In spite of security concerns raised by some Ghanaians on government’s actions and inactions, the country is still safe for both expatriate and local investors to do business, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mrs Mawuena Trebah, has said.
Recently, there were security concerns about government’s decision to host the two Guantanamo Bay ex-detainees in Ghana for two years. Many Christian, policy, political and pressure groups spoke against the decision. They expressed fears the presence of the two ex-detainees could put Ghana on the radar of terrorists, thereby driving investors away from the West African country.
But Mrs Trebah has dispelled these concerns, indicating that investor confidence in the country has increased.
She said: “Statistically, we have registered about 39 projects in the first-quarter of this year, and they are estimated at about 248 million dollars. Those sorts of increases demonstrate that there is continued interest in investing in Ghana. The investment community (both domestic and foreign) still feels safe doing business in Ghana.”
“Of course there are various decisions that government will take, but we look at it in the context of the numbers and that suggests to us that Ghana is still seen as a very safe place to do business,” she said.
Official figures released by the GIPC also show that total registered projects for the first-quarter of 2016 increased to 39 compared to 38 in the same period in 2015.
Mrs Trebah added: “We always have to look at the statistics and be very dispassionate when we are assessing any decision, whether it is political or non-political. For us at GIPC, we only have the numbers that tell us about the quality of in-bound delegation that are coming into the country.”
The GIPC Boss further indicated that efforts put in place by the Centre to attract investments, despite security concerns have yielded positive results.
“It is important to highlight here that when you find in-bound delegations, about an average of 25 businesspeople, what that indicates is that a great deal of work has been done for people to purchase tickets and fly all the way to this side of the Atlantic to come and look at specific investment opportunities,” the GIPC boss stated.
“Delegation after delegation, we have hosted the French, the Turks, we have had delegations coming from England back-to-back. That is because we were able to showcase specific investment opportunities. Those sorts of increases demonstrate that there is continued interest in investing in Ghana,” she said
Source: classfmonline