“Ghana has so far raised $780 million in investment inflows out of its target of $3 billion for the year 2021,” the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC), Yofi Grant, has said.
Speaking at a press briefing in Accra on Sunday, June 20, 2021, Mr. Grant noted that the country’s Foreign Direct Investments increased last year despite the economic impact of COVID-19.
“For every country, foreign direct investments are recognised as very important to its economic and socio-economic development. In Ghana, I dare say that over the past few years we have upped our game and our economy has become more attractive. Indeed, I dare say that since 2017 Ghana’s economy grew by 8.1% and through 2019 we had an average growth of 7%. This symbolises a country that is walking the talk and doing all it needs to do to become one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.”
“Accordingly, Foreign Direct Investments grew. Our FDI in 2017 was $4.9 billion; it dropped marginally in consonance with the drop in global FDIs in 2018 to $3.54 billion. In 2019, it further dropped to $1.01 billion. The interesting thing however is that, despite the negative impact of COVID-19 on global economies, Ghana saw an increase in FDIs in 2020 to $2.65 billion.”
He attributed the increase to “the confidence most investors have in Ghana. Secondly, the work of the President since he took over in 2017 has been very instructive to ensure that Ghana is on the map. Our work here at GIPC has also been to follow up with him and ensure that we put the president’s talk into action.”
Mr. Grant also indicated that the country is targeting a further increase in FDIs to $3 billion by December this year.
“This means we need to raise $7 billion more by December. We have so far raised $780 million out of our targeted amount of $3 billion for this year.”
He thus encouraged more local partnerships.
“We don’t only want foreign investors. We want them to partner with Ghanaians as well. We have seen a number of people come forward, we want this to continue.”
Meanwhile, the government has assured that the $2.7 billion in investment inflows reported by the GIPC for the year 2020 will be put to prudent use for the benefit of Ghanaians.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Sunday, April 18, 2021, the Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said the government will continue to assiduously pursue worthwhile investments to help bolster the Ghanaian economy towards recovery by putting the inflows to good use in order to shore up the economy and better the lives of Ghanaians generally.
Source: citibusinessnews.com
