Ghana recorded total investments of $869.47 million in the first half of this year, according to the Ghana Investment Promotion Center.

Foreign Direct Investment component was however estimated at $785.62 million between January to June 2020 as FDI inflows showed rare strength in the final moments of the second quarter of the year, despite Covid-19 pandemic.

Globally, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has estimated that the Covid-19 pandemic global FDI  will plunge by about 40 percent - driving the total value of FDI below $1 trillion for the first time since 2005.

However, in spite of a sluggish start in the first quarter of 2020 and a worrying slump in the beginning of the second quarter due to severe lockdown measures to contain the spread of the corona virus, FDIs to Ghana have begun to rebound resulting in a notable increase in FDI inflow for the first half of the year.

At the GIPC, a total of 69 projects with a total estimated value of $688.74 million was recorded by the end of June 2020.

Of this, the total FDI component amounted to $627.52 million while local component accounted for an estimated $61.22 million.

The  GIPC said FDI value of $627.52 million was a considerable increase of about 409.10% from last year’s FDI value of $123.26 million recorded within the same period (Jan-Jun 2019), depicting a strong performance irrespective of the global pandemic.

Out of the 69 projects recorded, the services sector registered a majority of 25 projects followed by the manufacturing and export trade sector with 21 and 11 projects respectively.

With regards to value, general trading recorded the highest amount of $246.05 million.

This was closely followed by the mining exploration sector with S$231.02 million having sealed some major investments such as the Chirano Gold mine project for the exploration of minerals.

The manufacturing sector also saw significant investments valued at $170.67 million on the back of some notable ventures such as a deal by Matrix industries for the manufacture of paper and aluminum products as well as the Rainbow Paints Limited project which is a joint venture between Ghana and Kenya for the manufacturing of paints and related products.

Regional projects

Geographically, the spread of the projects cuts across six regions namely, Greater Accra, Central, Eastern, Ashanti and Volta regions with most projects registered in the Greater Accra enclave.

Together, the GIPC said 69 projects are expected to make significant contribution to job creation in the country.

Per estimations, a total of 14,614 jobs are expected to be created when the projects are fully operational.