Foreign companies that invest in Ghana are set to benefit from mouth-watering deals like exemption from the payment of import duties on plants and machinery, the president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced.

They will also be exempted from the payment of corporate tax for 10 years, enjoy the reparation of dividends and profit and benefit from laws against companies and investments.

President Akufo-Addo announced the packages at a Chinese business forum and said the new deal is part of Ghana’s industralisation drive with the ultimate aim of creating jobs and prosperity for the people of Ghana.

Outlining the areas worth investing in - roads, water, housing, transport, industry, manufacturing, agriculture, petroleum and gas, the exploitation of mineral wealth, bauxite, iron ore and gold – the president said structures are being put in place to attract private sector financing.

 “You can choose to invest in Ghana through the Ghana Investment Promotions Centre or set up as a free zones enterprise. Regardless of where the investment is, government has instituted a number of incentives for the investor depending on the nature of their activity or the location of the investment. This is to ensure that your investment succeeds.

Some of these incentives include, exemption from payment of import duty for plants and machinery, 25 percent tax rebate for companies located in regional capitals, 50 percent tax rebate for companies investing outside regional capitals in the regions, zero percent corporate tax for 10 years and thereafter eight percent for companies in the free zones enclave, full repatriation of dividends and profits, transfer of funds to service foreign loans and laws against arbitrary confiscation of companies or investments,” the president said.

President Akufo-Addo also lobbied the Chinese business community to consider investing in the government’s ‘one district, one factory’ and planting for food and jobs programme as the country moves away from the export of raw materials to value addition.

Your best bet when it comes to investing in Africa is Ghana, the president assured.

He added that “we are keen on establishing a business-friendly economy to attract direct foreign investments to exploit our countries great potential on mutually satisfactory terms.”

At the same event Sinotruk International, China’s first heavy-duty truck manufacturer, signed an agreement with the Government of Ghana to establish an assembly plant in Ghana, to serve both Ghanaian and West African markets.