By Christabel DANSO ABEAM
A research by IMANI Ghana in collaboration with the Ghana-Netherlands Business and Culture Council (GNBCC) has revealed an encouraging forecast for investors.
The findings of the study titled ‘Reviewing current economic and investment challenges and opportunities for shared benefits and growth – a focus on GNBCC’, according to Dennis Asare, Senior Research Associate at IMANI, shows an uptick in investment opportunities despite the ongoing economic challenges.
Presenting the findings at a breakfast meeting in Accra, Mr. Asare revealed that 61 percent of businesses intend to increase their investments, 5 percent plan to maintain current investment levels while 11 percent anticipate decreasing their investments despite the existing difficulties.
Touching on the challenges identified, he highlighted complex regulatory and compliance procedures, excessive taxation of foreign companies, bureaucratic discretion of public entities and improper business planning.
Others are lack of institutional coordination, high cost of labour, unstable energy and costly utility bills.
“There was a strong disagreement about supportiveness of electronic infrastructure to investors, a strong disagreement about the supportiveness of regulatory institutions and a non-reliable of the power supply for the businesses,” he emphasised.
He further expressed concern about businesses reporting the payment of unofficial fees to facilitate port clearance activities. However, Mr. Asare noted that despite the cost of doing business in Ghana, research indicated that most businesses reported increased profit margins and comparatively better revenue, profits and returns on investment performance in Ghana compared to other countries.
In suggesting key recommendations, he emphasised the need to streamline regulatory compliance processes and deepen digitalisation in public services to address firms’ exposure to corruption. This includes reviewing the existing tax regime and collaborating with business chambers to regularly understand investors’ challenges.
“There is a need to increase investors’ access to information on support programmes available by providing capacity-building on accessing available tax exemptions and making firms more competitive to increase Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) attraction,” he established.
Members of the GBCC also urged the Government of Ghana to streamline regulatory and compliance processes to enhance efficiency. “There is a need to deepen digitalisation in the public service to address their exposure to corrupt practices in the sector,” they bemoaned.
The event acknowledged the introduction of a new booklet published by GNBCC on doing business in Ghana – a business guide for investors.
