Gov’t launches GamCIF to remove barriers to economic growth

The GamCIF is a public-private platform established under The Gambia Investment and Export Promotion Agency Act 2015 (part X, Section78).

Ousainou Senghore, Chief Executive Officer of The Gambia Investment and Export Promotion Agency (GIEPA)said the GamCIF intends to encourage holistic investigative measures to remove barriers to economic growth in The Gambia by promoting and facilitating investment in the productive sector, particularly, Agricultural Value Chain (for Maize, Cashew, Horticulture, Rice & Poultry.)

He added that the GamCIF will help the business community to create an avenue for a more structured interchange between public-to-public, public-to-private, private-to-private, and civil society; with the overall aim of harnessing a viable friendly business environment by providing policy recommendations for economic reforms to promote sustainable growth for the economy and showcase a competitive investment environment.

Hon. Baboucarr O. Joof, Minister of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment, said the GamCIF is one of the most important mandates of GIEPA and the most thought-provoking legal platform meant to address challenges between the Government and private sector players committed to improving the country’s business environment.

He added that GIEPA and part of Gambia’s future prosperity will in part depend on how well they can adapt to the challenging strategic circumstances they face in the business environment and likewise, their ability to navigate those strategic challenges will in part be shaped by the extent to which they try to achieve the goals of the GamCIF.

One of the functions of GamCIF is to encourage measures to remove barriers to economic growth in The Gambia: such as high industrial electricity costs, streamlining taxes, and simplification of the tax regime and land for investment.

Hon. Hamat Bah, Minister for Tourism and Culture, said the system of investment in The Gambia is difficult. “We should not compete against each other but rather support each other,” he said.

Hon. Bah added that people have to change their mindset about the way they see the government. “We cannot exist without the business community because if the businesses do not grow, they will not pay tax,” he opined.

‘The mentality of bureaucracy does not work when you want development,’ Tourism Minister also said.