Ghana has made significant progress in furthering democracy and demonstrated that a stable democracy is not only possible but also sustainable in West Africa, even during economically difficult times. The country’s economic structure and performance constantly improved during this decade, de-spite her persistent dependence on a few commodities. Economic growth has stabilized; however, inflation persists.

Ghana has been ranked by the World Bank Doing Business Reports amongst the Top-Ten Reforming Countries in Africa. All of this augurs well for Ghana to achieve middle-income country status by 2015.

With its political stability, economic liberalism, abundant natural resources and infrastructure improvements, Ghana is positioned to become West Africa’s premier gateway country, providing access to a regional market of over 250 million people.

Ghana’s natural resource driven economy is the third largest in West Africa. It is the second largest exporter of lumber and gold on the continent, and the second largest exporter of cocoa worldwide. Ghana also enjoys ample mineral deposits of diamonds, bauxite, manganese and salt, and lays claim to a vast expanse of arable land, forests and marine and fishing stocks. The existence of rich and high quality crude oil fields at Ghana’s shores has been confirmed in 2007.

A number of value-added industries and produce various consumer goods, such as beverages and canned goods operate in Ghana. The country’s growing tourism sector has stimulated infrastructure development and increased government revenue.

Attracting foreign direct investment has been a priority of Ghana’s Government since 1983 with the establishment of an economic recovery program. FDI inflows are well above the average for non-oil producing sub-Saharan African countries. The country’s top non-African investors originate from India, China, Lebanon, UK, US and Germany, while the top three African investing states are Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and South Africa.

Among the numerous guarantees and incentives that attract investors are: low corporate tax rates; tax holidays; low equity requirements; custom duty exemptions for plant, machinery, equipment and parts; automatic immigrant quotas; and relief from double taxation for foreign investors. Ghana’s foreign investment code eliminates screening of foreign investment, guarantees capital repatriation, and does not discriminate against foreign investors. The only pre–condition for investment is a minimum capital-requirement.

Ghana Investment Promotion Act, 1994 (Act 478), provides guarantees to all enterprises, free transferability through any authorized dealer bank in freely convertible currency of dividends or net profits attributable to a foreign investment; payments in respect of loan servicing where a foreign loan has been obtained; remittance of proceeds (net of all taxes and other obligations) in the event of sale or liquidation of the enterprise or any interest attributable to the investment.

Ghana is a member of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank, which provides investment guarantees against non-commercial risk for investments in developing countries. Additionally, the Government has entered into bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (IPPAs), as well as double taxation treaties with a number of countries to further enhance the protection and security of the investment regime.
The GIPC Act, 1994 (Act 478) provides a range of investment incentives for foreign and local investors. For details:    http://www.gipc.org.gh/IPA_Information.asp?hdnGroupID=3&hdnLevelID=3

 General country info: Ghana 2004