Ghana 
Ghana's Investment Advisory Council is running

afrol News, 14 May - Inaugurated only two weeks ago by President John Kufuor and the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Horst Köhler, the Ghanaian Investment Advisory Council (IAC) has already started to identify key problem areas in government policy. 

The Council's members have identified 18 problem areas in government policy, which have been assigned to relevant ministries for action within six months, according to an IMF publication. 

The problem areas included regulatory reforms related to land ownership and mining and labour laws; safety and security; infrastructure, especially for energy, telecommunications; financial services infrastructure; public sector sensitivity to the private sector; restoration of competitiveness to the mining sector; the economy’s dependence on aid and commodity exports; and the need for a partnership among government, private sector industries, and labour.

The IAC meeting, chaired by J. H. Mensah, Ghana's Senior Minister and Chair of the government's economic management team, was closed to the media "to encourage candour in the exchanges between business and the government," IMF reports. 

Ghana's Minister of Private Sector Development, Kwamena Bartels, had noted that the government intended to make Ghana a preferred destination for foreign direct investment, reverse the "brain drain" of skilled workers and executives, and put Ghana on the screens of global portfolio investors. Minister Bartels and the office of President Kufuor would coordinate operations with the various ministries involved to ensure implementation of the agreed actions.

According to IMF, it has become increasingly clear that one of the best ways for developing countries to raise the living standard of their people" is to attract inflows of investment capital." The creation of the IAC was a "step toward making its economy more attractive to investors," strongly supported by IMF. 

President Kufuor at the inauguration stressed that his administration was committed to fiscal discipline and the rule of law and would ensure that investments in Ghana were safe. Köhler emphasised on the importance of investments - "not aid or donor generosity" - to rise from a third world to developed country status. 

Sources: Based on IMF and afrol archives

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