The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) Yofi Grant has assured investors Ghana is still an attractive place to do business in Africa.
According to him, the Akufo-Addo-led government is embarking on several reforms such as the E-registration of businesses and the paperless system at the ports to boost the economy.
Mr. Grant’s assertion is coming on the heels of a recent World Bank report on the Ease of Doing Business which saw Ghana dropping 12 places. The West African country moved from the 108th position it recorded last year to 120th spot. The 15th edition of the study was carried out between June 2016 and June 2017.
It measured 11 critical areas such as starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.
Ghana scored 84 percent when it comes to the ease of starting business, dealing with construction 61 percent, getting electricity 56 percent and registering property 55 percent. New Zealand, Singapore and Denmark retained their first, second and third spots, respectively, followed by Republic of Korea; Hong Kong SAR, China; United States; United Kingdom; Norway; Georgia; and Sweden.
Mr. Grant admitted the report “on the face of it, is a bit worrying for us because that is not where we want to be.”
However, he told the media in Dubai, “We need to do much better… It’s also an issue of relativity. Although we are reforming, others are reforming faster than we are and taking it more aggressively. We actually dropped in one indicator…”
He noted that “Ghana is still the cynosure of many investors. I believe that we are still attractive because we are in the centre of the world, peaceful, politically stable and government committed to change and transformation. We need to be aggressive in some of the reforms to make us the best place to do business.”
Grant is optimistic the report on Ghana will be positive come next year.
“The government has engaged in significant reforms which will feature significantly in next year’s reforms. We are currently engaged in review exercises to ensure that whatever reform we do inures to our benefit to facilitate growth and bring discipline into the economy.
“I’m confident that we are on track… because the Ghanaian can’t wait and want to see our economy grow. We’ll do much better than before. Let’s put our shoulders together,” he added.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
