The Vice President of Ghana, Mahamudu Bawumia
The Vice President of Ghana, Mahamudu Bawumia, has told a group of Canadian investors that Ghana is the best investment destination in Africa, owing to its outstanding features of political stability and security among other attributes.
He was speaking in Vancouver during his visit to the North American country as leader of a trade delegation to the Canada-Ghana Economic Summit organized by the Canada-Africa Strategic Investment Inc in Vancouver.
He dangled what he described as Ghana’s benign legal and regulatory environment, a large domestic market and macroeconomic stability which according to him, sets the country apart from others on the continent.
The recent economic developments in Ghana, he said, present huge opportunities for diverse investment types and present sound reasons why Canadian investors should consider pitching camp in the country.
Regarding the legal regulatory environment in Ghana, he said, “ranked 48th (out of 126 countries) on the World Justice Project’s 2019 Rule of Law Index, Ghana provides a safe haven under which investments are protected under a fair and ‘commercially-aware’ judicial system.”
Continuing, he said Ghana has been ranked ahead of countries like South Africa in the 2019 A.T Kearney Global Services Location Index (GSLI), a measure of the attractiveness of a location for offshore services.
He went on to say that the country has also maintained a consistent position as the 2nd highest ranked country (out of 20) in the Absa/Barclays Africa Group Financial Markets Index for two years running. He added that Ghana is also being ranked as the 4th highest (out of 25) African Country in Ernst & Young Africa’s Attractiveness Survey (2017), ahead of Cote d’Ivoire, Mauritius, Rwanda and Nigeria.
Vice President Bawumia further noted that “successfully implemented AfCTFA will have a combined consumer and business spending of $6.7 trillion in 2030, boost manufacturing and industrial development in Africa and raise intra-African trade by 15 to 25 percent, or $50 billion to $70 billion, by 2040, compared to an Africa without the AfCFTA, all of which will be coordinated and directed from institutions, personnel, and resources based out of Ghana.”
Other speakers at the summit were Dr. Edward Akuffo, Chief Executive Officer of Canada-Africa Strategic Investment Group Inc., Councillor Sara Kirby-Yung, Acting Mayor – City of Vancouver, and the Ghana High Commissioner to Ghana, Ayikoi Otoo.
Simon Fraser University
At the Simon Fraser University, his alma mater, he shared thoughts on how the President and his government are leveraging technology to deliver services to the Ghanaian people.
If developing economies are to remain competitive and be counted in this Fourth Industrial Revolution, then they must embrace the digital revolution, he said.
While presenting the inroads government has made so far in this direction, he announced that Ghana will, this year, join the likes of Singapore and China to roll out a Universal QR Code system for payment that will enable even small and petty traders to have easy means of getting paid. ‘With the QR Code system in Cheques, points of sale devices will ultimately be phased out with time’ he added.