Trade Minister Pleads With Foreign Investors

Trade & Industry Minister, Ekwow Spio Garbrah, has appealed to foreign investors not to leave the country because of the current energy crisis.

Some multinationals have indicated that the unreliable power supply is proving to be a huge disincentive.

Investor Relations Manager for Golden Star Resources, Angela Parr has warned that Ghana could be losing out to competition from other countries in investment attraction if the power crisis was not fixed.

'Over the longer term, one of our concerns, one of investor concerns around an issue such as load-shedding is that it increases the perceived risk profile of the country,' she said.

Ghana has enjoyed international recognition due to sound democracy, functioning government and good infrastructure but Angela Parr said 'with issues such as load shedding, that good perception changes so people begin to see Ghana as a less stable place in which to operate.'

Speaking at the 3rd Ghana Economic Outlook and Business Strategy Conference, which is being held in Accra, Dr. Spio Garbrah, who shared a differing opinion, indicated that Ghana was still ahead of many African countries in terms of access to electricity.

'What some of you who are foreign investors need to know is you will hear of power shortage but you must understand that the reason for this is because Ghana happens to be one of, probably the leading country in Africa that has democratized access to electricity; trying to make as many members of the population have some access to electricity as possible.'

The Trade Minister also revealed that Ghana was developing strategies to diversify its export trade.

Bauxite and aluminum are among commodities government would be exploring.

- JFM