GIPC CEO, Yofi Grant
THE GHANA Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) recorded an inflow of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) valued at $785.62 million for the first half of the year.
The amount, which also included inflows from the Petroleum Commission, is part of a total investment of $869.47 million the country recorded between January and June 2020.
The amount is a considerable increase of about 409.10 percent from last year’s FDI value of $123.26 million recorded within the same period (January to June 2019).
Meanwhile, additional equity totaling $11.56 million was re-invested by existing companies within the first half of the year, while a total of GH¢1,365.26 million was recorded as investments from 28 wholly owned Ghanaian businesses.
Chief Executive Officer of GIPC, Yofi Grant, presenting the GIPC half year FDI report, said a total of 69 projects with an estimated value of $688.74 million was recorded by the end of June 2020.
“Of this, the FDI component amounted to $627.52 million while local component accounted for an estimated $61.22 million,” he said.
Mr. Grant indicated that the services sector accounted for 25 of the projects, followed by the manufacturing and export trade sector with 21 and 11 projects respectively.
“With regards to value, general trading recorded the highest amount of $246.05 million, the mining exploration sector with $231.02 million, and the manufacturing sector with $170.67 million,” he added.
He said per estimations, a total of 14,614 jobs are expected to be created when the projects are fully operational. Out of this, 14,052 of the jobs representing 96.15 per cent will be for Ghanaians whilst the remainder of 562 jobs which represents 3.85 per cent, will be taken up by foreigners.
He said the seemingly positive performance of FDI inflows to the country has been to an extent attributed to the gradual easing of the Covid-19 restrictions as well as government initiatives and incentives rolled out to buffer businesses and the economy at the height of the pandemic.
“The Center will continue to assiduously pursue worthwhile investments for economic development as well as support government initiatives such as the Covid-19 Alleviation and Revitalisation of Enterprises Support (CARES) Programme to help bolster the Ghanaian economy towards a recovery and remain resilient pre and post pandemic,” he noted.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri