President Project Foreign Inflow to $2billion

President Project Foreign inflows to $2billion
Salim Yakubu Fari
President J.E Atta Mills said, Ghana has experienced a healthy growth, registered some 300 projects in the non-mining and petroleum sectors with an estimated cash inflow of over US$700million.
He said if total inflows into the mining, petroleum and free Zone operations are included, it is estimated that investments into Ghana in 2009 alone would exceed US$2billion and the prospects for 2010 look even brighter.
“As a nation, we continue to have an insatiable appetite for investment in areas such as Oil and Gas extraction and related services, Infrastructure Expansion, Energy, Agriculture and Agribusiness, Tourism ,information and communication technology, manufacturing and Financial Services”.
He said agricultural continues to remain a major pivot around which our growth agenda is revolving because it will not only ensure food security but most importantly provide sustainable job opportunities.
“It is my expectation that there will be very constructive dialogue and sharing of experiences in the areas of managing oil, gas and mineral resources in light of Ghana’s discovery of oil and gas and the contribution of the mining sector to the economic development”.
The forum has come at a time that most African Countries are recovering from the shocks of international financial crunch, “I am certain that given the high level of participation, decisions taken will impact positively on our economies”.
“I therefore call upon business leaders present here and those that may follow the proceedings of the forum, to actively engage in a meaningful debate that will lead to finding solutions for many of our continent’s social economic and development challenges”.
President Mills stated that over the years, numerous efforts and initiatives have been made to bring about deeper economic integration, increased intra-Africa trade, and investments on the continent.
North America and the European Union remain the biggest trading partners of Africa with a cumulative share of exports exceeding 60 percent in 2007.
President of Togo Republic, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe said the low intra-regional direct investment seems also to be attributed to several others factors, especially the absence of good transport and communication Infrastructure.
Gnassingbe added that the regional integration ought to have contributed through the pooling of resources and the development of local market, to stimulating production, trade, and investment.
President of Namibia, Hifikepunye Pohamba intimated that the combined effect of these factors is the overstretching of energy and other resources. In turn, this impacts negatively on our continent’s ability to achieve the ultimate objective of continental economic integration and development.