High regulatory costs pushing Ghanaian youth from local investment - ILAPI

The Institute for Liberty and Policy Innovation (ILAPI) has raised concerns about the high cost of regulatory compliance, which is discouraging Ghana's youth from investing in the local economy, with many instead choosing to migrate through dangerous, irregular routes in search of opportunity.

According to the Executive Director of ILAPI, Peter Bismark Kwofie, many divert their capital to fund migration abroad in search of greener pastures, often resorting to dangerous and irregular routes to achieve better living conditions.

He explained that although young people can spend years saving up to $10,000, many hesitate to establish businesses in Ghana because regulatory requirements can consume nearly 30% of their start-up capital.

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Speaking in an interview with GhanaWeb Business, he noted that structural challenges confronting SMEs and start-ups are undermining the country's growth.

"Other generic challenges we identified include high regulatory compliance costs for SMEs, overlapping mandates among ministry departments and agencies, delayed licensing and permits affecting business and investors, limited use of regulatory impact assessment and new policies, inadequate stakeholder consultation, especially with MSMEs," he said.

He, however, stressed that these challenges also present opportunities for strategic reform.

Kwofie called for greater collaboration, harmonised systems, and seamless information-sharing among regulatory bodies to improve the business environment.

"Businesses should be the main means to fight poverty. Business-led jobs and jobs should not be attained by means of economic prosperity. We must scale up digital governance," he said.

He further warned that inefficiencies in the regulatory system are slowing investment inflows, weakening productivity, and limiting Ghana's ability to drive economic integration and global competitiveness.

"Digital system damage is a probability between regulatory agencies. These challenges weaken productivity, slow down investment flows, and undermine Ghana's ability to build a unified economy or drive global transformation. But these challenges also present opportunities to reform, to innovate, collaborate, and accelerate business," he stated.

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