EU Ghana Business Forum - an impression

05-07-2024

EU Ghana Business Forum - an impression

On the 3rd and 4th of July the EU Ghana Business Forum was held for the 2nd time . At the forum GNBCC together with our offshoot HBP – Horticulture Business Platform - were represented and showcasing together their services from a booth manned by our staff members  Naana, Benjamin and Barnabas . Also present a number of our Members such as Dutch & Co, Eco Index, People’s Pension Trust, PAIX Data Centres and Recell Ghana Computer Labs . During the Forum there were several plenary and breakout sessions on business opportunities. Below this article I will link to the EU FB page where you can follow all speeches and plenary sessions.

The Forum was officially opened by welcoming remarks from EU’s Ambassador Mr Irchad Razaly followed by a special address of Mrs Myriam Ferran, Deputy DG European Commission. The next speaker was Hon. Mr Hammond, Minister of Trade and Industry. Unfortunately some speakers were very hard to follow due to a weird cadence of speaking or a sermon voice.

In the 1st plenary session our Member Mr Herbert Friese was part together with Mr Yofi Grant of GIPC and Mr Seth Twum-Akwaboah of AGI  on the subject ‘ Gauging the viability of Ghana as a destination for EU foreign Direct investments’ . During this session in a response to the question about the business challenges Mr Friese answered access to finance remains a huge challenge for most business in Ghana as well as regulatory challenges where he lamented the review of requirement for classification as a Bulk Customer of Electricity by the Energy Commission creating an unfavourable situation  for investments into solar. In his contribution answering on another question Mr Seth of AGI was mentioning the problems of the local textiles industry in Ghana who have to compete against illegal imports from China of counterfeit textiles and how this was affecting them. As a result the government organised  a  VAT exemption for those local producers which helped them fight and compete with the illegal imports. The contribution of Mr Grant can be seen in another article of this Newsletter where he propagates the removal of capital requirement for foreign businesses when investing in Ghana.

In the 2nd plenary session Mr Wiarda of GNBCC took part together with among others Mr Nana Osei-Bonsu from the Private Enterprise Foundation and Mr Nicolas Gebara of Eurocham . The plenary session was led by Mr Ziad Hamoui, National President of the Borderless Alliance. Mr Wiarda was asked the question to give the audience an idea about the main impression of its Members about doing business in Ghana.  

Mr Wiarda mentioned the following issues about doing business in Ghana:

1.            Complex regulatory and compliance procedures, excessive taxation of foreign companies, bureaucratic discretion of public entities (ability to decide how policies will be implemented) , improper business planning and lack of institutional coordination are the top challenges of doing business in Ghana – this was according to a recent survey GNBCC held among its Members in collaboration with IMANI .

2.            Issues with Ghana customs such as

  1. the examining of imported goods (by 8 separate agencies)
  2. High benchmark values set by Customs when to assess duties
  3. More than 20 different import taxes and levies on agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilizers and irrigation equipment
  4. High import duties on for instance vaccinations needed for the local poultry industry
  5. Agricultural / horticulture products such as fertilizer are subjected to a total of between 35 to 40% in taxes – irrigation material are taxed as high as 71% of FOB value

3.            Issues with local content – example of Minerals Commission , Energy Commission etc. They have their own set of rules and are demanding 100% Ghanaian ownership as well as 100 % Ghanaian Management as opposed to the official definition of a fully indigenous Ghanaian company - which has 51% Ghanaian ownership as well as 80% Ghanaian Management

He hoped that the new GIPC act – in which the thresholds for foreign investors have been removed – would come through parliament soon so the new act can be implemented this year.

He also used the opportunity to promote the new booklet about doing business in Ghana which was prepared jointly by the different business chambers . Although there are some issues when investing in Ghana, GNBCC  is propagating and helping foreign investors who want to invest in Ghana.

Click here for the link with to the whole 1st Day of the EU-Ghana Business Forum.

GNBCC | News