By Godwill Arthur-Mensah
Accra,June 20,GNA- The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) has set a target to attract three billion dollars this year in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country.
The FDI is expected to boost investments in agribusiness, pharmaceutical, manufacturing and industry as well as other sectors of the economy to create jobs and spur socio-economic development.
Mr Reginald Yofi Grant, the CEO of GIPC, who announced this at a press briefing in Accra on Sunday, said the Centre had so far raised US$780 million.
He said the Centre was working tirelessly to ensure it attained its target for the year, adding that seeking for investment was not an event but a process that required patience and concerted efforts to market the country and building a pleasant image globally.
Mr Grant noted that FDIs constituted a significant component in the equation of every country’s economy of which Ghana was not an exception.
The CEO said, over the past four years, Ghana’s investment climate had witnessed tremendous improvement and expected to drive the country progress.
Mr Grant stated that in 2017, Ghana received about $4.9billion worth of FDI, and dropped to $3.5billion in 2018, US$1.1billion in 2019.
However, despite the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the country attracted US$2.6 billion because of the confidence in the Ghanaian economy and prudent management of the economy by the Akufo-Addo-led government.
Mr Grant said the country’s performance in 2020 was a clear demonstration of the confidence the international business community had in the Ghanaian economy.
« President Akufo-Addo is working to market the country and build an efficient brand and this is a critical stepping stone on which the GIPC has been using to drive its investment agenda.
« It is important to emphasis that the GIPC is complementing the President, who is pitching the investment potential of Ghana to the rest of the world, » Mr Grant added.
He said since Ghana was hosting the Africa Continental Free Trade Area, it had positioned it as a major investment hub on the Continent and would take advantage of it.
Mr Grant explained that even though the GIPC had attracted about $780million with six months to the end of the year, it was positive that it would attain its target of US$3billion.
