The President Nana Akufo Addo has urged the private sector and investors in the United Arab Emirates to make Ghana their first priority when venturing into the Region for business.

Akufo Addo made this known on Tuesday, during his address to the UAE-Ghana Business Forum on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

Decsribing Ghana as the best place to do business in West Africa, the President stated that Government, since 2017, has put in place measures needed to reduce the cost of doing business, and improve the business environment.

According to the President, these measures “made the Ghanaian economy not only one of the most business-friendly economies in Africa, but also one of the fastest growing economies in the world between 2017 and 2020, averaging 7% GDP annual rates of growth, up from the 3.4% rate we inherited in 2016.”

With Government working to restore the nation onto the path of high growth rates experienced prior to the onset of COVID-19 and the Russian/Ukraine war, he told the gathering of Ghana’s decision to seek the collaboration of the IMF “to repair, in the short run, our public finances, and give credibility to our balance of payments, which have taken a severe hit in very recent times as a result of these developments.”

“I am confident that we will emerge from this with a stronger and more resilient economy, and advance towards our goal of reaching a Ghana Beyond Aid. Not only is Ghana the best place for doing business in West Africa, but she is also the preferred destination for a perfect blend of mineral resource potential, stable regulatory environment, favourable fiscal regime, and socially responsive mining in Africa,” he added.