The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Yofi Grant says Ghana has attracted more than $1 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by the end of Q3 2020.
He made this revelation whilst speaking on PM Express via zoom on Thursday night.
According to him, it was interesting to note that Ghana recorded FDI to the tune of $180 million in Q1 2020. He indicated that the GIPC expects to have recorded zero FDI in Q2 because of the destructions in global supply chains and global financial systems but that was not the case.
“I think what happened in Ghana where everybody saw Ghana as a beacon of hope and a leader in the fight against COVID as demonstrated globally reestablished some of the confidence that investors have in the economy.
“So by the end of the second quarter whilst we were not expecting anything, on the contrary, we saw a significant rise; we had an extra $605 million. So by the first half of the year total FDI, as we recorded in GIPC and with petroleum operation, we had $785million. This excluded what we might have had through the minerals commission and the free zone.
“But by the third quarter, we had exceeded a billion dollars of FDI and that is not the story we are getting from many other countries that are attractive to FDI. This just goes to confirm that Ghana is still a country that people are confident in”.
He noted that investors understand the plans of the government and also understand the future direction of the country so they put their money where the mass is and are still investing in Ghana.
According to him, most of the projects are new projects, “they are not projects that are already existing but new projects. And I believe post COVID we might even see better”.
He further stated that every investor likes stability, and uncertainty is certainly not something that investors like.
“I believe the election was won fair and square. I think that there is a need in these situations to act in a bigger interest, which is Ghana”.
He congratulated the president for managing the economy well. He indicated that before COVID, Ghana was one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and was projected to be the fastest in 2020 until COVID hit.
“And even despite that our recovery has been remarkable, we have done much better than we expected …and so we are very clear what the future holds for us”, he added.
Also speaking on the same program via zoom, the Head of the Economics Department at the University of Ghana, Prof. William Baah-Boateng stated that the NPP government must find a way of handling the high fiscal defects in the coming days.
“We have the issue of Covid-19 and we had the election. Every year we tend to overshoot our expenditure, at the end of the day, we are confronted with high fiscal deficits”.
The third panelist on the program, Mr. Humphrey Ayim-Dake, C.E.O of Redmoon Resource Limited stated that there has been some element of stability in our electoral systems so most businesses were operational during the election period even though COVID has impacted on business operations.
“Yes, we were a bit optimistic yet a bit cautious and I believe the election process went smoothly and businesses operated”.
About the issue of businesses not liking uncertainties, he pointed out that in Africa when its election years, investors carefully monitor their investment depending on the country involved.
“Ghana has a record of going beyond each election with good credentials and that is an assurance to our partners both internationally and locally. And therefore in manufacturing and other related industries, I’m assured that most businesses invested reasonably but for the COVID that brought a lot of dynamics into the 2020 year of activities. So with the elections and its outcome, a few days back before the elections, there were some elements of tension since most businessmen and entrepreneurs couldn’t see their way clear”.
