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The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre registered 399 projects with a total estimated value of GH�10.14 billion (US$5.63 billion) in 2012, Mrs Mawuena Trebarh, Acting Chief Executive of the Centre said on Wednesday. The projects registered represented a decline of 22.37 per cent from the 514 projects with a value of US$7.68 billion in the corresponding period of 2011. Mrs Trebarh, however, said the appreciable levels of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) recorded though 2012 was an election year was a reflection of investors� confidence in the economy. She said the initial capital transfers for the registered projects in 2012 was GH�178.95 million and the FDI component of the estimated value of registered projects amounted to GH�8.83 billion with the local currency component amounting to GH�1.31 billion. The total number of jobs expected to be created from registered projects sums up to 24,562, she added. A total of 71 wholly-owned Ghanaian projects were registered in 2012 with a total estimated value of US$7.99 billion. China with 56 projects, topped the list of countries with the highest number of registered projects within the year 2012. Lebanon, however, ranked first in the list of countries with the largest FDI value, amounting to US$1.49 billion. Meanwhile, the GIPC registered 94 new projects in the fourth quarter of 2012, out of which 63 were wholly-owned foreign enterprises valued at GH�1.05 billion. The remaining 31 were joint ventures between Ghanaians and foreign partners valued at GH�132.97 million. Most of the projects registered were in the services sector, general trading, building and construction and manufacturing, among others.