FLASHBACK: Here's what foreign investors consider before investing in Ghana

When Ghana's inflation rates started shooting up, there were concerns over how this could affect the investment climate.

A serial entrepreneur, Shakemore Timburwa, explained what it takes for investors to make the decision to invest in Ghana.

Read the full story originally published on March 28, 2022, by GhanaWeb

Many times, you hear people say that the continuous depreciation of the local currency, the Cedi, will scare away foreign investors.

This explains the term low investor confidence where the investor is unwilling to engage in investment opportunities in the country for fear of losing both principal and money they may accrue as returns on their initial deposit.

Aside from inflation [general increase in prices], investors look out for some other factors in the local economy before pumping their monies into it.

A serial entrepreneur, Shakemore Timburwa, in an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb noted that the striking thing most investors consider is the safety of their investments in the country.

Investors, he also said, want their monies in safe political and economic environments.

Political environments, in that, no political party can terminate a contract of an investor due to partisan politics because the investor, is an independent person in business with government.

The serial entrepreneur told GhanaWeb's Ernestina Serwaa Asante in the exclusive interview, "The first thing is to look for the safety of my investment. Am I going to return from the investment I am injecting within the economy? As long as that question is not answered correctly, whereby I don't feel safe to say I am injecting my money into the economy and then there's rumours sufficient times for me to return the investment, I will never come."

"But once I feel the safety of the political, economic environments and inflation rate within the country, then I can be confident as an investor," he added.

Mr Timburwa stressed that, "Every country suffers from inflation, depreciation and value addition of their currency. When you are looking at these as an investor, the issue is not really about inflation. Yes, it plays a critical role. If I feel safe, even if the inflation is high and I can do my project, It's okay."

Meanwhile, government on Thursday, March 24, 2022, injected US$2billion into the economy to stabilize the Cedi.

A Cedi is trading against the Dollar, at a buying price of GH¢7.95 and selling at GH¢8.25 pesewas.