TOPP pays 2-year dividend to government

The Twifo Oil Palm Plantation (TOPP) has presented a cheque for GH¢30.89 million as dividend to the government for the years 2021 and 2022. 

An agro processing company located at Twifo Ntafrewaso in the Twifo Atti Morkwa District in the Central Region of Ghana, TOPP is one of the few high-performing entities under the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA).

Leading a delegation to present the cheque, the Board Chairman of TOPP, George Oduro Boahen, said the revenue of the company had increased from GH¢129.1 million in 2021 to GH¢164.5 in 2022, representing 27.4 per cent increment in the company’s revenues.

He said in 2022, the company made a profit of GH¢76.2 million, up from GH¢51.8 million in 2021.

That, he said, was as a result of good management practices, improved controls, favourable global vegetable oil prices and supervision of the board.

The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, who led a team to receive the cheque, expressed optimism that the economy would make good strides next year and push inflation down further to 15 per cent.

He said the reduction in inflation to 26.4 per cent which was half of the 54 per cent of what the country experienced last year, was quite an impressive performance.

“Inflation has been halved and the growth in the economy has doubled to three per cent beyond the targeted 1.5 per cent and when we look at the currency depreciation, which since February has been about 7.2 per cent, there is quite a bit of stability,” the Finance Minister stated. 

Commitment

Mr Ofori-Atta commended TOPP for the great achievements and said the government was committed to supporting and pushing the private sector to create more jobs for the people.

He said the issue of job creation had become more urgent, hence the need to change the model of TOPP to enable Unilever to have a stronger hold on the entity to turn it around.

“I know that they have closed some of the operations in Nigeria and we want to make sure that the supply of raw materials is affirmed so that we can add value and take advantage of AfCFTA to export.

 It is key that we build the nation as a hub and add value to raw materials going forward,” he said.

Hope

The Finance Minister said it was again welcoming that Greater Accra had the slowest growth in inflation, adding that “it is good although food inflation is still problematic but even that was down considerably from the 44 per cent to about 32.2 per cent this month.”

The supply side, he said, was not a problem but logistical movement was needed to get efficiency.

He therefore expressed the hope for a good situation in the coming year. 

Conducive environment

A Deputy Minister of Finance, Abena Osei Asare, commended TOPP for the performance, saying: “It is a justifiable expectation and one that the Ministry very much insists on.

The state expects all entities it has an equity in to emulate such a gesture.”

She said the government remained committed to creating a conducive environment to enable companies such as TOPP to thrive.