Accra, Aug. 5, GNA - The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) said in Tuesday that it has continued to record remarkable improvements in the number of projects with foreign interests.

In its second quarter report released in Accra, GIPC said the period under review recorded 38 projects with an estimated cost of 22.16 million dollars involving 20.25 million dollars Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and 1.91 million dollars in local currency.

This is compared to the second quarters of 2001 and 2002 when 53 projects estimated at 20.79 million dollars and 28 projects involving 9.21 million dollars, respectively, were registered.

The report said this brings to 74 the total number of projects registered in the first six months of 2003 at the projected cost of 78.86 million dollars made up of 54.95 million dollars FDI and 23.91 million dollars in local currency.

It said FDI transfers made within the first half of the year amounts to 28.40 million dollars.

"The indications are that the investment environment is fast improving and gaining grounds as an attractive destination for FDI." The statement said as at the end of the second quarter of the year the services sector led the record with 25 projects valued at 54.20 million dollars and the manufacturing sector registered 22 projects estimated at 14.19 million dollars.

Tourism followed with nine projects initially capitalized at 1.57 million dollars.

Agriculture had on record six projects at a cost of 5.43 million dollars, general trade and building and construction sectors registered five projects each estimated at 2.25 million dollars and 0.41 million dollars, respectively.

The report said the operational objective of the specific-firm targeted promotional strategy of the Centre aims at firms that seek to locate in Ghana and exploit the local and the Sub-Regional ECOWAS markets by adding value through the processing of natural and agricultural raw materials.

"The result of this programme from the year 2000 has been impressive with a total of 548 projects valued at 373.35 million dollars made up of 318.09 million dollars FDI and 55.27 million dollars in local currency and pre-registration foreign equity transfers of 69.49 million dollars recorded."

The report said these investments comprise 362 joint foreign-Ghanaian and 186 wholly foreign-owned enterprises, which are estimated to generate employment opportunities for some 25,425 Ghanaians and 1,770 non-Ghanaians.

Some of the major sources of foreign investments into the country are The Great Britain, 154 projects; India, 141; China, 132; USA, 112 and Lebanon, 107.

The others are Germany, 95 projects; Korea, 59; Italy, 55; Netherlands, 52; Switzerland, 49; Canada, 32 and France, 32 projects. From the developing countries are Nigeria, 43); South Africa, 26 and Malaysia, 12 projects.