Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) CEO Yofi Grant has dismissed assertions that GIPC only supports foreign companies.

Under the GIPC Act, 2013 (Act 865), the Centre is mandated to encourage and promote investments in Ghana, to provide for the creation of an attractive incentive framework and a transparent, predictable and facilitating environment for investments in Ghana. The Centre is there to initiate and support measures that will enhance the investment climate in Ghana for both Ghanaian and non-Ghanaian enterprises.  However, some Ghanaian companies have accused the Centre of having the interest of only foreign companies at heart to the detriment of indigenous companies.

But speaking at the National Policy Summit in Accra on Monday, 15 May, Mr Grant said: “Local investors may also register with the GIPC if they require the incentive that we give for investment. But I inquired before I went to GIPC and I asked, ‘Why is it that our local companies do not want to register with GIPC? Many of them do not want you to know their business so they rather stay in their corner and do their business yet complain that we do not give them incentives.

“Indeed I want to state to the general public that GIPC is taking a new approach to business. We are there as much for the foreign businesses as we are even more for the indigenous investor. We want to grow big businesses indigenously, we want to get our indigenous businesses to also grow, so we will look at you with that eye to ensure that our local businesses also grow and demystify that idea that we are only there for the foreign businesses.”

Source: ghanaweb.com

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) is calling on Chinese investors to make Ghana their investment hub in West Africa. According to Yofi Grant, this will diversify the economy as well as create jobs for Ghanaians which will intensify the mutual relationship between the two countries.

He was speaking at the opening of the maiden edition of the China Trade Week held in Accra. The China Trade Week is an event that seeks to give the local community a platform to develop direct trade links with high-end Chinese product manufacturers in the country and also bridge the trade gap between China, Africa and the Middle East.

At the official opening held at Kempinski Hotel, international event director at Middle East International Exhibition, Michelle Meyrick stated that the exhibition is one of the best opportunities for connecting local buyers to the relevant manufacturers in the Chinese industry. “For our first time in Ghana, we are focusing on b2b matching to make sure we are giving the best opportunity of connecting the local buyers to the relevant manufacturers in their industry. We already have over 300 meetings scheduled over the 2-day event.”

“We have launched our free China Trade Week app which is the first event we are using it. The local buyers can log on to the app and see information about all of our exhibitions, chat with them online and set up the onsite meeting with them” she added  The GIPC’s CEO, Yofi Grant added that Ghana is very well positioned in West Africa in mobilizing capital for the sub-regional markets as well as the continent.

“China has positioned itself very well as the factory of the world, Ghana can position itself as a factory of West Africa and Africa. We urge you to bring the investors here to actually invest, build the factories here and we will make the conditions good for them to come and build here in order to create jobs for the people so that they can also create wealth for themselves,” he stated. The two-day exhibition and B2B matching conference has so far brought together reputable manufacturers from china to showcase high quality products that aim at building trade relations with local businesses across a range of sectors including construction, machinery, auto parts, led lighting, medical technology, print, packaging and plastics, hygienic products and many more.

The event is expected to attract more than 10 thousand professionals worldwide to enable them seek new sources of their products and services from the Middle East.

Source: ghanaweb.com

Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta is attributing the change in Ghana’s credit outlook by Fitch as a demonstration of confidence in the current team managing the economy.

Ratings Agency Fitch last Friday, reviewed Ghana’s credit rating outlook from negative to stable explaining that the review was influenced by government’s resolve to stabilise the economy.

The agency was, however, of the view that, government may spend slightly more than what it has projected in the budget, resulting in a deficit of 7.5 percent.

On revenue, Fitch also fears the government may not meet its revenue target of almost GHS45 billion due to the recent tax cuts.

But speaking to the JOYBUSINESS, the Finance Minister said the rating agency would not have done the review if was not convinced that the measures being implemented to reduce the country’s rising debts are sustainable.

Mr. Ofori-Atta was also of the view that, its recent engagements with the rating agencies in the US also contributed to the decision to review the outlook on Ghana’s creditworthiness.

“It essentially reflects what we set out to do, by giving policy clarity, credibility and more importantly transparency in terms of the numbers we are working with.

“The meetings we had in Washington were really positive for because they got to really feel us and get a sense of the mission that we were on,” he said.

He admitted that the questions were intense and interrogative, and the team did well in answering them explaining that running a transparent government is working in their favour.

“We are running a very open governance structure especially at the [Finance] Ministry and that comes through in our discussions,” he noted.

The minister added that government is committed to sticking to the macroeconomic targets set in the budget and implementing policies that would improve the business environment.

The review, in outlook, is more of an indication that Ghana’s B credit ratings, could be moved to an improved position in the next review if government quickly takes steps to reduce its debt and check its expenditure.

Fitch kept Ghana’s rating at B, which is still a warning to investors that lend money to Ghana that the country is in a position where it may struggle to pay its debts on time.

Source:  myjoyonline.com

The Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC) says it will soon publish details of its review of criteria and requirements for foreigners who wish to invest in the country.

Currently foreign investors who wish to invest in Ghana are required to provide a capital limit of $200,000 for joint ventures with Ghanaian companies, while foreign companies that are fully owned by non-Ghanaians must provide 500,000 dollars in capital.

Speaking to journalists after a breakfast meeting with investors and heads of missions in Ghana, the Chief Executive Officer of the GIPC, Mr. Yoofi Grant hinted that the new laws will look at the impact Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) on local companies.

“The review of the GIPC [law] is a very interesting. There are many parts of the law which we think we could look at again to attract investors into the market. One that is a bit controversial is the capital limit, that says that if you are in joint venture with a foreigner the foreigner needs to demonstrate a minimum inflow of $200,000 and if it is a foreign company that wants to be 100 percent owned, we should bring a minimum capital inflow of $500, 000 and for trade $1,000,000. It has a reason for being there, but is that reason still valid? Has it been helpful in getting our companies to grow up and become as big?” he asked.

Mr. Grant was of the view that it will be prudent to fully assess the impact of the laws over the years to redirect its focus.

“My belief, and from the literature and the research we are doing it is not. So, we need to take a relook at that law and open up and say that, no we will still say that if you can invest here, bring in the minimum in whatever figure it is. Let the companies come and invest in the country. There are companies that may come with the minimum investment of say $100,000 for example in the IT business but they come and employ 200 people, but because they will not meet the minimum capital, they will not come,” he observed.

Recommending some measures, Mr. Grant maintained that the issue must be thoroughly discussed and addressed to provide a win-win situation for both foreign investors and Ghanaian business owners.

He reiterated the need to always consider global trends when formulating laws to make Ghana competitive since investors will move to alternative countries that provide cheaper cost of doing business.

“So those are the kind of things we need to talk about. Bear in mind we are also comparing ourselves to our neighbors, Cote d’ivoire, Nigeria, how can Ghana best position itself to be the main attraction center for West Africa,” he said.

Source: citibusinessnews.com

Government will fully capitalise on the implementation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Trade Facilitation agreement to develop a truly open, transparent and dynamic trading economy, Mr Alan Kyeremanten, the Minister of Trade and Industry has said.

Speaking at a conference on the Ghana National Single Window programme and the WTO Trade Facilitation agreement, Mr Kyeremanten said government would redouble efforts in export development and use the advent of the WTO Agreement to develop new market opportunities and support programmes for traders.

“Trade facilitation is a cornerstone of the government’s trade and economic development agenda. We believe it will greatly assist Ghana in reaching our full potential as a leading trading nation, both regionally and globally, and that this in turn will create strong earnings and employment growth within the country,” he said.

Ghana is one of the original signatories to the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, which had come into force.

WTO estimates that the agreement will generate more than one trillion dollars in benefits annually and that most of these benefits would accrue to developing economies.

Mr Kyeremanten said the introduction of the Ghana National Single Window was facilitating the ease with which the country’s companies compete in global and regional markets.

It reduces the time and cost of trading across borders and ensures predictability in delivering goods to markets and promotes transparency and enhances government revenue mobilisation through increased compliance and enhanced economic performance, he said.

Mr Kyeremanten said the developments were all part of the government’s ambition to fundamentally change the way ‘we work with and regulate international businesses in Ghana by providing an enhanced business regulatory environment.’

He said the government would eliminate all unnecessary processes, simplify and harmonise the rest, and deliver a fully integrated and automated all-of-government services to our partners in economic development-the Ghanaian business community.

Mr Kyeremanten said as the Ghana National Single Window project unfolded over the next three years, government expect to achieve an overall reduction in the administrative time and cost of trading internationally by 50 per cent to 25 per cent.

In addition to the positive impact on competitiveness and employment growth, he said the achievement would make Ghana more attractive to foreign investment as transparency, predictability; time and cost were the key factors in the location decisions of export-oriented businesses.

“Indeed, I see the combination of the enhanced trade facilitation and trade development programmes as a dynamic synergy for the economic development of our country and I believe that the Ghana National Single Window Programme will play a major role in realising the economic benefit of this synergy,” Mr Kyeremanten said.

He lauded the inclusion of Single Window in the Trade Facilitation Agreement and said it would help implement many of the measures in this Agreement, through the simplification of trade procedures, the provision of trade related information, the enhancement of co-operation between related government agencies, and the implementation of international standards.

Ms Valentina Mintah, Chief Executive Officer of WestBlue Consulting, said a lot of progress had been made since December 2015 when the Ghana Single Window programme came on board.

She said it had tremendously helped to reduce the cost and time of doing business in Ghana and make trade easier but there was still a long way to go and urged government to implement all the agreements in WTO Facilitation Agreement to position Ghana as the leading hub in the sub-region.

The two-day conference is being organised by Westblue Consulting in collaboration with Ghana International Chamber of Commerce, under the auspices of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Source: ghananewsagency.org

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has assured the business community of higher returns on their investments in Ghana than anywhere in the West Africa sub-region.

The Ministry has therefore urged prospective investors, especially from Latvia, to consider Ghana as the gateway to a wider West African market of over 300 million people.

The political and micro-economic stability were all available for the benefit of anyone seeking to do business in Ghana, Mr. Edwin Adjei, Acting Chief Director of the Foreign Ministry noted.

Speaking at a Ghana- Latvia business forum hosted by the Foreign Ministry in Accra on Friday, Mr. Adjei, on behalf of the Sector Minister, Mrs. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, expressed government’s determination to turn the fortunes of the country around with much focus on trade, investment and industrialisation.

The forum followed a political summit held between Ghana and Latvian delegation made of investors and led by Mr Andrejs Pildegovics, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Latvia and some Ghanaian businesspeople.

Ghana and Latvia, a country with a population of two million people is one of the fastest growing economies, established diplomatic relations in January 1992, which had served as a boost for economic cooperation and establishments of contacts.

“As you may be aware, over the past decade, Ghana has witnessed impressive economic growth with annual growth rate averaging over 6.4 per cent…Estimates from the Ghana Statistical Service from April 2013 show that in real terms, the Ghanaian economy expanded by 7.9 per cent in 2012, which compares well with an average global growth of 3.2 per cent and an average sub-Saharan growth of 4.8 per cent, Mr. Adjei told Latvians.

He said Ghana in recent times had also made gains in her bilateral trade, increasing by over 70 per cent the last five years, and that the European Union of which Latvia was a part, continued to be the most important trade partner for the country, accounting for around 30 per cent of the nation’s total external trade since 2012.

Mr. Adjei said foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to Ghana had also increased significantly in the past few years, with the country featuring among the top five recipients of FDI into Africa in 2012.

“In view of these developments, Latvia has the opportunity to share in Ghana’s economic growth success story, while we also look forward to tapping into the rich experience of Latvia, especially, with much focus on development cooperation based on our shared values and aspiration” he noted.

Mr. Pildegovics, on his part said the forum afforded the opportunity for Latvia to build stronger bilateral relations with Ghana.

He said Latvia which marks 100^th years anniversary in 2018, was the 17^th most friendly country to do business and that many business opportunities existed in that country with more businesspeople looking for new opportunities in Ghana to explore for partnerships.

He said areas of forestry which gives Latvia 2.2 billion euros of revenue annually could be explored by Ghanaian businesses while railways, ICT and technologies, transportation, agriculture and food processing, wood processing, chemical and pharmaceutical industry, among others could be further explored.

He announced that a Ghanaian, David Adjaye had won a bid to construct a national museum in Latvia by 2021.

Mr Pildegivics therefore invited Ghana to also send a delegation to Latvia to have a further interaction leading to much trade and investment opportunities.

Mr Edward Ashong-Lartey, Director of Investor Services at GIPC who briefed the delegates on the business opportunities in Ghana, said areas including, affordable housing, agriculture, and tourism were available to be explored by investors.

He also called on the Latvians to partner Ghanaians to establish a world-standard tourism training institution that could train Ghanaians to work to meet international standard and boost the tourism sector.

Source: www.ghananewsagency.org