On the 13th of March, the World Bank and the European Union held a joint event to discuss the business climate in Ghana. The event brought together stakeholders from the public and private sectors to share insights and discuss ways to improve the business environment in the country. The World Bank has been an important partner for Ghana in its efforts to improve the investment climate. The event was aimed at ways to promote private sector growth and attract foreign direct investment for the country.
Although Ghana has a relatively stable regulatory environment that is designed to attract foreign investment and promote economic growth, there are certain factors hindering the country from reaching its full potential of enabling a more friendly and predictable environment for investors to do business.
Speaking at the event, a Senior Private Sector Specialist in the Investment Unit of the World Bank, Hania Kronfol says Ghana needs to do more to improve its regulatory environment and create a more predictable and investor-friendly business climate. According to her, investors are increasingly looking to other countries in the region such as Rwanda, Cote D’Ivoire Kenya among others, where business environment is more investor-friendly, more favorable and predictable.
This suggests that Investors looking to do business in Ghana may face a more challenging regulatory environment than some of the country’s regional peers. Although Ghana has made progress in enhancing its investment climate in recent times, investors still encounter bureaucratic obstacles and an uncertain regulatory environment that is comparatively less favorable for investors than that of some of its neighboring countries in the region.
Over the past years, Ghana has ranked lower compared to several of its regional counterparts regarding business operation and regulatory predictability. The country’s challenging regulatory environment has resulted in some investors being cautious about investing in Ghana. Meanwhile, the competition in the region continues to increase, emphasizing the need for Ghana to intensify its efforts in creating a more predictable and investor-friendly regulatory environment to stay ahead of the competition.