Ghanaian Minister of Business Development H E Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal
Qatar and Ghana are working to enhance cooperation in the field energy and mining, which may include establishing oil and gold refineries and other projects. Both the countries are working to sign more agreements to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation, which include singing agreements related to investment protection, and MoUs for cooperation in the field of oil and gas, agriculture, real estate and industrial mining, Ghanaian Minister of Business Development H E Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal (pictured) told The Peninsula in an exclusive interview, during his recent visit to Qatar.
“We had singed some MoUs with Qatar, including one with the the energy minister last year, and we are going to implement that from next year. We have broadened the framework, which include cooperation in the field of oil and gas and setting up refineries and other projects using the gas component as we are wasting so much of gas in Ghana. We are also looking to optimize and better utilise our resources which may also include producing fertilizers and some other products,” Minister Awal said.
He added: “Setting up refineries is the top priority, but we are also looking at some other projects to ensure the better utilization of our oil and gas and other resources such as cocoa, gold and other minerals. We have a lot of gold reserves but we need refineries to add value, which is a good opportunity for Qatari investors.”
We are working to accelerate the pace of industrialization in Ghana and the government is facilitating to provide land and other needful support, which include providing the right incentives and tax holidays. We are bringing the investors and private companies both from Ghana and Qatar together.” He noted that Qatar’s investment in Ghana is very limited but it is expected to witness signification jump in the coming years. And both sides are also working to engage the private sector and improving the business climate to expedite the pace of bilateral cooperation.
The minster also noted that Ghana has a lot of natural resources such as minerals and agricultural products, but need to add value to them. For instance Ghana is the second largest producer of cocoa but the country is looking to refine and add value.
Famous for its industrial minerals, Ghana is the 2nd largest producer of gold on the Africa continent behind South Africa. It is the world’s 7th largest producer of gold; producing over 102 tonnes of gold and the 10th largest producer of gold in the world (in 2012). Ghana has the 9th largest reserves, and is the 9th largest producer, of diamonds in the world.
“We are going to be number one again in terms of cocoa production by next year. The global market size for cocoa is about $120bn, but we get only little of it. If we add value and refine cocoa we can get big money and we can take care of cocoa farmers of Ghana,” Minister Awal.
He said that cooperation in the field of education can be another promising sector as about 60 percent of the nearly 30 million Ghanaians are below 30 who need good education and training. “The literacy rate in Ghana is very good but we need more institutions for education and training for the young population who can manage the economy very well.” He also said noted that agriculture can be yet another promising area for cooperation. Despite huge area of arable land Ghana is heavily depended on food imports, but trying to boost output.
“We spend over $5bn in importing rice and other food items. But we are working to become self-sufficient and growing fast. In 2019 we are expected to be the fastest growing economy in the world. And over the last three years we were among the best three. We need better quality of high-yielding seeds, fertilizers more tractors other equipment. So the opportunity is huge,” he added.
“We have a very stable government in Ghana, which has been giving priority to develop five key sectors, including agriculture, industry and infrastructure. We want to modernize our agriculture to boost production for domestic consumption as well as export. The Ghanaian economy with about $68bn GDP (nominal) is classified as a middle income country (with about 7,000 per capita income at $211bn PPP estimated 2019). Services account for 52 percent of GDP, followed by manufacturing (24.1 percent). Exports of goods and services account for 40 percent of GDP, while imports of goods and services account for 51 percent.
