Phase 2 of Ghana CARES set to commence

The first phase of the ambitious Ghana CARES programme, drawn up by the President Nana Akufo Addo administration is coming to an end over the next fortnight to be replaced by the main segment of the initiative – phase two which aims to revitalize and transform the economy within a three year time span.

This is arguably the most ambitious economic growth and development plan devised by any government in Ghana, competing in its transformational impact potential with the centralized economy plans of Kwame Nkrumah and the Economic Recovery Programme drawn up and the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and implemented under the leadership of the recently deceased Jerry John Rawlings.

The second phase of Ghana CARES seeks to leverage on the need for an economic rebound from the harsh effects of COVID 19, within the context of President Akufo-Addo’s vision of “Ghana Beyond Aid.” This ambitious programme faced competition from the alternative “Big Push” proposed by the National Democratic Congress but the (still contested) electoral results seem to have put that issue to rest.

To be sure the coronavirus pandemic has had extensive economic impacts. GDP growth is sharply down from the 6.8 percent originally projected, to a forecast1.9 percent GDP growth for 2020. Across the private sector, informal businesses, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), as well as large businesses are all under strain – especially in the hospitality, education, manufacturing and agricultural sectors. For the public sector, the Government’s public finances are also under strain, with a projected deficit of 11.4 percent for 2020, compared with 4.7 percent of GDP originally programmed.

In May 2020, the President charged the Minister for Finance to lead the preparation of a Government economic stabilization and recovery programme to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the lives and livelihoods of Ghanaians and to ensure that the country quickly emerges from the pandemic with a stronger and more resilient economy. This resulted in the design of a two-phased Ghana CARES programme.

The first phase, which has lasted for the second half of 2020 was aimed at short term economic stability and immediate socio-economic relief for Ghanaians. With that six month programme almost concluded, the far more comprehensive and potentially transformational second phase, to be implemented from 2021 to 2023 can now begin. Indeed it was officially launched on November 20 by Senior Minister Yaw Osarfo-Marfo.

. The Revitalization and Transformation part of Ghana CARES Obaatanpa – to be implemented between 2021 and 2023 – has two goals.

The primary goal  is to turbocharge productive sectors of the economy via competitive import substitution, export promotion, economic diversification, and leveraging of digitization. Success on this goal will further improve food security, accelerate industrialization, create jobs, strengthen foreign exchange reserves, and stabilize the exchange rate.

A second goal is to optimize the implementation of Government’s current growth and transformation flagships for greater results, value-for-money, and financial sustainability.

Ghana CARES and Jobs

A key focus of the Ghana CARES Programme is to support the private sector to become a powerful engine for job creation in Ghana. Government is  targeting the creation of 420,000 jobs in the formal sector from 2021 to 2023—an average of 140,000 new formal sector jobs each year. Over 85 percent of the jobs or around 360,000 are projected to be in the private sector, and about 60 percent of these jobs will go to women. It is anticipated that, by 2023, about a third of secondary school (including TVET) and university graduates who enter the job market will be able to find decent jobs in the formal sector, instead of the situation today where less than 10 percent are able to find such jobs.

. Most of the formal sector employment expansion will be in manufacturing, construction, and modern services including digital economy (e.g. fintech, tech start-ups, business process outsourcing, etc.). Government  also aims to attract and facilitate the entry of at least 3,000 educated youth into commercial agriculture over the three-year period from 2021 to 2023. With each commercial farmer projected to employ about 5 full-time workers, this will translate into additional 15,000 jobs. In addition, it is projected that each commercial farmer will also engage around 10 out-growers thereby raising the incomes of 30,000 smallholders.

Areas of Focus

.There are several  areas of focus for the revitalization and transformation programme

Supporting commercial Farming and Attracting Educated Youth into Agriculture

. The PFJ/RFJ programmes, linked with the 1D1F programme provide a good foundation for agro-processing. The former help ensure food supplies at scale and the latter facilitates the establishment of processing factories. In fact, to date the majority of investments financed under 1D1F has been in agro-processing. Going forward, Government will build on this foundation by: a. Implementing a programme to support commercial farming, including support to the educated youth to become commercial farmers. b. Rehabilitating and modernizing irrigation facilities to support commercial agriculture under the Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP). c. Reforming the fertiliser subsidy program to improve distribution to minimise smuggling to neighbouring countries and carrying out robust testing of fertilisers to ensure value for money, and optimal yields.d. Creating a Ghana Land Information Bank (GhLIB) to provide a reliable and easily accessible land-based information platform to improve access to land. The platform will help landowners and community members to make their lands visible for potential investors/stake holders. This will facilitate access to land for commercial farming.

Building Ghana’s Light Manufacturing Industry Agro-processing and food import substitution

Taken together, Ghana spends about US$2 billion each year on food imports – about the same as we earn on cocoa exports. About US$1 billion of this amount is spent on importing rice, poultry, wheat, sugar, and related products. Yet, these are staples which could be produced in Ghana, or for which substitutes could be found locally. Building on the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) and Rearing for Food and Jobs (RFJ) programmes, the CARES Programme will aim to support local businesses to improve our competitiveness in producing and processing these products and thus reduce our dependence on imports.

Rice.

Ghana currently imports over 700,000 MT tons of rice at an estimated cost of US$ 400 million, representing about 60% of rice consumption in country. The CARES Programme aims for Ghana to become self-sufficient in rice by 2023. The private sector has already invested in rice mills (in the Northern and Volta Regions) that can process paddy rice and compete with imported rice. In the short-term, government is facilitating access to finance for private millers and improving access to quality paddy rice under the Planting for Food & Jobs (PFJ) Programme. In the medium-term, Government will continue to support farmers to increase production and to link them to rice millers. In addition, it is identifying potential investors under a PPP model to invest in specialized rice silos in production areas in order to maintain the quality of paddy rice in storage.

Poultry.

Ghana imports over US$100 million of poultry products a year. The major challenges faced by the domestic poultry industry include: the high cost of feed, access to day-old chicks and chemicals, lack of processing facilities and inefficiencies across the value chain. Currently, a technical team has been constituted to address the structural issues with poultry production in the country, especially with regards to high cost of poultry feed. In addition, a new financing model for the poultry value chain has been developed by ADB and adopted by Government to enable greater efficiencies across the value chain.

Cassava.

In 2019, Ghana imported US$178 million of wheat. This can be reduced with partial substitution (20%) of wheat flour with High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) to produce composite flour. This will reduce the dependency on wheat imports and increase livelihoods of local farmers who produce cassava. The 20% cassava-substitution policy will save the country a minimum of US$ 35 million annually and create about 20,000 direct jobs in rural areas. In addition, cassava can be processed into several industrial products such as ethanol and starch for the pharmaceutical and brewery industries with an annual value of over US$50 million. Government is currently working on the policy and appropriate legislation for composite flour.

Sugar.

Ghana currently imports all of its refined sugar needs, costing about US$160 million in 2019. Annual consumption is projected to rise from 250,000 MT in 2019 to 550,000 MT by 2030. Yet, Ghana has the potential, given its suitable climate and availability of land and water, to produce sugarcane. Government will support the private sector to establish and operate sugar plantations and factories to ensure self-sufficiency in sugar by 2030. Government has also finalized an agreement with a private sector entity to manage and operationalize the Komenda Sugar Factory Limited, and a private sector sugar project in the Northern Region is also under consideration.

 Tomatoes.

Ghana is a net importer of both fresh and processed tomatoes when it can be a competitive producer, processor and exporter. We currently import about US$140 million fresh and processed tomato-related products. Ghana has a number of processing facilities which were previously state-owned and which have been divested. Unfortunately, they have not been active for a long period due to a myriad of challenges. Government has prioritized the tomato value chain and is engaging management of existing facilities and investors who have expressed interest in developing new production and processing facilities such as a 200-acre private tomato farm in Akomadan, which would provide feedstock to the Techiman tomato factory.

Pharmaceuticals

Ghana’s pharmaceutical industry comprises about 40 manufacturers, with only about 20 being active. Out of about 3,000 drugs registered by Ghana’s Food and Drugs Board (FDB), less than a third are produced locally. COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerability of the country to shortages of essential drugs in case of disruptions in global supply chains. On the other hand, the response of local companies in ramping up supplies of hand-sanitizers and other pharmaceuticals demonstrates that there is a national potential that we can build on.

The industry has identified several challenges, such as: access to finance, high water and electricity costs, delayed NHIA payments, and lack of skilled personnel. Government is not only clearing its outstanding payments to domestic suppliers, it will also ensure that henceforth payments on its current obligations are made on a timely basis. Government has in place strong programmes to address the other difficulties facing the pharmaceutical industry. Beyond this, Government (through the Ministry of Health) will expand its domestic procurement of pharmaceuticals and also work with the industry to facilitate domestic production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), which is required for the manufacture of all drugs and which is currently all imported.

Textile & Garments

Ghana’s textiles and garments industry has the potential to create decent manufacturing jobs. However, underinvestment in capital machinery, smuggling and influx of cheap imported products have posed challenges for the industry. At present, the industry comprises 4 large textile mills (GTP, ATL, Printex and Volta Star Textiles) which produce fabric; and several garment manufacturers. Ghana has strong comparative advantage to grow a local textile and garments sector, such as: proximity to the US and European export markets, an educated labour force, relatively low wages, and an abundance of raw cotton in the West Africa region.44. Today, the textiles and garments sector in Ghana employs only about 7,500 workers and generates approximately US$50 million in total exports. The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) has set a target of generating US$1 billion in total exports and creating at least 200,000 jobs in the sector over the next 10 years. Under the Ghana CARES Obaatanpa Programmme (2021-2023), we aspire to generate US$200 million in exports and create 50,000 jobs in textiles and garments.. The Ghana CARES programme will provide additional support for the industry, specifically to upgrade machinery and training of workers.

Technology and Digital Economy (Machine Tools, ICT/Fintech/BPO)

As Ghana develops its agro-industry sector it must also develop capability to produce farm implements and food processing machinery. We should also be able to produce automobile spare-parts and develop sub-contracting capability to service the budding automobile assembly industry in the country.

We will start with agricultural equipment. Government under the leadership the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) and its agencies (e.g. the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research—CSIR) and also the GRATIS Foundation (under the Ministry of Trade and Industry) and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) will therefore contract the private sector to manufacture various tools, some of which have been successfully prototyped by CSIR and GRATIS.

In addition, Government will ensure the completion and operationalization of the foundry being developed under MESTI, and which is to be operated on a public-private partnership basis. The foundry will provide the foundation for local fabrication of machinery and spare parts. The medium-term goal is to build on this effort to strengthen our national capability in engineering and machine tools by creating an applied research and development institution. Government will support entrepreneurs in ICT/digital economy businesses such as tech start-ups, fintechs, developers of apps for agriculture, Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs), etc. To this end, Government will work with the private sector to develop and operate technology hubs in each region..

Fast Tracking Digitization

COVID-19 has revealed the importance of building efficient and robust digital platforms to support businesses and the delivery of government services. Government has worked over the past 3 years to build important national digital platforms, and will accelerate their full deployment in light of COVID. Government will also introduce new platforms. In particular, Government will:a. Expedite implementation of Government digital initiatives such as the National ID, digital address systems, land records digitization, Ghana.Gov etc. and consolidate them for synergistic improvements in economic productivity and service delivery;b. Introduce initiatives to digitize fiscal revenue collection, to support a cashless society, online education delivery, etc.; c. Invest, consolidate, strengthen and expand the national fiber network backbone in order to expand and improve internet connectivity;d. Promote increased digital literacy; and e. Support Ghanaian technology entrepreneurs to build tech hubs and to export IT-enabled services such as business process outsourcing (BPO), etc.

Housing and Construction

Government will help Ghanaian building construction companies strengthen their capacity, which can then be deployed to building houses. Government will complement this by strengthening and expanding the housing mortgage and construction finance programme started this year with some domestic banks, and also by introducing a programme to facilitate access to land by housing estate developers. Passage of the Home Ownership Financing Bill will be one of the pillars in driving the housing agenda.

Ghana as a Regional Hub

The global economic landscape post-COVID will be different and Ghana must move quickly to take advantage. Ghana has a number of positive attributes it can and must leverage quickly to become a regional commercial and financial hub and a gateway into Africa in the post-COVID world. For example, we are a stable and peaceful democracy with considerable international good will; a country of laws with a free judicial system; English-speaking; a country with a relatively well-educated labour force, compared to our neighbours; and we are situated in a good geographical location and time zone with respect to European and U.S. firms accessing Africa. Added to this is the choice of Ghana to host the Secretariat of the AfCFTA. In addition, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ghana had 70 flights daily connecting Accra to major cities across Europe, America and Asia as well as regional and domestic flights.

Ghana as a financial hub: Ghana’s International Financial Services Center (IFSC) initiative presents many potential benefits to the economy and the region at large. Geographically positioned between the capital cities of the largest economies in West Africa (Lagos and Abidjan), we are the prime locale for the establishment of a financial hub for the West African markets. Being a financial hub provides a conduit for foreign direct investments into Ghana and also grants easy access to capital at low cost.

In order to make this vision a reality, Government has partnered with the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF) to present an advisory report to support Ghana’s regulatory foundation for an IFSC. Government is also in negotiations with the African Development Bank to sponsor the preliminary phase of the IFSC project. Ghana as a manufacturing hub: This will be built mainly around attracting FDI into manufacturing and agribusiness. Our target is FDI inflows of US$3 billion every year from 2021 to 2023, with the bulk of it targeting manufacturing and agribusiness sectors. Vigorous implementation of our business regulatory reforms (BRR) programme and the capacity strengthening of the GIPC and Free-Zones Board will help in this regard. As additional measures towards our objective, the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) Bill is being amended to align it with international best practice. We have so far attracted investments and commercial interest from global automotive companies, including Toyota, Volkswagen, Nissan, Renault, Hyundai, Sinotruck, and Suzuki. The Volkswagen plant became operational in the first half of 2020, and by end-2021 we expect the assembly plants of Toyota, Nissan and Suzuki to be also operational.

In view of our focus on employment creation, our FDI promotion efforts will especially target Component Assembly. In addition to automobile assembly, this will include, for example, electronics and household appliances such as fans, air-conditioners, refrigerators, etc. which are very labour-intensive. Furthermore, our goal in attracting FDI factories is not only to produce for the Ghanaian market, but also to produce at scale for exports, in particular taking advantage of AfCFTA, so as to increase foreign exchange as well as employment.

Ghana as a port and logistics hub: Working with the private sector, Government will develop a port and logistics hub around the Tema Port. The hub would comprise a logistics park with transportation links to landlocked neighbours such as Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali. The zone-port interaction would also permit warehousing, cargo handling and transport linkages directly with the Tema Port.

Growth-Promoting Government Flagships and Key Programmes

For the execution of selected major infrastructure projects, Government will pursue public-private partnerships (PPPs) or concession arrangements, and it will task GIIF to lead implementation on behalf of the Government.  In heavy industry and resource-based industrial projects (e.g. aluminium, iron and steel, petrochemicals etc.), Government will actively pursue joint ventures and concessions with proven international operators who will provide needed technology and skills transfer as well as managerial expertise and easier access to global supply chains

Enablers of transformation

Access to Finance

Access to finance on affordable terms is a major challenge faced by Ghanaian businesses. Government will tackle challenges as follows:

1. Consolidate Bank of Ghana’s recent reforms to build a robust financial sector that supports businesses.
2. Launch Development Bank, Ghana (DBG) by end-2020. With a planned capitalization by Government of US$250 million, DBG will be a wholesale bank that will provide lines of credit to qualifying financial institutions (PFIs) to lend to their clients, particularly SMEs, with the banks bearing the credit risk. DBG funds will be long-term (up to 15 years) and will be priced at reasonable rates to support Ghanaian businesses, particularly in agro-industry, manufacturing and modern services, including ICT/digital economy etc. DBG will therefore be complementing and supporting existing banks and other financial institutions (PFIs) with long-term funds, rather than competing with them. International institutions that have indicated interest in providing long-term finance to DBG include: World Bank, the European Investment Bank, KfW of Germany, AFD of France, and the AfDB, with the first three well advanced in preparing their support projects which are expected to be ready by end-2020 or early 2021. The plan is to set up and run DBG in such a way that within a few years, it will obtain a strong international credit rating, and thus raise funds on local and international capital markets based on its own balance sheet and reputation of independence and professional excellence. So, in the medium-term, DBG will not be dependent on Government funding.
3. Strengthen the Venture Capital Trust Fund with an additional US$45 million capital injection from the World Bank-supported Ghana Economic Transformation Project (GETP).
4. Expand the operations of the Ghana Commodity Exchange, particularly regarding warehouse receipts, which will facilitate access to liquidity by commodity sellers.
5. Strengthen and expand the operations of GIRSAL and EXIM.

Improving the Business Environment and Supporting SMEs

Government aims to make Ghana a very attractive place for doing business and, in particular, the number-one destination for foreign businesses locating in Africa. This will also enable us to leverage our privileged position as hosts of the secretariat of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). As part of Ghana CARES, we will aim to raise Ghana’s “Doing Business” global ranking from 118 in 2019 to be in top-100 by 2023; to be among the top-5 in Africa; and the number 1 in ECOWAS.

The Ghana Economic Transformation Project (GETP), supported by the World Bank with a US$200 million credit, as well as joint programmes with other partners such as U.K. (DfID), contain specific interventions for pursuing our objectives. These include:

1. Accelerating business regulatory reforms (BRR) led by the Ministry for Trade and Industry (MOTI) and also including digitization of operations at the Registrar General Department, and of licensing processes at the GIPC, Ghana Free Zones Authority, Ghana Standards Authority, etc.
2. Rationalizing the several government institutions and programmes that support SMEs under a single strong umbrella institution (i.e. NBSSI) to be called ENTERPRISE GHANA. The Bill pursuant to this will be presented to Parliament in 2020.
3. Building domestic regional industrial parks linked to our technical universities.
4. Implementing institutional reforms and capacity strengthening at the GIPC and GFZA.

Energy Sector Reforms

Although some actions have been taken in the initial phase of Government’s Energy Sector Recovery Programme (“ESRP”) that have reduced the estimated energy sector financial shortfall to some extent, if no further actions are taken, energy sector financial shortfalls could grow to more than US$8 billion by 2023. In addition, Ghana’s cost of electricity to businesses is estimated to be the second highest in the region.

Government will take urgent action to implement key energy sector reforms to enhance Ghana’s reputation as an attractive investment destination for private investors, diligently implementing the ESRP. Government has already been working on rationalizing commercial agreements in the energy sector with a view to overcoming the unsustainable excess supply situation that continues to pose a grave risk to the country’s fiscal health.  Government will also implement the following, in line with the ESRP

1. Establish effective and efficient governance and coordination between all relevant MDAs to implement energy sector reforms;
2. Improve financial and operational transparency and accountability and strengthen sector governance and technical capacity;
3. Implement the Cash Waterfall Mechanism and fund the annual sector shortfall through a “Delta Fund” to prevent further accumulation of arrears;
4. Rationalize commercial agreements with IPPs and gas suppliers (“GSs”) to establish a managed transition towards a balanced energy sector;
5. Create a standardized, sustainable framework for energy sector contracting with transparent and competitive procurement procedures;
6. Enhance the operational, technical, commercial and financial competency of the Electricity Company of Ghana (“ECG”); Shift the energy mix to gas and renewables; and Increase power exports.

Financing

Objectives

We are targeting around GH¢100 billion of spending and investment inflows from 2021 to 2023 to finance the priority initiatives and programmes under Ghana CARES Obaatanpa. The bulk of this—at least GH¢ 70 billion – is expected to come from the private sector, both domestic and external. Government will therefore be proactive in making Ghana an attractive place for private investments. Furthermore, Government will also do its part in financing CARES. We will, therefore implement radical reforms to increase public revenues and to increase the efficiency of public expenditure management

Current Realities

Ghana’s public finances will be constrained over the next 3 years. There is a high projected 2020 fiscal deficit, due to COVID-19. Revenue projections are down sharply. At the same time, public expenditures are up sharply, forced by the need for a timely response to COVID-19. From the 4.7 percent of GDP projected in the 2020 budget, the actual budget deficit is estimated to be 11.4 percent of GDP. The pressures created by COVID-19 are likely to remain in 2021 and 2022.

We face harsh realities that we must confront as a nation: a. The need for a serious fiscal consolidation in order to return as soon as possible to a fiscal deficit not exceeding 5% of GDP as required by law (i.e. Fiscal Rule). This means there will be limited fiscal space for new discretionary major expenditures and flagships;

1. The need to bring the debt-to-GDP ratio back down in a reasonably quick time to around 60% in order to maintain access to capital markets at affordable terms; and c. Consequently, the limited room for net borrowing for the budget and very limited scope for Government to provide guarantees or to cover the debts of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), particularly those in the energy sector.

Given the limited fiscal space of the Government, how then is the GH¢ 100 billion required by Ghana CARES over FY21-23 to be financed? It requires a mix of public and private sector financing sources, with the bulk coming from the private sector.

 Public Sector Financing of Ghana CARES

Public sector financing is expected to cover GH¢30 billion of Ghana CARES funding. It will be obtained primarily by improving tax revenue collection, narrowing the scope of tax exemptions, creating fiscal space by cleaning up the Budget, tight fiscal discipline, increased efficiency in public investment and procurement, and prioritizing external grant and concessional financing.

1. Improve tax revenue collections: Ghana’s tax-to-GDP ratio of 13% is below the average of its low middle-income peers, which is around 20%. To this end, Government has agreed with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) on an ambitious programme that aims to raise the tax-to-GDP ratio to 20 percent by 2023, focusing mainly on narrowing the scope of tax exemptions, base-broadening, and higher efficiency in tax administration rather than tax increases. Elements of the programme include the following:

•  Radical narrowing of the coverage of tax exemptions;
• Base-broadening: Widen and deepen existing revenue sources; harness untapped revenue sources; and minimise revenue leakages;
•  Improve customs operations and collection;

Improve domestic tax compliance: Increase tax-payer education; make it easier for taxpayers to file and pay; and strengthen enforcement, including investigation, intelligence, and prosecutions;

•  Leverage Technology: Automate and digitize processes for an end-to-end integrated tax system; and
• Enhanced administrative efficiency: Develop and build a performance-driven and motivated professional staff.
• Property taxes and rates. Government, working with selected metropolitan authorities will start implementation of property taxes in 2021, building on the pilots in 3 districts in the Northern Region (Tamale, Sagnarigu, and Buipe), conducted with the support of Surbana Jurong of Singapore.
• Strict commitment control in budget implementation enforcing strict commitment control. No expenditures outside the budget approved by Parliament will be allowed, and those that go against this rule will be sanctioned in accordance with the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (ACT 921).
• Introduce a rigorous and transparent public investment system, under which no unsolicited projects will be allowed, and procurement will be made more transparent to ensure value-for-money.
• Create fiscal space for growth by cleaning up the Budget. In 2021, a thorough review of the budget structure will be conducted with the view to dropping “dead/over-aged/no-longer relevant” projects in order to “cut our losses” and free up fiscal space for financing growth-promoting and transformational investments.
• Beyond government revenues, the preferred option for financing economic revitalization and transformation will be private finance that does not increase the public debt stock or contingent liabilities..  Consistent with the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda, government will also welcome grants from development partners that finance projects and programmes that are well aligned to its own priorities. For new net Government borrowing, the order of priority will be: long-term external concessional financing; bilateral export credit guarantees (with transparent terms); Green bonds; and as a last resort, commercial borrowing such as Eurobonds, which will be earmarked for identified growth-promoting projects.

Private Sector Financing of CARES

 FDI:

Government is targeting US$3 billion a year in FDI, of which about half would be in manufacturing and agribusiness projects. To this end, institutional reforms, and capacity strengthening will be made in GIPC and the Free-Zones Board, and they will be given clear targets, which will be monitored.

 PPPs:

With the benefit of the new PPP Law, government will target a minimum of US$3 billion in PPP investments, mainly in infrastructure, from 2021 to 2023. The Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) will be mandated to spearhead the effort and lead, on behalf of Government, in executing selected strategic projects..

Venture Capital and Private Equity Fund:

Government will work with a strategic partner to seed a venture and private equity fund—Ghana Century Fund—to support Ghanaian businesses. The initial target size is US$500 million – potentially to be denominated in local currency. Government and the strategic partner will each contribute seed capital of about US$50 million, with additional financing to be raised from sovereign wealth funds, other institutional investors, the Ghanaian diaspora, high-net-worth individuals, etc. This fund will provide medium to long term financing to support SMEs and large businesses which are poised to grow and generate jobs for Ghanaian youth.

Strategic partnerships:

Government will forge strategic long-term development relationships with carefully selected partners that either provide investment directly, help raise private investment or provide expertise and share experience. The targeted partnerships will include: multilateral development finance institutions, bilateral partners, sovereign wealth funds, foundations, and high-net-worth individuals.

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