The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) has said Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) into the country increased despite the devastating impact of the global pandemic on the Ghanaian economy and the world economy at large.
According to GIPC, despite a downward trend in FDI to Ghana from April, FDI by the end of the second quarter – June 30, 2020 – had remarkably increased. GIPC asserts it had between April and June 12, registered 13 projects with a FDI value of $9.29 million. But by June 30, it saw FDI shoot-up to $207.98 million.
This is at a time where global FDI had already been experiencing a downward trend which the pandemic exacerbated. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has projected FDI to drop by 40 percent due to the disruptions to Global Value Chains (GVC) influenced by the lockdowns.
GIPC’s statement that FDI increased to $207.98 million is contained in its recent survey conducted between April 1 and June 12 on the impact of Covid-19 on foreign investors in Ghana.
The increase in FDI into the country GIPC says, places a positive outlook on the flow of FDI and is indicative of a better trend for economic recovery post COVID-19.
GIPC per the survey conducted also asserts foreign investors in the country were cushioned by government’s Covid-19 incentives.
Government’s incentives which include the extension of due dates for the filing of tax, reduction in tariffs on imported inputs, low interest loans and reduction in utility bills according to GIPC, helped alleviate the harsh impact of the pandemic on foreign businesses.
Foreign Investors operating in the country are estimated to have experienced an average revenue loss of $75,000 in the second quarter of the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
