Ofori-Atta Leads Gov’t Delegation on Non-Deal Roadshow to Asia

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is leading a government delegation on a study tour of the financial sector of Hong Kong and Singapore from February 9-14, 2018.

The tour is part of moves by the Akufo-Addo administration to make Ghana a world class financial hub in the sub region.

The delegation will also undertake a Non-Deal road show with the view of building awareness of new business opportunities in Ghana and to attract Asian fund holders to invest in Ghana bonds.

In the 2018 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, Government gave a strong indication to take steps to position Ghana as the financial services hub in the sub region. A taskforce was set up to among other things, ensure that Ghana became the preferred headquarters of all banks operating in the sub-region and the hub of financial technology and payment systems for the region.

Mr. Ofori-Atta also indicated in the budget statement that the hub would host international private equity and venture capital firms to support entrepreneurship and assess to long term capital by the private sector in the sub-region.

The road show will therefore afford the delegation the opportunity to study best practice to inform Ghana’s policies and programmes for the financial sector.

The delegation includes the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Deputy Ministers of Finance, Energy and Information, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC); the Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission; and officials from the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance.

“Ghana Beyond Aid calls for a rethink of our trajectory, our systems, and our aspirations. We are looking at creating awareness of business opportunities in Ghana as well as whip up interest in our future bonds for a possible Samurai and Panda bond issuance. This requires us to begin onshore education of Ghana and sell a compelling narrative of our growing fiscal strength and budget sobriety,” Mr Ofori-Atta said.

The Ghanaian delegation will also meet officials of both the public and private sectors, including portfolio/asset managers and hold round table discussions with officials of the Singaporean Finance Ministry, the Central Bank and the Singapore Stock Exchange.

They will highlight investment opportunities in the financial services sector, ICT, energy, transport infrastructure, especially railway, real estate, agri-business, manufacturing and industry.

Ghana’s economy out performed other Sub-Saharan African Equity Markets on the back of favourable macro-economic prospects and strong investor confidence. In the current budget, government has many programmes and policy initiatives with incredible potential to transform the country’s economy and achieve a ‘Ghana beyond Aid’ in the medium to long term.

“It is expected that this mission will strengthen Ghana’s investment and trade relations and also lay the foundation for the setting up of an Asia Business Council led by GIPC,” a statement from the Ministry said.

A private sector group from Ghana, organised by the GIPC will also be in Singapore at the same time to explore business opportunities in the Asian Market.

Source: Starrfmonline