A former Board Chairman of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) Dr. Ishmael Yamson has raised concerns about sections of the GIPC Act which reserves certain aspects of trading to only Ghanaian.
Ghana in 2013 reviewed the GIPC act to rectify the abuse of sectors reserved for Ghanaians by foreign investors, particularly in the retail and trading sectors.
Also, the minimum capital requirement of foreigners to engage in retail trade was increased from $300,000 to $1 million in cash or goods in Ghana.
The amendment, however, encourages foreign investors to engage in large scale value added trading activities that would not interfere with activities of Ghanaian petty traders.
Also embedded in the act is a provision that requires Ghanaian partners in joint ventures to have not less than 30 percent equity participation and prohibits the transfer of that equity to a non-Ghanaian in order to avoid the circumvention of the higher foreign capital requirements.
Unhappy with the revised Act, Dr. Yamson wants government to scrap the 1 million dollars charged foreign investors.
Also, the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) last month raised concerns about sections of the Amended Act which they say is inimical to local businesses.
Speaking to Starr Business on the sidelines of a forum organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Accra, Dr. Yamson noted that making reservations for Ghanaians in certain sectors will benefit the country.
“The whole thing about if somebody wants to come to Ghana, pay us a million dollars and whatever. If the person is coming to invest $60million or $70million what will the first one million dollars do?” he wondered adding: “Why don’t we allow him [the investor] to come and invest and the benefits will be far more in excess of the one million dollars we are demanding because we have suspected that company will come and do trading.”
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
