President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has encouraged the black business community in the United States of America to invest in Ghana citing the numerous investment opportunities that exist in the country.
Delivering the keynote address at the session of the 45th Annual Legislative Conference of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday, 1st December 2021, President Akufo-Addo said despite the very real difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Ghana was doing some things right, sending out the right signals to the global investor community.
“Last year, 2020, Ghana recorded FDI of US$2.65 billion from 279 projects. For 2021 alone, the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) recorded FDI of US$973.38 million, from 173 projects for the first three quarters of the year, with large ticket projects in the pipeline to boost FDI flows by the close of the year,” he said.
Ghana, President Akufo-Addo stated, was among the first countries, in the world, to put together a medium-term response strategy to address the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, and to outline an economic recovery, revitalisation, and transformation plan to build back better and stronger.
“We have identified the relevant sectors of the economy requiring the needed investment that will help accelerate the rebound and growth of the economy, as was witnessed in the immediate years before the pandemic struck, which saw, between 2017 and 2020, our average annual GDP growth rate of 7% as one of the fastest in the world. We call the recovery package the Ghana CARES ‘Obaatampa’ Programme,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that the GH¢100 billion Programme, aimed at stabilising and revitalising the economy, has two phases, the stabilisation phase, which was implemented between July to December 2020; and the revitalisation and transformation stage, which is currently under implementation, and will end in 2023.
“We are focussing our energies on supporting commercial farming, and attracting educated youths into agriculture, building Ghana’s light manufacturing sector, fast-tracking efforts at digitisation, developing Ghana’s housing and construction industry, establishing Ghana as a Regional Hub, and strengthening the enablers of growth of our economy,” he said.
The President added: “However, the most attractive and the greatest selling point of Ghana is and has always been her people, the Ghanaian people. The welcome that you find in Ghana, with all due respect to you at this gathering, is unique, and like none anywhere else.”
President Akufo-Addo reassured the investor community that Ghana remains a safe country, reiterating the position that “Ghana is the safest country in West Africa. Our police and security agencies work hard to keep Ghana an open and happy place, where we are not embarrassed to see ourselves as each other’s keeper.”
He, thus, urged the investor community to invest in Ghana through the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre or set up as a Free Zones enterprise, stressing that his government has instituted several fiscal incentives for investors depending on the nature of the activity or the location of the investment.
He touted Ghana’s democratic credentials, which had seen the country conducting eight presidential elections in the 28 years of the 4th Republic.
“We have done the heavy lifting required to transition our economy into a growth economy, and are now establishing sustainability and irreversibility. We are spearheading regional integration and cooperation in industrialising Africa, and currently hosting the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which comprises 54 states, with a combined GDP of three trillion US dollars,” he said.
Rex Mainoo Yeboah, ISD
