The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) is soliciting the inputs of its stakeholders as part of efforts to review the current GIPC Act 2013.
The Head of Legal of the GIPC, Naa Lamle Orleans-Lindsay, said the GIPC legislation was the foundation that covered investment in Ghana and that once the country got it right, it would facilitate intended reforms.
At the Economic Counsellors Dialogue (ECD) in Accra, an initiative of the GIPC to attract foreign direct investment, she said the last review was in 2013 and so it was appropriate to assess the effectiveness of the revised law as there were many sweeping changes.
“Once we get feedback from our stakeholders, we will propose amendments to be made to the GIPC legislation to develop our economy through investment,” she said.
Call for reform
The Chief Executive Officer of the GIPC, Mr. Yofi Grant, said Ghana needed a good economic turnaround to be able to become the most attractive foreign direct investment destination in Africa.
He stated that items on the expenditure list, namely salaries of the public service, interest payments and committed funds (e.g. GETFund), took up almost 80 per cent of accrued revenues such that it did not leave any room for development.
“So it is imperative that we do the reforms to bring in investors to enable us to also grow and develop our economy but for mutual benefit,” he said.
Mr Grant said global developments demanded that Ghana should also adapt and position itself to benefit mutually with its partners.
“We want to be the number one in Africa and so we are in a competitive situation where we are trying to outdo the likes of Mauritius, Senegal, Kenya and Rwanda in terms of business confidence so it’s a keen contest,” he noted.
He said while averagely the country had been recording between US$2.5 to US$ 2.8 billion in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI), plans were afoot to double it to the tune of US$5 billion.
“Broadly, we are trying to improve public finances, trying to bring discipline into care of the public purse. We currently have a very tight fiscal situation because we are over borrowing with a debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 72 per cent, which is unsustainable,” he said.
The Ministry of Finance, he said, was working hard to bring it to a sustainable level of 70 per cent in the short term and in medium term, 65 per cent.
“This means that there is the need for a lot of financial discipline, especially on the fiscal side. It also means that we don’t have any fiscal flexibility,” he added.
Strategic areas
Mr Grant mentioned energy, infrastructure, modernised agriculture, technology and tourism as some of the strategic areas for which the country was seeking investment.
He said a modernised agriculture was key to wealth creation as “the more efficient farmers become, the more they can create wealth and not rely on government.”
“Agric is not being improved for food security only but also as a feed stock for a new industrial revolution,” he stressed.
He added that a pitch book had been developed to give information on the opportunities in Ghana and how to access them.
The dialogue
Under the auspices of Agility Africa and Tang Palace Hotel, the fourth edition of the ECD brought together members of the diplomatic community and heads of foreign business associations in Ghana to dialogue on measures to enhance Ghana’s business environment
Source: graphic.com.gh