Why Ghana’s business environment for 2010 will be stable

The business environment in Ghana is expected to be stable in 2010, a report by a research firm, Companies and Markets has said.

The first quarter report on Ghana says the economy will be stable and there will be GDP growth based on some factors, despite investor discomfort following the call by the government for renegotiation of the Ghana Telecom deal with Vodafone and the halting of the sale of Kosmos Energy’s stake in the Jubilee oil field to ExxonMobil.

An official of Companies and Markets, Mike King responded to ghanabusinessnews.com enquiries by email.

He said “we forecast GDP by expenditure, with the following components taken into consideration:  Private consumption – including the impact of remittances and high local lending rates.”

He added that the study looked at private investment – including prospects for investment into the nascent oil industry.

On government spending – the study considered the impact of the government’s fiscal restraint post-2008; Inventories; Exports – including cocoa, gold and oil and imports – including oil and capital imports.

On how the commercial production of oil will move Ghana’s GDP growth to double-digit he said, “the GDP is the value of all the goods and services produced in a country. Since Ghana will begin producing significantly more goods in 2011 than in 2010 due to the onset of domestic oil production, the growth of GDP will accelerate into the double digits.”

“Furthermore,” he said “the oil revenues earned will create a multiplier effect in the economy: the funds will circulate through the domestic banking system, boosting liquidity; they will also enable the authorities to raise spending.”

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi