Foreign direct investment (FDI) flowing into Ghana over the first three quarters of 2017 exceeded 4.4 billion U.S. Dollars, the head of the Ghana Investment Promotions Center (GIPC) said here on Wednesday.
This was a far improvement over an average of 2.7 billion dollars recorded annually over the past decade, said GIPC CEO Yoofi Grant.
Addressing a gathering of captains of industry and other stakeholders, Grant said the GIPC had changed its strategy of a passive investment promotion center to an aggressive one.
GIPC had set a 5 billion dollar FDI target for 2017. Grant expressed confidence that the target is within reach, saying that the total includes not only investments attracted through the GIPC but also those through the Free Zones Board and other allied institutions.
“Our goal at GIPC is to help create an economy that is more business-friendly because the more businesses invest, the more the jobs that are created, and that helps in alleviating poverty in the country,” Grant said.
He lamented that the country slipped on the World Bank Ease of Doing Business Index 12 places this year, from 108th to 120th, among about 190 countries in the world, but added that there were reforms underway to make Ghana the most attractive investment destination in Africa by 2020.
“It means that our competitors are reforming faster than we are doing and are taking faster measures than we are,” he said.
Nana Adjei Mensah, special adviser to Minister for Finance Kenneth Ofori-Atta, who stood in for the minister, said the government is mindful of what a conducive business atmosphere meant for the economy, hence its efforts in creating a friendlier business environment.
In its quest to make Ghana the gateway to west Africa in terms of investment, Mensah said, the government has been making painstaking efforts to stabilize the fragile macroeconomic environment it inherited to create confidence in the fiscal regime and make investors more comfortable dealing with the country. Enditem
Source: Xinhua/NewsGhana.com.gh
