GIPC working to attract and retain quality FDI, LDI – Dep. CEO
Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Yaw Amoateng Afriyie, has said the Centre is working proactively to attract and retain both foreign and local direct investments in the country.
Speaking at the 2nd Editors Orientation Workshop on Thursday, May 11, 2022, Mr Afriyie averred the GIPC is now targeting new investment opportunities from Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean into sectors such as healthcare, tourism, extractives and infrastructure.
“GIPC is working proactively to lead Ghana’s investment case to attract and retain quality FDI and LDI from traditional (Europe and North America) to new partners in Asia and Latin America and Caribbean into healthcare, agriculture, tourism, housing, transport, extractives, infrastructure, aquaculture, technology and services,” he stated.
Making reference to the 42% post pandemic decline in global FDI from a peak of $1.9tn in 2019 and given the current global context (widespread low growth rates, high inflation etc) Mr Afriyie noted that the GIPC’s activities must justify why Ghana is an attractive destination for doing business.
Adding that, the need for the Centre to justify Ghana’s attractiveness to investments has resulted in consensus-led reforms to the Centre’s governing legislation and initiatives to support the private sector.
“If Ghana is to succeed in the current global context, then GIPC’s activities must justify why Ghana is an attractive destination for doing business. That strategic shift has started in earnest by pursuing painstaking consensus-led reforms to our governing legislation, developing partnerships and initiatives to support private sector growth and the jobs agenda. This strategic pivot will enable us to compete aggressively to bring greenfield, brownfield and portfolio investments into the country.
“We want to also use this platform to encourage foreign and local companies that operate in Ghana without GIPC certification to register with us because we offer your company certain safeguards, including guarantee against expropriation, advisory services, and a credible avenue for matchmaking with foreign and local partners,” he added.
Touching on the relevance of the media in promoting the Centre and its activities, the Deputy CEO opined that the media should refrain from hyper sensationalism and using inaccurate data in their reportage of investment-related activities as doing so has a negative cascading effect on investments into the country.
“It is in our collective interest to position Ghana positively, not through coercion or a false narrative, and should collectively caution against overzealousness, hyper sensationalism, and inaccuracies when reporting investment-related activity for what we publish has a cascading impact on our fortunes. Friends, negativity has that cascading impact,” he intimated.
The 2nd Editors Orientation Workshop was aimed at educating the media on the registration and compliance requirements of GIPC, including monitoring, renewals, exemptions and quotas.
It was also to discuss subjects on Technology Transfer Agreements (TTAs), Bilateral Investment Treaties, and the GIPC’s Aftercare Service.
