Ghana, despite the adverse impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, has made great strides in attracting foreign investments into the country.
The country is said to have recorded a total investment of $869.47 million with total Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) value amounting to some $785.62 million, received by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) and the Petroleum Commission for the first half of 2020.
Speaking on the strong performance of FDI inflow to Ghana at a press briefing on Friday, October 23, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Yofi Grant, asserted FDI inflows surprisingly showed rare strength in the final moments of the second quarter of 2020 to record the current value of $785.62 million.
The total FDI value recorded as at end of the first half of 2020 is quite commendable, especially given the fact that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), has projected global FDI to fall by 40 per cent in 2020 driving the total value of FDI below $1 trillion for the first time since 2005.
Also, the total FDI value of $785.62 recorded for the first half of 2020 represents a 409 per cent increment compared to the $123.26 million recorded for the same period in 2019.
Giving a breakdown of the various components of the FDI received by the Centre, Mr Grant noted that, a total of 69 projects with an estimated value of $688.74 million had been recorded by the Centre, with total foreign component amounting to $627.52 million and local component amounting to $61.22 million.
“Out of the 69 projects recorded, the services sector registered a majority of 25 projects followed by the manufacturing and export trade sector with 21 and 11 projects respectively. With regards to value, general trading recorded the highest amount of US$246.05 million.This was tailed closely by the mining exploration sector with US$231.02 million having sealed some major investments such as the Chirano Gold mine project for the exploration of minerals,” stated Mr Grant.
“The manufacturing sector also saw significant investments valued at US$170.67 million on the back of some notable ventures such as a deal by Matrix industries for the manufacture of paper and aluminum products as well as the Rainbow Paints Limited project which is a joint venture between Ghana and Kenya for the manufacturing of paints and related products,” he added.
According to Mr Grant, the 69 projects are spread across six regions namely; Greater Accra, Central, Eastern, Ashanti and Volta regions and will provide a total of 14,052 jobs for Ghanaians when fully operational.
Mr Grant bringing the press briefing to an end, stated that his outfit remains cautiously optimistic about the flow of FDI to Ghana and will continue to assiduously pursue worthwhile investments for economic development as well as support Government initiatives such as the COVID-19 Alleviation and Revitalisation of Enterprises Support (CARES) Programme, to help bolster the Ghanaian economy towards recovery and remain resilient pre and post the Covid-19 pandemic.
