Deputy minister of energy, Herbert Krapa, has remarked that 40% of the oil and gas industry’s new positions are held by Ghanaians.
He said that the majority of the employment produced are a result of the Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) drawn to the nation.
The government does not regret enticing foreign investors to explore Ghana’s resources, according to the deputy minister of energy, who was speaking at the CEOs Breakfast Meeting in Accra on Tuesday, August 22, 2023.
However, he asserted that more has to be done by the government in terms of creating partnerships and incentives that will help more Ghanaians.
“The participation of Ghanaians in that sector [oil and gas] has not been a sad story, has not been something that we say we regret attracting the investors to explore resources,” Herbert Krapa said.
“In 2019 when we last counted, we had 40% of the employment in the sector in Ghana being Ghanaians and we’re looking at now focusing more on the managerial and high technical to make sure we have more Ghanaians in that sector as well,” the deputy energy minister stated.
According to statistical data, there was a significant decrease in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Ghana during the year 2022. The FDI figure plummeted from US$2.6 billion in 2021 to US$1.5 billion in the past year.
The World Investment Report for 2023 by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) highlighted a parallel decline in FDI inflows across the African continent. These flows reduced from US$80 billion in 2021 to US$45 billion in 2022.
Consequently, Africa’s contribution to the global FDI landscape shrank to 3.5 percent.