President Akufo Addo has stated that, Ghana is open for business in the sectors of water, housing  industry, manufacturing, agriculture, petroleum and gas, the exploitation of our mineral wealth of bauxite, iron ore and gold and has therefore urged for private investment in those areas as well as financing.

He made the statement while speaking at Valletta in Malta on Tuesday March 26 2019 when he paid a courtesy visit to the European country.

He further urged that Malta takes advantage of the strengthening relations between the two countries and invest in Ghana.

He said, “Ghana, ladies and gentlemen, is ready for business, and I am happy that Maltese companies have already made investments to the tune of some $19 million in our country.”

He added that since his administration assumed office in January 2017, it has worked hard in the last two years to outing the achievement of his government over the last two years to put in place measures to improve the fundamentals of Ghana’s economy, which, in recent years, had been in considerable disarray, necessitating recourse to an IMF bailout programme.

“We have been moderately successful in trying to grow the Ghanaian economy, ensuring that our economy grew from 3.6% in 2016, the lowest in two decades, to 8.5% in 2017, our first year in office, to 6% last year, and is projected to grow by 7.9% in 2019, making it one of the fastest growing economies in Africa”.

He also added saying, “We have also now successfully completed and exited the IMF programme, and have decided that, with disciplined management of our public finances, we will not have recourse, again, to a bailout programme.”

Touching on the development of Ghana in terms of new digital age, he said that the government has put measures in place to help the country and its economy grow, reducing the cost of doing business and facilitating interactions between businesses and their clients, particularly in a technology-driven era, where connectivity through digital services is an important element in achieving competitiveness.

According to him, these measures implementing these measures and the strengthening of Ghana’s macroeconomy have meant that Ghana is, today, the leading recipient of foreign direct investment in West Africa.

“Growing investor confidence has meant that global vehicle manufacturing companies such as Volkswagen, Sinotruck, Nissan, Renault and Suzuki; major oil companies such as Aker Energy of Norway, and ExxonMobil of the United States of America; and Tech giant Google, are working towards establishing bases in Ghana,” he indicated.

He said to the Maltese companies present at the event that, “Ghana is a country governed by the rule of law, where the separation of powers is real. We have an independent judiciary, which ensures accountable governance, and you can be assured that your investments will be protected and secure.”