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Dan Grebler)

Asian shares rise, U.S. jobs data in focus

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An employee of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) looks at a stock quotation board as he works at the bourse at TSE in Tokyo March 13, 2015. REUTERS/Yuya Shino

By Lisa Twaronite

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares shrugged off weak U.S. data overnight that raised concerns ahead of Friday's key employment figures, and logged gains on Thursday as investors covered positions ahead of the Easter holidays.
European bourses were expected to follow suit, with financial spreadbetters calling Britain's FTSE 100 (.FTSE) to open flat to 1 point higher, or up 0.01 percent; Germany's DAX (.GDAXI) to open 27 points higher, or up 0.2 percent; and France's CAC 40 (.FCHI) to open 12 to 13 points higher, or up 0.3 percent.

"The performance of Europe's markets, which continue to look fairly well-supported, as well as trading at multi-year highs, stands in contrast to the weakness currently being seen in U.S. markets," Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said in a note.

Most U.S. markets will be closed on Friday, with some European markets closed Friday through Monday and reopening on Tuesday.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up about 0.6 percent, ignoring a weak performance overnight on Wall Street.

Australian shares (.AXJO) finished up 0.7 percent, on growing expectations that the Reserve Bank of Australia will announce its second rate cut of 2015 when it meets on Tuesday, the first trading day after markets close for the Easter long weekend.
Japan's Nikkei stock average (.N225) ended 1.5 percent higher, after skidding to a three-week low in the previous session.
"Hedge funds are seen covering their short positions as the Nikkei fell sharply this week," said Norihiro Fujito, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
Friday's non-farm payrolls are expected to show an increase of 245,000 jobs in March, following a gain of 290,000 in February, according to economists polled by Reuters.
But on Wednesday, the ADP National Employment Report showed that U.S. private employers added 189,000 jobs last month, falling well short of economists' expectations for a rise of 225,000 jobs. The figure was the weakest since January 2014.

Separate data on Wednesday showed the pace of U.S. manufacturing growth in March slowed to its slowest in nearly two years.

The dollar slumped after the data as it reinforced concerns that the currency's recent rally has weighed on exports. The data also raised bets the Federal Reserve might not hike interest rates until late 2015.

"Right now the market's worry is the Fed showing concern about a strong dollar, and the data only compounded such fears," said Masashi Murata, senior currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in Tokyo.

"Even if Friday's non-farm payroll number is decent - it could come in around 250,000 - that might not dispel strong dollar concerns. That is why there isn't much bargain hunting for the dollar," he said.

The greenback was down about 0.2 percent on the day at 119.57 yen (JPY=), while the euro added about 0.2 percent to $1.0787 (EUR=).
The euro was bolstered by Wednesday's data showing manufacturing activity across the euro zone is accelerating.
Oil prices were off their session lows but still down on the day, giving back some of the sharp gains made in the previous session after U.S. crude output fell for the first time in two months and the government announced a smaller-than-feared rise in weekly stockpiles.
U.S. crude futures (CLc1) shed about 0.9 percent to $49.66 after surging more than 5 percent on Wednesday. Brent (LCOc1) was down 0.6 percent at $56.76 after closing up 3.6 percent. [O/R]

Gold (XAU=) hovered slightly above $1,200 an ounce, clinging to gains from the prior session when it rose the most in two months on the weak U.S. economic data.

(Additional reporting by Shinichi Saoshiro and Ayai Tomisawa in Tokyo; Editing by Eric Meijer)

Culled from Reuters

The great characters of Goodluck Jonathan and Gen M. Buhar (Rtd)- Odunze Reginald C

Today as we celebrate the triumph of democracy we are not putting up economic, financial or any related articles in pension but in politics.

Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest American presidents once said “that politics is too good a vocation to be left alone for politicians”.

And Machiavelli in his monumental book, “The prince “noted that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. And that is the main reason, politicians stick to power. Though Machiavelli was dubbed the devil, by his enemies, associates and intellectual hypocrites but he definitely made a point and such point to my greatest amazement has still been relevant till today, even though Machiavelli was writing during the time of Mussolini of France and Adolf Hitler of Germany. 

But what he opined has been relevant in most African countries, where there is sit tight syndrome. The depose of Mubarak of Egypt, the death of Col Gadaffi of Libya  on what has come to be termed as Arab spring are still fresh in our minds. But why do politicians sit tight?  

The conduct of election in Nigeria dates back to 1923, when the colonial masters conducted elections in Calabar and Lagos cities.

But I am in interested in this years elections because of the characters of two individuals, the president Dr Goodluck Jonathan  and General M Buhari.

Their characters remind us of two great American presidents, George Washington, who at a time he was supposed to be re elected  decided to step down for others to partake in the running of the state, and the great American President Abraham Lincoln who in spite of all odds, failures, went ahead to become the 16^th president of American, Gen Buhari has shown that he quitters never win  and winners never quit.

President Goodluck  Jonathan, portrays the act of statesman by congratulating the winner few minutes after the result, by that singular act, he has clearly exemplified the life of a great man. This is a man who once stated that the position he is occupying is not worth the blood of any Nigeria.

AS we celebrate the triumph of Gen Buhari (Rtd), lets us all bear in mind that the real success of this election goes to the electorates who in spite of all odd went ahead to do their civic duties.

Honda says to invest 200 million pounds in UK plant

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A sign is seen outside the Honda manufacturing plant in Swindon, western England January 30, 2009. REUTERS/Stephen Hird

 

TOKYO (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co said on Tuesday it would spend more than 200 million pounds to upgrade its UK plant, turning it into a global production hub for the next-generation five-door Civic.

In a move that secures the medium-term future of the under-utilised factory in Swindon, Japan's No.3 automaker said it would invest in advanced production technologies and processes, bringing cumulative investment in the plant to more than 2.2 billion pounds.

The new five-door Civic to be produced there would be sold in Europe as well as exported to other markets. As it produces more Civics, production of the next-generation CR-V crossover would be moved to its factory in Ontario, Canada, for export to Europe, it said.

The Swindon plant has the capacity to produce 250,000 cars per year, and built just under 120,000 cars in 2014.

(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

Culled from Reuters

How Social Security benefits are calculated - By Mandi Woodruf

Most American workers are entitled to receive a monthly Social Security retirement benefit by age 62. The average monthly Social Security check in 2015 is $1,328.  

But how does the government figure out how much each worker should receive?

The key to calculating someone’s Social Security benefit is to first figure out their Primary Insurance Amount (PIA).

The PIA is the baseline amount for your Social Security benefits. The amount of your benefit depends on many factors, including how long you worked, your income and how old you are when you retire.

To come up with each worker’s specific PIA, they start by figuring out how much you earned on average per month during your working years — called your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME) — and then use a formula to determine how much of that amount you'll get in retirement.

To get the AIME, the Social Security Administration looks back at all the years you worked up until the age of 60 and then adjusts your earnings to account for wage inflation over the years. Then, they zero in on your 35 highest-earning years and average them to get your AIME. Which works to your advantage — no one wants to have their benefit based on the few years they spent slumming it at a part-time job or the time they were laid off and weren’t earning anything for a while. Those super-low earnings would skew your results and drive your benefit down.

Before you get too excited, your AIME is NOT how much you can expect to get on a monthly basis in retirement. The SSA only gives you a fraction of your actual lifetime earnings. How big or small that fraction is depends on a formula the SSA uses:  

You will receive 90% of the first $826 of your indexed monthly earnings (AIME).

For earnings between $826 and $4,980, you'll get 32% of your indexed monthly earnings.

Above $4,980, you'll get 15% of your indexed monthly earnings.

So, let’s say Joe Public had an AIME of $6,000 a month. He would receive 90% of his first $826 ($743); 32% of his next $4,154 ($4,980-$826=$4,154) indexed monthly earnings ($1,329); and 15% of the last $1,020 ($153) for a grand total monthly benefit of $2,225.

Timing is everything

If you were born between 1943 and 1954, your full retirement age is 66 (to figure out your full retirement age, check out this handy tool). If you retire exactly at the current full retirement age, you can expect to get exactly however much your PIA turned out to be.

But if you file for benefits early, your benefits will be reduced by 25% for the rest of your life.

If you wait to start taking benefits until after age 66, your benefits will increase by 8% for each year you wait until age 70. For example, if you start taking benefits at age 67, you would receive 108% of however much your PIA came out to. If you wait until age 68, you’ll get 116% and so on.

Don’t worry about the math

You can easily find your SSA monthly benefit without having to do the math yourself. Just head over to My Social Security, create an account and look up your Social Security statement. This statement gives a detailed snapshot of how much you can expect to earn in monthly benefits when you hit retirement age, plus your estimated disability and Medicare benefits. If you'd rather not check online, the government will mail workers over the age of 25 a paper statement mailed to them once every five years until they reach age 60. 

Culled from Yahoo Finance