The Chief Executive Officer of Crystal Capital and Investments Limited and partner of Africonomie Group, Mr Martin Ofori, has called for a more comprehensive Financial Sector Policy to help create long-term investment vehicles to propel the country’s economic growth.
In a prelude to discussions at the Ghana Pensions and Sovereign Funds Investment Forum which starts today, Mr Ofori told the media that Ghana’s economic development strategy along the supply-leading finance path continued to evolve.
Transitioning to a private sector-led growth economy requires substantial amount of investment, a robust financial system, resilient economy, among other things.
“With the recent boost from oil and its value chain, the size of the economy that will be influenced by direct government investment ideally should diminish proportionately,” he said, and explained, “For instance, in the area of infrastructure, statistics showed an already huge infrastructural gap.”
On a broader note, Mr Ofori said “the infrastructural development required to support the needed growth over the next 20 years will require even more significant growth in investment and consequently from private sources of capital on a much larger scale than previously”.
He said the financial system as it evolved in Ghana after independence was based on some perceived notion of credit scarcity to indigenous enterprises as a result of the colonial banking arrangements prevailing in the early 1950’s.
“This notion, as revealed later, was the key basic reason for the establishment of the Ghana Commercial Bank in 1953, and subsequently shaped the development of the indigenous banking system in Ghana until the financial reforms started in 1988,” he said.
The forum
The Ghana Pensions and Sovereign Funds Investment Forum (GPSFIF) organised by Africonomie will deliberate on some key issues and also explore best practices, among other things, on: New ideas on investing pensions and other institutional funds; Understanding of the benefits of Fiduciary Management; Appropriate allocation of risk within investment portfolios; Anticipation of potential threats; Regulatory trends; and Reducing volatility while ensuring sustained growth.
What participants stand to achieve
The forum’s specific emphasis is on helping capital owners, regulators, private equity firms, asset managers and other investment professionals to enhance their practical understanding of the opportunities and challenges of investing in Africa’s emerging markets.
