EU businesses invest over 3 billion euros in Ghana economy

The European Business Organisation (EBO) has disclosed that, EU businesses have invested close to €3.0 billion in Ghana within past three years and still counting.
With the quantum of investments and still expecting more,
the EBO is calling on the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), to come
clear on its investment-courting law that is set to be reviewed
The European business community has over the years remained
committed to Ghana and reaffirms their readiness to contribute significantly to
the country’s industrialisation and development agenda. They believe a clearly
defined investment regime from the GIPC Act will be a push for investments.
“We think it would be important for the GIPC to clearly define the legal framework that foreign direct investments operate under and we hope this will be done as soon as possible”, Celestino Alvarez-Neira, Chairman of the European Business Organisation (EBO) said last week at a business roundtable organised by the Spain-Ghana Chamber of Commerce (SGCC) in Accra.
“Foreign direct investment is always the engine of growth
for every economy; you can develop a country from the inside or the outside,
and FDI is a key component of that.
“Today, any foreign company wanting to operate in Ghana must
have a certain share capital, quotas and other established conditions. We all
know in the sector that this act is going to be reformed, and so we are waiting
for the new conditions,” he added.
To Mr. Alvarez-Neira, foreign companies that decide to set
up in Ghana to create jobs and wealth for themselves and the country need to
have very clear conditions.
The Spain-Ghana Chamber of Commerce hosts Spanish businesses
operating in the domestic market as well as Ghanaian companies that deal in
Spanish products.
The business roundtable was therefore to discuss with the
GIPC some challenges faced by both existing and potential Spanish investors.
President of the chamber, Nadim Ghanem-Pares, said the GIPC
has done a great job helping Ghana to develop and attract investments, but
there was still room for improvement, especially in terms of relaxing the
barriers to investment.
“One major item we want to put on the table is for the GIPC
to drop the barriers of entry for businesses that are really not available in
Ghana. We want to protect local businesses and industry, but we cannot put
barriers to businesses that do not exist, like niche technologies that are
peculiar to Spain but could bring a lot of value to the Ghanaian economy,” he
stressed.
0 comments: