Register local businesses with the GIPC – George Aboagye

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mr Goerge Aboagye, has called on local companies to register their businesses with the centre to enable them to enjoy the same incentives as their foreign competitors.
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Speaking at the launch of the 2011 Ghana Club 100 in Accra, he said “there is no discrimination when it comes to the benefits of registering businesses with the centre; Local or foreign, they enjoy the same incentives so come and register”.

At the heavily attended event, Produce Buying Company (PBC) became one of the few companies to retain its title as the best company in the country.

PBC was adjudged the second largest company in the country as well as the Leader in the Services Sector Ranking.

New entrants, rlg Communications, was a adjudged the second best company in the country, a feat many at the programme anticipated because of the fast growth of the company in the last few years.

Rlg was also mentioned as the first among the three fastest growing companies in the country while it also came tops as the best entrant company to the prestigious club.
Enterprise Life Assurance Company (ELAC) also pulled a surprise to become the third best company within the club.

Abosso Goldfields Limited emerged the fourth best company in the club after it had been mentioned as the second best taxpayer in the country.
Ghana Home Loans; Kasapreko Company Limited and Goldfields Ghana Limited came fifth, sixth and seventh respectively in the ranking.

GCNet Services Limited; Auto Plaza Limited and UT Bank Limited finished at the eighth, ninth and tenth position to complete the best 10 companies among the country’s best 100.
On the day, rural banks again show a lot of strength as they demonstrated good corporate governance, growth, profit and sustainability, a move which made them to outperform many of the big financial institutions, particularly the banks, in the country.

Local business owners have at many for a complained about their inability to access a package of incentives that their foreign competitors enjoy, thereby making the cost of imports and operations expensive.

According to them, in the long run, their products become more expensive as compared to their foreign counterparts.

But Mr Aboagye allayed their fears by asking them to open up and register their businesses with the GIPC.

“If they do so, they will enjoy tax relieves, exemptions among others”, he said adding that the law is explicit on the issue and, therefore, there was no cause for alarm.
He said the centre will also intensify its investment promotion to attract more businesses to invest in the country.

Mr Aboagye said by the end of the second quarter, the GIPC has registered up to GhC5.5 billion as compared to the same period in 2009 which recorded about GhC 350 million.
Of the amount, he said the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) component was GhC4.5 billion.

The occasion was also used to launch ‘The Report: Ghana 2012’, an Oxford Business Group’s second annual review of the Ghanaian economy, a culmination of eight months of in-country research conducted by a team of analysts based in Accra.

According to The Report, “Ghana’s economy is enjoying robust medium-term outlook but it will need to address weaknesses if that growth is to be sustained”.