Ghana risks losing foreign direct investment over petroleum loan

Ghana risks losing its competitiveness in attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) if the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) fails to retrieve an amount of $50 million advanced to the Ministry of Finance in 2013.

The EITI is a global benchmark for the transparent and accountable management of extractive resources. The EITI Standard requires countries and companies to disclose information on governance of oil, gas and mining revenues.

If there is no clear repayment plan by the scheduled time, Ghana would fail to achieve EITI compliance and the consequences will be dire, in terms of the country’s economic competitiveness and ability to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs).

Failure to meet the deadline could affect the country’s competitiveness in attracting FDIs as Ghana would not be seen as a clean country to do business, Co-chair of the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI), Dr Steve Manteaw says.

According to Dr Steve Manteaw, “If we don’t act swiftly,we risk being marked down by the EITI Secretariat.”

If by the next validation in September this year, we do not have an agreement and the money has not been paid back it can affect Ghana’s fortunes.