GIPC to Conduct 2009 Investor Survey

By Fred SARPONG

The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) and other investment centres in Africa is conducting investor survey aimed at providing African Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) with up-to-date and accurate investor survey information.
The objective of the survey is to increase investment flow for both foreign and domestic investors into the more productive sectors; maximize the impact on employment; improve technological competitiveness; and ensure supply chain integration.
The project designed to aid African IPAs to promote and improve upon targeted investment promotion; analyse the characteristics of different categories on investors; discern emerging trends in investment flows; and strategise and provide incentives to reinforce the positive impacts and desired trends for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
The survey is taking place in over 20 countries in Africa and it is been implemented by the Africa Investment Promotion Agency Network (AfriPANet), which is a UNIDO programme and it will take place from September till the end of October this year.
Leonardo Lamptey, UNIDO Country Team Leader for Investment Promotion Activities told BusinessWeek that about 800 local and foreign companies will be pick to get a good sample of a list of companies registered with GIPC, Association of Ghana Industry (AGI), Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) and other business associations for the information.
According to him the idea is to determine trend, establish the impact and get the feedback of the company’s assessment after registering with such relevant bodies.
BusinessWeek learnt that three bi-annual surveys of investors were conducted in 2001, 2003 and 2005 to compile firm-level data and the core element of the current programme consists of two investor surveys to be conducted in 20 sub-African countries in 2009-2011.
AfriPANet was initiated in 2001 and currently comprises a forum of 40 investment promotion agencies (IPAs) in Africa, representatives of UNIDO ITPOs, academics, and Chief Executives Officers of companies in the Africa region.
An integral part of the AfriPANet programme is the execution of bi-annual surveys of foreign and domestic investors the results of which bring to the fore issues of relevance for investment promotion agencies.