An Italian delegation that visited the country on Wednesday is hoping to invest heavily in the agricultural sector, in a bid to help address some of the challenges in the economy’s ailing sector.
In an interview during a meeting organised by the Italian Ambassador to Ghana at her residence, Riccardo Maria Monti, President, Italian Trade Agency, said Italy is a world-leader in agriculture and has superior technology, and will capitalise on that strength to promote agriculture in Ghana.
“Ghana has a lot of potential in the agricultural sector, considering the fact that the country has a lot of vast and fertile land which are available for production; and so we think it would be very wise to focus more on that sector, even though we will also invest in energy and infrastructural projects,” he said.
He further stated that Italy wants to establish its presence more in West Africa, and has chosen to establish the Italian Trade Commission office in Ghana to coordinate all activities in the West African sub-region, adding that the office will be opened in February next year.
He dismissed fears that reasons for the Italian delegation’s presence in the country are highly exploitive, saying: “We are here to look at the opportunity to invest with the view to a long-term sustainable presence that creates a win-win situation; and that means producing quality products, and also paying your staff well. Most of our employees will be local citizens, and that means we will empower local people to take active part in the business. So we are not here to exploit or extort from Ghanaians.”
Ghana is faced with a lot of macroeconomic challenges: with the inflation rate currently at 17.6 percent, policy rate flying at 26 percent, local currency depreciating at about 16 percent, and all being exacerbated by the energy shortfalls which have seen the country shedding between 400-600MW of power daily. This has raised a lot of questions as to whether the economy is still attractive to investors.
However, commenting on the aforementioned, the Italian Ambassador to Ghana, Laura Carpini, expressed optimism that the economy is on the path to recovery, which is the reason why investors are willing to do business in the long-term and are still flocking into the country.
“We are aware that there are some challenges facing the country, but the point is that everybody is facing challenges in their country. We believe that in Ghana things will go better in the long-term.
“Investors are aware of the challenges and some may decide not to invest here; but some are also aware of the enormous opportunities in the country and will go ahead and invest, hoping that things will change for the better. Most of them are looking at long-term investments, and so they are not really focusing on the short-term,” she said.
Her view is backed by the Minister of Trade, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, who said investors trickling into the country have analysed the cost and benefits involved with doing business in this economy and have realised that benefits far outweigh the cost involved — which is why foreigners still nurture an interest to invest in the country.
“I think it’s always a wonderful idea when foreigners come to invest in the country. Even though we have difficulties, if investors balance the difficulties with prospects and opportunities, the reality is that the country looks like a very wonderful place to do business.
“And this is because the investor is not looking at doing business in the short-term, and the challenges we are going through are only short-term, so investors look at this and see there are prospects in the country; that is why they come,” he said.