Ghana is coming up strongly as a preferred trade and investment destination in West Africa and increasingly engaging a lot of attention from American companies, Mr. Sam Ntum, Senior International Trade Specialist, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, has said.
Leading a delegation of Chicago based companies on a week’s visit to Ghana, Ntum told Business World, on the sidelines of the MTN Executive Breakfast Meeting, in Accra on, April 23, that the American’s were impressed with opportunities in the country.
“Ghana has an economy that is booming; growing in leaps and bounds. In 2011 when the world was still recovering from recession, Ghana’s growth was more than 14% and now projected to be around 8%; that is still huge. Even before oil was discovered, Ghana had a growth rate of about 7%, which was really extraordinary for a non-oil producing country and that impetus has now given Ghana a lot of ammunition to grow.
“Another impressive development is that Ghana has learned from the mistakes of the other oil producing countries. They are diversifying their economy; they are not just focusing on the oil sector,” he said.
Ntum noted that the official statistics from the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) shows that, in 2011, the agricultural sector contributed about 15% of the GDP, rising to more than 22% in 2012.
“I was really encouraged by that and that shows that the government really knows what they’re doing and they have really done wonderfully, so to have a government that seeks to diversify the economy, it brings a lot of strength to the economy because if one sector is not doing well the other sector is going to pick up the slack,”
Now many American investors are looking to explore opportunities that are emerging in Ghana, he said, disclosing his current delegation comprised a cross section of companies working in the oil and gas sector, engineering works, cosmetics, hair products, body lotion and in solar energy, and all kinds of renewable energy .
“Our office is focused mainly on exports and incoming FDI, but we know that trade is bilateral, so we welcome delegations from Africa to Chicago, where we also arrange for them to meet companies to try to partner with. It’s a two way thing.
“The American businesses are largely medium sized enterprises looking to identify small and medium sized (SMEs) Ghanaian companies.
“Our governor has a target, which is to double the value of our exports by 2014, and we’re close to exceeding that. President Obama, also, at the Federal level has the same target to double exports by 2014,” he said
Chicago’s total export value is close to US$60 billion, Ntum disclosed.
He said in the US scheme, Africa has a lot of potential, which has been neglected in the past but now the western world and many other countries have realized that if they want to grow and improve their companies’ markets, then Africa, with its growing middle class, is the right place to invest in.
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity helps companies of the state of Chicago to do business overseas, mainly on how to move into foreign markets.