The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) plans to open permanent offices in some 10 cities across the world, thus strengthening the country’s capacity to engage and attract investment.
The move, which is expected to happen over the next 12 months according to Chairman of the Board of Directors-GIPC Alex Apau Dadey, will be done in cities including London, Dubai, New York and Shanghai, among others.
GIPC is the country’s principal investments promotion agency, set up to court and facilitate investments to stimulate economic growth, unlock opportunities and spur job creation. The Centre also provides a diligent team of resource persons to furnish investors with insights and necessary guidelines toward a successful integration into the world of business, and as such remains the first point of contact for all foreign investors coming into the country.
Announcing this at the inaugural session of the third Ghana Investment and Opportunity Summit (GHIOS) 2023, Mr. Dadey added that the GIPC will be seeking strategic and consistent funding as well as partnerships from the private sector.
This, he noted, will support government in achieving economic sovereignty post the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.
The new direction of GIPC seeks to rake in investment from the diaspora, and goes beyond the usual remittances.
“GIPC recognises and will seize the post-COVID opportunities to bring our national FDI ambitions and opportunities closer to the markets by using three distinct networks to attract investors,” he stated.
“These include the private sector, Ghanaians abroad, as well as multinational companies and small and medium enterprises (SMEs),” he added.
GHIOS, which began in 2018 according to Mr. Dadey, has since evolved to become one of the most important investment promotion events organised under the auspices of GIPC. The event, which is fully funded by ‘corporate Ghana’, is structured purposely to include the diaspora in attracting foreign direct investments.
This year’s event, GHIOS 2023, which took place in London, was held under the theme ‘Post-COVID economic recovery: opportunities for the investor’.
Speaking at the event, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia noted that Ghana’s economic opportunities for private sector investors are back on track as the country is navigating its way out of the global economic meltdown.
He noted that government is relentlessly re-focusing on economic growth and working hard to regain the trajectory Ghana was on and get back to pre-COVID growth numbers.
“We are living in extraordinary times. Over the past two years, inflation has surged. Its rise has been large, sudden and global. In many parts of the world, it is now at levels unseen for generations. Meanwhile, financial systems have come under strain.
“For the first time in recent decades, we have seen high inflation and financial stress emerging in tandem. The world as we are all aware continues to face difficult moments caused by several factors, including climate change, disruptions in the supply chain of manufacturing goods as a result of the pandemic, among others,” he added.
He elaborated that these issues as projected by the World Bank are sinking some developed and developing countries into recession, while also noting further emerging devastations which have followed in the post-COVID era.
“We have been hit by mainly three major external forces,” he said while explaining that the pandemic affected the country’s capacity to access fundamental goods, and the response put a burden on public finances among others.
GHIOS, he noted, seeks to woo foreign investors to take advantage of opportunities created in various sectors of the Ghanaian economy on a road map to total economic recovery.
On the back of this, Dr. Bawumia indicated that government is balancing sound fiscal management with strategic public investments which unlock growth.
“The private sector is the engine of growth, and we are only here to support you. Our government is acting as your facilitator. We will unlock bottlenecks and prioritise limited resources to strategic sectors and projects. We think this is an exciting time to be part of Ghana’s economic growth,” he stated.
