By Francis Kokutse, IANS,
Accra : The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) has said its policies do not discriminate against any foreign investor and dismissed fears by some Indian investors that Chinese companies were being favoured against them.
Senior investment promotion officer of the GIPC, Noah Gaikpah, said “blanket complaints were not helpful and that any investor that had a genuine complaint should seek redress from the centre.”
“We have laid down regulations when it comes to investment in the country and this is rigidly followed,” Gaikpah told IANS.
Indians investors who spoke to IANS refused to be named because of fears of reprisal. However, their claims come just a week after a section of the the Ghanaian industry had alleged that the country’s open, non-discriminatory trade policy with China was killing domestic industries.
Last year a number of local firms complained to the trade ministry that they were coming under severe financial pressure and were cutting down on their production levels because they could not compete with cheap Chinese imports.
Head of bilateral trade at the ministry of trade, Cletus Ayaaba, said the government was aware of the Chinese threat, but was helpless because the country was signatory to various mulitilateral agreements that barred the country from imposing a protectionist regime to save local industries.
(Francis Kokutse can be contacted at [email protected])