Government plans to review GIPC Act to encourage SMEs in retail sector

Ghanaian

Government is preparing to reassess the GIPC Act, which regulates foreign participation in the retail industry of the country.

The current law mandates that foreigners who want to participate in joint ventures must invest a sum of $200,000, while those who want to engage in retail business must provide $1 million as capital investment.

The Ranking Member

Read full articleof the Trade and Industry Committee of Parliament, Yusif Sulemana, during a meeting with the Ghana-Turkey Parliamentary Association, highlighted the challenges posed by the current requirements of the Act.

He emphasized the significant capital demand, which he said could hinder Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) from investing, particularly in sectors where technology transfer is crucial, such as IT.

“An SME coming in with $1 million is a huge sum of money, and that is the problem, especially in the IT sector. They don’t bring in capital; they bring in technology and help transfer the technology to our people. So, this has been tabled by the GIPC, and I think it is with the Finance Committee, and the Trade Committee is joining them for us to look at it to ensure we are able to make the regime a little bit flexible for SMEs to invest in our economy.”

The GIPC has proposed some amendments to the Act, which are currently under review by the Finance Committee with support from the Trade Committee. The aim is to ensure flexibility in the regime to encourage SMEs to contribute to the Ghanaian economy.

According to Sulemana, the proposed changes would allow for a more flexible regime that accommodates SMEs' needs to invest in the economy.