Ghana And Belgium Are To Explore Investment Opportunities

Professor George Gyan-Baffour, Minister for Planning, on Tuesday said Government will continue to consolidate gains made in the macro-economic environment, develop and implement transformational policies and create that enabling environment for the private sector to thrive.

He said the stronger management of the economy has resulted in a significant increase in economic growth in the short space of time from 3.7 per cent in 2016 to 8.5 per cent in 2017.

Prof Gyan-Baffour was speaking at the opening ceremony of the Belgium Trade Mission Delegation in Accra.

The Delegation comprises of over 40 Belgian Companies from various sectors of their economy including food processing, dredging, banking, sale of vehicles spare parts, civil engineering and law.

Prof Gyan-Baffour said fiscal deficit had also reduced from 9.3 per cent of GDP to 5.9 per cent in 2017 and it was reported to be at 2.8 per cent in June 2018.

“Inflation has also declined from 15.4 per cent in 2016 to single digits at 9.8 per cent in September 2018,” he added.

He said in recognition of the role of the private sector in partnership with government to accelerate socio-economic growth, the Government was keen on the promotion of bi-lateral trade relationships.

He said a bi-lateral trade relationship provides networking and business opportunities to Ghanaian and Belgian businesses for mutually beneficial purposes.

The Minister of Planning said based on the Government’s priorities of building a prosperous country, creating opportunities for all Ghanaians and safeguarding the natural environment, it was pursuing specific policy objectives that would optimize key sources of growth in the economy and enhance a competitive and enabling business environment.

He said the policy initiatives also aimed to put in place the foundation blocks for the Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda to promote international trade and investment, industrial and agricultural transformation, infrastructure development and private sector development.

“Policy measures being pursued include promoting the Made in Ghana Policy, value addition, and seeking marketing opportunities in Africa and beyond,” he added.

He said Government was also pursuing pragmatic measures to remove bottlenecks along the entire supply chain of exports, including addressing port access and capacity issues, transport links, finance, trade facilitation and market access.

He said in promoting international trade and investment, Government policies were targeted at building reasonable levels of foreign reserves and maintaining a solid balance of payment, as well as maintaining the overall stability of the Ghanaian cedi.

Prof Gyan-Baffour said Government was moving ahead with a renewed confidence and was committed to consolidating the gains made and is instituting appropriate legal and institutional measures that will assure irreversibility of the gains made.

Mr Hugues Chantry, Ambassador of Belgium to Ghana, said the companies were interested in all possible markets, even those they did not know yet.

He said as a matter of fact, “we have here some business people well accustomed to Ghana and others, who had never been here or even in Africa before”.

He said the business people on the mission were looking for new markets for their products, others looking for local partners and others considering investment in the region.

“It means that they are coming with quite different aims and expectations,” he added.

He expressed the hope that the business people on the mission would find the right market, the right partner or the right location for their investment in the coming days.