Cedi Depreciations Affecting Profits – Ghana Airport

The Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) has said it has applied to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to allow it to prepare its accounts in dollars to address the effects of currency depreciations on its profit margins.

Mr John Dekyem Attafuah, Managing Director of the GACL, said a large part of its revenue was in dollars, thus the depreciations of the Cedi affected its business as well as the loans it took to undertake projects.

Speaking at the 6th Annual General Meeting of the GACL held in Accra, Mr Attafuah said preparing the accounts in dollars will help the company to see its real value, without the impact of cedi fluctuations.

He explained that in instances of cedi fluctuations, a loan of $100, which is the equivalent of GH¢500.00 for instance, when reviewed, may go up to GH¢600.00, even though the money had not been spent.

The increase of GH¢100.00 then adds on to its costs, making the company less profitable.

“But if you pay in dollars, which of course the laws allow, we could then report realistically on our operations,” he said, adding “…remember almost 87 per cent of our income is in dollars, it’s all aeronautical, the 15 or so per cent that we take locally is the non-aeronautical bit and therefore effectively we are an offshore company”.

He said the company was yet to receive any feedback from the GRA on their request.

Presenting the operational and financial performance of the GACL, Mr Attafuah noted that, while the company continued to operate profitably, its profit before tax of GH¢87 million in the year ended December 31, 2017, was 43 per cent lower than the 2016 figure of GH¢153 million.

This he, said was due to a higher operational costs and currency exchange losses. The GACL however recorded increases in its total non-current assets, which grew by 19 per cent to GH¢6.4 billion and total assets, which increased by 15 per cent to GH¢6.7 billion.

“Total assets value per share increased by 15 per cent to GH¢1,383.00 from GH¢1,202.00 in 2016,” he said.

He said management was confident that, despite the uncertainties and challenges in 2017, the completion of Terminal 3 will create opportunities for further growth.

Mrs. Oboshie Sai Cofie, Board Chair of the GACL, said the company’s report for the year.