Do more to improve business environment – US Ambassador to government

The US Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia Palmer, wants the government to do more to improve the business environment in Ghana.

Speaking at the American Chamber of Commerce Ghana (AmCham) Thanksgiving Dinner and Awards Night over the weekend, she said the USA will continue to remain one of Ghana’s biggest and best business partners in Africa.

Mrs. Palmer mentioned that American businesses are extremely interested in trade and investments with Ghana.

She therefore urged the government to bring the cost of doing business in Ghana down.

“Ghana absolutely has the African Diaspora’s community attention. As our global diversity trade mission for Ghana in August [2023] showed, the African Diaspora is ready to do business in Ghana. However, macroeconomic stability and trade investment policies matter to the diaspora just as they do to all business communities in the world”.

“Diaspora investors know if others are not getting paid and they know if there’s a lack of contract certainty or if there’s overly aggressive tax collection”, she added.

To even existing investors, Virginia Plamer, said they want the government to tangibly improve the existing business climate and “unnecessary barriers to entering partnerships such as the high minimum threshold for investments.”

“We have terrific medium and small-scale enterprises on both sides of the Atlantic that could be partnering on creating new ventures. For Ghanaian companies facing high interest rates, an investment infusion of even $50,000 could be transformational but when we talk about lowering trade barriers, we also need to talk about treating people fairly and ensuring that your employees are safe and protected from legalized discrimination” she added.