Foreign Direct Investment Inflows in Ghana: Is There Any Political and Priority Influence in the Distribution among the Sectors and Regions of the Ghanaian Economy?

Political influence is taking certain vital role in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow operations on the account of economic growth and development on Ghana’s economy. To determine whether there has been any political and priority influence in the distribution of FDI registered projects over the past years, perceived strongholds of some regions in terms of presidential and parliamentary elections were considered. Using descriptive statistics approach which promotes the examination of the leverage of foreign direct investment in a quantitative mode based on the data collected from the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre between 2013 and 2017, it was realized that, these perceived strongholds of some regions received less or none of the registered projects through foreign direct investment. However, regions like the Upper East and Upper West, political strongholds of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) recorded no registered projects between 2012 and 2016 during the NDC’s term of governance reflecting less or no political influence in the distribution of the registered projects accumulated through FDI. It was also revealed that, the service sector has been receiving much of the FDI projects due to its greater percentage share contribution to Ghana’s gross domestic product (GDP). It is suggested that, FDI registered projects should not be centered in Greater Accra alone if the country needs a universal and equal development across the various regions.