Ghana is renowned for its production of natural resources like gold, cocoa, bauxite, and manganese. However, these resources have not been fully utilized for the benefit of Ghanaians.
Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Yofi Grant, has questioned why Ghana has not yet produced billionaires despite being endowed with these natural resources.
Speaking at the Ghana Club 100 CEO’s Breakfast Meeting in Accra on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, he emphasized that although the country has attracted Foreign Direct Investments, more efforts are needed to create billionaires.
“This is the time we should be looking at building billionaires. It sometimes break my heart to think that Ghana has been a major exporter of gold, almost close to`100 years and a number one producer of gold on the African continent but we haven’t produced one billionaire out of our gold,” he said.
Yofi Grant also pointed out that, “Ghana is the second largest producer of cocoa in the world, we haven’t produced one billionaire out of cocoa. We are one of the largest producers of bauxite, we haven’t produced one indigenous billionaire out of bauxite. That just tells us that notwithstanding all the positive we say, we still have not yet achieved what we ought to achieve.”
In 2023, gold was Ghana’s primary export, generating $7.6 billion in revenue from merchandise exports, as announced by the Bank of Ghana.
During the Monetary Policy Committee meeting on January 29, 2024, the central bank reported a 4.9% decline in merchandise exports to $16.6 billion.
However, gold exports increased by 15% to $7.6 billion due to both volume and price increases, making gold the country’s top foreign currency earner.
ghanaweb.com