Grapevine

Policy reforms, ease of doing business, and foreign investments in Ghana

Data from the Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC) shows that the country recorded one of its lowest foreign direct investment (FDI) of US$649.58 million in 2023. This is about 55 percent drop from the previous year which was at US$1.47 billion. For a West African country with all the pegs that make Ghana an attractive destination for FDI, it is a concern that that country is unable to attract investment, particularly into areas of agribusiness and the industry sector.

For a country to be positioned for FDI, some basic requirements must be met. These include, political stability, economic stability, available infrastructural development, skilled labour and a fair judicial and legislative system as key requirements among others. It is important to state that Ghana has almost all the requirements to attract FDI into the country. What however is the challenge is the country’s inability to attract the needed FDIs.

It is therefore not surprising that many global companies have in recent times relocated to neighboring countries to produce their goods. We can´t allow this to happen.

For a country, strategically located in the West African region, it is expected that that Ghana could be able to attract all the needed investments to make the country a hub and a center for distribution. For instance, Ghana could be an aviation hub. The country could serve as a major transit point to connect to other West African countries. In addition, Ghana’s Tema Port a strategic asset that could help in the import and export of goods. Ghana should have, for this and for everything, the best connectivity possible and that can only happen if we carefully and justly manage conflicts between companies, such as the still pending one between a private infrastructure telecommunications company and a semi-public carrier one.