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Ghana Home Dry: Obama is Gone But No Investments
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High expectation of Ghanaians for economic transformation after the
visit of President Barack Hussein Obama is dwindling as economic
condition deteriorates. A survey by the Ghanaian Journal tells a rather
dejected and demoralized Ghanaian, thinking that the euphoria that
realised during the visit of the world richest country first family
could commensurate an economic turnaround.
Indeed that could
happen if our leaders reverse their self seeking interest and work
towards providing what could attract investment into the country.
Last
Monday Mr. George Kenneth Butterfield, Vice Chairman of the
Sub-Committee Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, leader of a
seven member US Congressional delegate to Ghana expressed regrets to
the low level of American investment in the country especially from the
Private Sector business in America.
Mr Butterfield said out of
the 350 million people living in the US, about 35 million were of
African descent, and announced that the Obama Administration was poised
to take the American Government and the African continent and the rest
of the world into a brand new direction.
However in an Interview
with Mr Francois Baird, CEO of Baird's CMC and a member of the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, was not surprised to the american investment
famine into Ghana. President Obama visit to Ghana and Hilary Clinton completed tour of
Africa should have at least spearheaded talks amongs business but
rather the situations seem the same.
Mr. Baird said several
reasons like a promised return from Africa was not commensurate with
the risks other continents, countries, and regions offer, and U.S.
executives view Africa as needing excessive work to be an attractive
investment choice
He said Corporate America has stated
categorically that Africa must invest in the health and education of
the African people to create a large pool of skilled and productive
human resources, invest in and maintain infrastructure—transportation,
communications, electricity, and security—so that there will be a
reliable society in which to operate, build a functioning legal system
to ensure the rule of law, transparency, and fair play, create a
positive climate for foreign investments by reducing bureaucratic
processes, eliminating corruption, and reforming tax systems,
irrespective of country of origin and ensure stable political
environments that may or may not be based on Western democratic
principles.
“In addition, countries and regions in Africa need
to sell themselves more aggressively to corporate America. But even if
Africa learns to better market itself to U.S. businesses, investors
will hesitate because Africa is regularly portrayed in the media as
unstable and violent”.
He said recently a study undertaken by
the US chamber of Commerce revealed that until the overall picture
stabilizes, most African nations will find it tough to attract FDI. He
said Corporate America named countries like Morocco and Egypt and
sub-Saharan countries like South Africa and Nigeria, with proven
business potential that can attract some investment.
“However,
the investment jury is still out even for these countries, therefore,
African government and business leaders should decide how best to
overcome the impediments—both real and perceived—to U.S. corporate
investment”.
Reacting to factors that influence U.S.
corporations to invest in Africa, he classified Rule of law, a strong
point since according to him does not prevail to the degree required to
make Africa an attractive investment.
According to him, Ghana
does not offer a sufficiently large middle class of consumers or show
consistent economic growth that could promise a future market.
“However,
most African countries are small and have poor markets, and there are
barriers to regional markets—such as taxes and the freedom of movement
of people and goods. However, Africa does offer enormous natural
resources and that is an attraction”.
Risks versus rewards are
another factor U.S. corporation's look at. Given the currently
perceived risks in Ghana, the rewards have to be very high to make it
worthwhile to invest. Presently, U.S. corporations say that there are
very few visible promises of high future returns to justify significant
interest in investing.
Overall, U.S. businesses do not view
Ghana as an attractive place to invest. The image of lawlessness,
corruption, an inadequate infrastructure, uneducated or untrained
people, and an unwelcoming government attitude toward business serve as
major deterrents.
however with Ghana striking oil, the attention
or focus might change, but then in other for Ghanaians to benefit
immensely, leaders should put proper laws to regulate the oil and gas
sector or else” he concluded.
Source: Modern Ghana
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Tags:Ghana
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