Photograph — Stmed.net

Ghana saw total investments of $869.47 million between January to June this year with the value of foreign direct investments amounting to $785.62 million, official figures from the Ghana Investment Promotion Center and the Petroleum Commission show.

Estimates from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development had suggested that the Covid-19 pandemic would send global FDI plunging by about 40 percent – driving the total value of FDI below $1 trillion for the first time since 2005. 

But in spite of a sluggish start in Q1 2020 and a worrying slump at the beginning of the second quarter due to severe lockdown measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus, FDI to Ghana has begun to rebound. There was a notable increase in inflows for the first half of the year, showing rare strength in the final moments of the Q2.

At the GIPC, a total of 69 projects with a total estimated value of $688.74 million was recorded by the end of June 2020. Of this, the total FDI component amounted to $627.52 million while local components accounted for an estimated $61.22 million. 

The FDI value of $627.52 million was a considerable increase of about 409.10 percent from last year’s $123.26 million recorded within the same period (Jan-Jun 2019), depicting a strong performance despite the global crisis.

“The seemingly positive performance of FDI inflows to the country has been to an extent attributed to the gradual easing of the Covid-19 restrictions as well as government initiatives and incentives rolled out to buffer businesses and the economy at the height of the pandemic,” the investment promotion agency said in a statement Thursday.

FDI is still expected to decline between 5-10 percent in 2021 with a slow recovery to be initiated in 2022 driven by restructuring of global value chains and a general rebound of the global economy, according to projections from UNCTAD.

“In this regard, the GIPC remains cautiously optimistic about the flow of FDI to Ghana, as we move forward,” it said. “That notwithstanding, the Center will continue to assiduously pursue worthwhile investments for economic development as well as support government initiatives such as the COVID-19 Alleviation and Revitalisation of Enterprises Support (CARES) Programme to help bolster the Ghanaian economy towards recovery and remain resilient pre and post-pandemic.”

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