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Delivering the keynote address at the "Africa Flagship Programme" session of the 45th Annual Legislative Conference of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, being held in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday, 1st December 2021, President Akufo-Addo stated that "it is a great time to invest in Ghana, for the opportunities are bright."
According to him, despite the very real difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Ghana is doing some things right and sending out the right signals to the global investor community.
"Last year, 2020, Ghana recorded FDI of US$2.65 billion from two hundred and seventy-nine (279) projects. For 2021 alone, the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) recorded FDI of nine hundred and seventy-three million dollars (US$973.38 million), from one hundred and seventy-three (173) projects for the first three quarters of the year, with large ticket projects in the pipeline to boost FDI flows by the close of the year," he said.
Ghana, President Akufo-Addo stated in his address, was among the first countries, anywhere in the world, to put together a medium-term response strategy to address the impact of COVID-19 on the economy and to outline an economic recovery, revitalisation, and transformation plan to build back better and stronger.
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"We have identified the relevant sectors of the economy requiring the needed investment that will help accelerate the rebound and growth of the Ghanaian economy, as was witnessed in the immediate years before the pandemic struck, which saw, between 2017 and 2020, our average annual GDP growth rate of seven percent (7%) as one of the fastest in the world. We call the recovery package the Ghana CARES ‘Obaatampa’ Programme," he said.
President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that the GH¢100 billion Programme, aimed at stabilising and revitalising the Ghanaian economy, has two phases, the Stabilisation Phase, which was implemented between July to December 2020; and the Revitalisation and Transformation Stage which is currently under implementation, and will end in 2023.
"We are focussing our energies on supporting commercial farming, and attracting educated youths into agriculture, building Ghana's light manufacturing sector, fast-tracking efforts at digitisation, developing Ghana’s housing and construction industry, establishing Ghana as a Regional Hub, and strengthening the enablers of growth of our economy," he said.
He continued: "However, the most attractive and the greatest selling point of Ghana is and has always been her people, the Ghanaian people. The welcome that you find in Ghana, with all due respect to you at this gathering, is unique, and like none anywhere else.”
With President Akufo-Addo reassuring the investor community that Ghana remains a safe country, he reiterated his position that “Ghana is the safest country in West Africa. Our police and security agencies work hard to keep Ghana an open and happy place, where we are not embarrassed to see ourselves as each other’s keeper."
He, thus, to the investor community that they can choose to invest in Ghana through the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre or set up as a Free Zones enterprise, stressing that his government has instituted a number of fiscal incentives for the investor depending on the nature of the activity or the location of the investment.
Touting Ghana's democratic credentials, which has seen the country conducting 8 presidential elections in the twenty-eight (28) year period of the 4th Republic, the President indicated that investors are optimistic about the Ghanaian economy.
"We have done the heavy lifting required to transition our economy into a growth economy, and are now establishing sustainability and irreversibility. We are spearheading regional integration and cooperation in industrialising Africa, and currently hosting the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which comprises fifty-four (54) states, with a combined GDP of three trillion United States dollars (US$3 trillion)," he said.