The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) says it will promote intra-Africa investments in an effort to monetise the economic opportunities spread across the continent.

According to the CEO of the centre, Yofi Grant, the private sector in Africa has done a commendable job of increasing cross-national investment within the continent—and the GIPC, as a state body, will encourage the trend.

“In this regard, we have been speaking to many of our colleagues across the continent. We will be targeting possible investors to see how they can take advantage of the region to manufacture,” he said.

Speaking at the launch of the half-year Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) report on Friday, Mr. Grant added: “We are also preparing to have a dialogue with the EU to see how many European companies we can actually bring to locate and manufacture in Ghana and the continent.”

Increasing intra-Africa investment will ensure that the continent takes over its own destiny, he said.

Presenting the half-year FDI report, Mr. Grant said the GIPC registered total investments of US$869.47m, with total FDI value amounting to US$785.62m, between January and June 2020, as FDI project registration showed rare strength in the final moments of the second quarter of the year, undeterred by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The total FDI of US$785.62m represents investment recorded by GIPC and the Petroleum Commission.

A total of 69 projects were registered by the GIPC, with a total estimated value of US$688.74m. Out of this, the total FDI component amounted to US$627.52m, while the local component accounted for an estimated US$61.22m.

The FDI value of US$627.52m was a considerable increase of about 409.1 per cent from last year’s FDI value of US$123.26m recorded within the same period (Jan-Jun 2019), depicting a strong performance irrespective of the global pandemic.

Out of the 69 projects recorded, the services sector registered a majority of 25 projects, followed by the manufacturing and export trade sectors with 21 and 11 projects respectively. With regard to value, general trading recorded the highest amount of US$246.05m. This was tailed closely by the mining exploration sector with US$231.02m, having sealed some major investments such as the Chirano Gold mine project.

The manufacturing sector also saw registered investments valued at US$170.67m on the back of some notable ventures, such as a deal by Matrix industries for the manufacture of paper and aluminium products as well as the Rainbow Paints Limited project, which is a joint venture between Ghana and Kenya for the manufacture of paints and related products.

Geographically, the spread of the projects cut across 6 regions, with most projects registered in Greater Accra. A total of 14,614 jobs are expected to be created when all the 69 projects are fully operational. Out of this, 14,052, representing 96.15 per cent, will be for Ghanaians, whilst the remainder of 562 jobs, which represents 3.85 per cent, will be taken up by foreigners.

The report further revealed that additional equity total

ing US$11.56m was re-invested by existing companies within the first half of the year, while a total of GH¢1.36bn was recorded as investments from 28 Ghanaian businesses.

Worldwide, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has estimated that the Covid-19 pandemic will send global FDI plunging by about 40 per cent this year—driving the total value of FDI below US$1tn for the first time since 2005.

UNCTAD said FDI will continue to see a decline of 5-10 per cent 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.

Yofi Grant sets his sights on increased intra-Africa investment.