Key speakers at the just ended Graphic Business-Stanbic Bank Breakfast meeting have called for a probe into Ghana’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) figures put out by The Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC).
At the Breakfast meeting on April 23, 2019, Professor of Economics at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), Professor Peter Quartey as well as the Head of Research at the Bank of Ghana, Phillip Abradu-Otoo, all called for a probe of FDI figures churned out by the GIPC.
But the Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC) has described the recent calls for an interrogation of its Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) figures as very unfortunate.
The GIPC set an FDI target of five billion dollars for itself in 2017 and announced in 2018 that the target had been completely achieved.
Responding to the calls in an interview with Citi FM, the Director of Investor Services Division at the GIPC Edward Ashong-Lartey stated that the GIPC uses rigorous methods to compute its figures.
“We do have a reporting requirement which among other things requires registered investors to give us half-yearly reports on their activities including additional funds brought in as well as employment levels. Employment figures must be backed by SSNIT and PAYE documents. GIPC does not manufacture any figures to deceive the public. Our reports are quite clear and available for everyone to verify. We indicate that these are estimated value of investments based on information provided by investors.”
Mr. Ashong-Lartey called for further stakeholder engagement on the matter to avoid any misunderstanding going forward.
“The controversy generated could have been avoided if the parties had consulted us. Projections are not implemented overnight, so if someone says that they can’t see what is happening then I have a problem with that. We may need to have a discussion with the parties concerned for clarity to prevail. It is not good for the country to have 2 state agencies arguing over figures.”
According to the key panel on at the Graphic Business-Stanbic Bank Breakfast meeting, they raised issues with GIPC’s figures saying the reported targets and actuals are somewhat misleading.
The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, GIPC for example set for itself a target of $10 Billion dollars in foreign direct inflows for the year 2018. For 2017 the Centre pooled $4.91 billion out of its target $5 billion, representing almost 100 percent of the target.
