A study conducted by IMANI Ghana in collaboration with the Ghana-Netherlands Business and Culture Council (GNBCC) has unveiled an optimistic outlook for investors.
According to Dennis Asare, Senior Research Associate at IMANI, the findings of the study titled ‘Reviewing current economic and investment challenges and opportunities for shared benefits and growth – a focus on GNBCC’ indicate an increase in investment prospects despite ongoing economic challenges.
During a breakfast meeting in Accra, Mr. Asare presented the findings, revealing that 61 percent of businesses plan to boost their investments, 5 percent intend to maintain current investment levels, and 11 percent anticipate reducing their investments despite prevailing difficulties.
Addressing the identified challenges, he emphasized complex regulatory and compliance procedures, excessive taxation of foreign companies, bureaucratic discretion of public entities, and inadequate business planning.
Other challenges include a lack of institutional coordination, high labor costs, unstable energy supply, and expensive utility bills.
“There was a strong disagreement about supportiveness of electronic infrastructure to investors, a strong disagreement about the supportiveness of regulatory institutions and a non-reliable of the power supply for the businesses,” he emphasised.
“There is a need to increase investors’ access to information on support programmes available by providing capacity-building on accessing available tax exemptions and making firms more competitive to increase Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) attraction,” he established.
Members of the GBCC also urged the Government of Ghana to streamline regulatory and compliance processes to enhance efficiency. “There is a need to deepen digitalisation in the public service to address their exposure to corrupt practices in the sector,” they bemoaned.
The event acknowledged the introduction of a new booklet published by GNBCC on doing business in Ghana – a business guide for investors.