The Report: Ghana 2022
As Africa’s largest gold miner and the world’s second-largest cocoa producer, Ghana has witnessed steady growth in recent years. While the country was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, it navigated the crisis better than many of its income-level peers, in large part thanks to measures aimed at boosting public revenue. Ghana aims to improve its fiscal deficit in 2022 to 7.4% of GDP.
Country Profile
With its tropical climate and overall low elevation due to the Volta Basin covering almost half of the country’s land area, Ghana has vast cocoa and gold resources. Its population is diverse, with a total of 75 ethnicities dispersed around the country due to increasing levels of human mobility. Ghana has witnessed robust urbanisation in recent years, with 58% of the population living in cities. It has overcome historical challenges to create a stable political and economic environment. For instance, its capital, Accra, hosts the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat and seeks to become one of Africa’s largest centres for financial services.
This chapter contains interviews with Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana; and Siri Walt, Head of Sub-Saharan Division, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland.
Explore chapterEconomy
In the years preceding the pandemic, Ghana recorded robust GDP growth, which jumped from 2.1% in 2015 to a high of 8.1% in 2017 at constant 2013 prices. Responsibility for the economy ultimately belongs to the government, and the country’s economic health in the coming years depends greatly on its ability to implement further fiscal consolidation. While Ghana weathered the Covid-19 pandemic better than many of its regional and income-level peers, this did not come without a cost. For instance, labour earnings fell during 2020-21 as many businesses closed. However, recent developments, such as campaigns to secure more foreign direct investment, bode well for the longer-term economic growth of Ghana.
This chapter contains interviews with Yofi Grant, CEO, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre; Humphrey Ayim-Darke, President, Association of Ghana Industries; and Michael Oquaye Jr, CEO, Ghana Free Zones Authority.
Banking
Moves prior to the Covid-19 pandemic to shore up the banking sector proved prescient, as they put local institutions in an advantageous position to face the unique challenges posed by the health crisis. After a sector clean-up, both assets and deposits rose as asset quality improved, and higher minimum capital requirements ensured that banks were more resilient to shocks. This positive trend continued into the pandemic, bolstered by digitalisation initiatives aimed at both improving service provision for existing customers and attracting the previously under- and unbanked. While the sector is concentrated, with the top-five banks accounting for nearly half of total deposits in the country, the introduction of new technologies and products is expected to foster diversification as new players disrupt the sector. This chapter contains interviews with Ernest Addison, Governor, Bank of Ghana; and Abena Osei-Poku, Managing Director, Absa Bank Ghana.
Explore chapterCapital Markets
The authorities have worked in recent years to increase the depth and breadth of the country’s capital markets, introducing fixed-income, commodity and small business-focused exchanges. Although trading activity was suppressed in 2020, as investors shifted from equities to comparatively lower-risk options such as government bonds, it experienced a healthy rebound in 2021 as the wider economy entered the recovery stage. The sector faces several challenges – including low equities trading, a lack of awareness among the public about the benefits of capital market investment and constrained innovation. However, the government is working on outreach and education initiatives, and introducing new products to bolster participation. This chapter contains interviews with Ekow Afedzie, Managing Director, Ghana Stock Exchange; and Kwabena Boamah, Managing Director, Stanbic Investment Management Services.
Explore chapterInsurance
Ghana is well positioned to develop its insurance sector. According to a 2021 survey conducted by the UN Development Programme, around 70% of Ghanaians do not have access to insurance of any kind, and many of the products available in the market do not respond to the needs of the population. Even so, the sector’s value grew 10-fold between 2011 and 2021. The market has been able to expand its breadth through the introduction of micro-insurance and the digitalisation of services. Moreover, the authorities have worked to overhaul insurance-related legislation through the Insurance Act 2021, which aims to modernise the sector and increase penetration. Much depends on the rollout of reforms implemented in recent years, as well as the sector’s ability to adapt to Ghanaians’ specific needs. This chapter contains an interview with Justice Yaw Ofori, Commissioner, National Insurance Commission.
Explore chapterEnergy & Utilities
International oil and gas prices dropped dramatically in early 2020 when countries around the world, including Ghana, enacted measures to curb the spread of Covid-19. Rising oil prices continued into early 2022, engendered in part by geopolitical tensions involving some of the world’s largest producers. The turbulent context poses challenges for Ghana’s hydrocarbons sector, which is still in its infancy. But amid the uncertainty, Ghana looked set to embark on cautious progress. Indeed, prices rebounded in 2021 as economic activity gradually returned to normal. Moreover, the government has set out to transform the country into a regional refining centre, with feasibility studies on the Petroleum Centre Infrastructure Master Plan scheduled for 2022. Ghana is also gearing up to deliver more sustainable energy over the long term, in accordance with goals outlined at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference. This chapter contains an interview with Rahul Dhir, CEO, Tullow Oil.
Explore chapterMining
Mining is a key component of Ghana’s national economy; the country is Africa’s largest gold producer. The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the mineral’s prominent role, as gold is seen as a safe investment during uncertain times. While the mining sector faces challenges in terms of modernising practices, diversification efforts are forging ahead. Industrial minerals including bauxite and manganese have received significant amounts of foreign investment in recent years. Despite uncertainty over the trajectory of the pandemic, there is widespread hope that 2022 and 2023 will see mining activity pick up, with both supply and demand increasing as the world moves towards a recovery. In particular, demand from countries such as China is likely to keep rising in the years ahead, further supporting expansion. This chapter contains an interview with Douglas MacQuarrie, President and CEO, Asante Gold.
Explore chapterAgriculture
With an estimated 44.7% of the workforce employed in the agriculture sector, farming, forestry and fisheries are not only central activities to Ghana’s economy but are key components of society. However, the strengthening of the sector was brought into stark relief by the Covid-19 pandemic, during which local food prices increased in some parts of the country. While the country is a key producer of cocoa, the development of value-added activities related to processing agricultural commodities remains nascent. Other challenges include climate change, deforestation, lack of mechanisation and the difficulty smallholder farmers to reach economies of scale. Overall, performance in the next few years strongly depends on the ability to create new methods for financing within the sector.
Industry & Retail
Industry has been a significant source of economic growth for Ghana in recent years, a trend that continued despite the Covid-19 pandemic. While in the past industrial development has been tied to resource endowments such as cocoa, mining and crude oil, diversification of the industrial sector has been a priority of the government since 2017, with a series of fiscal measures aimed at tackling structural challenges. Similarly, Ghana’s retail sector has expanded in recent years, bolstered by rising living standards and lower levels of unemployment. This trend continued into 2021, despite a modest slowdown in response to the pandemic when social-distancing measures resulted in falling foot traffic in shopping venues. Overall, the continued expansion of e-commerce has the potential to support the country’s long-term economic recovery.
This chapter contains interviews with Hayssam Fakhry, Managing Director, Interplast; and Ramesh Sadhwani, Co-CEO, Melcom.
ICT
Ghana’s ICT sector has proven to be one of the country’s fastest-growing industries in recent years, with key market players offering more innovative products as data traffic surged amid the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Indeed, the sector had increased its contribution to GDP from $900m, or 2.3% of the total, in 2014, to $1.7bn and 3.6%, respectively, in 2017. The expansion of telecoms services has fuelled innovation and investment in ICT subsectors such as software, application platform development and mobile money. Looking ahead, policy efforts are likely to bolster growth due to the strategic importance of ICT in digital and industrial development plans. For instance, the $212m e-Transform Ghana Project, supported by the Word Bank, has provided funding and increased access to digital technologies, and strengthened instructional capacity. This chapter contains an interview with Selorm Adadevoh, CEO, MTN Ghana.
Explore chapterConstruction & Real Estate
The construction sector has the potential to drive Ghana’s GDP growth for years to come. Indeed, it contributed an annual average of 7.5% to GDP between 2013 and 2020. However, this could be impaired in the short term due to the pandemic’s negative impacts on already declining global commodity prices. Nonetheless, the country’s political stability and the activation of the African Continental Free Trade Area make construction projects in Ghana an attractive proposition for investors moving forwards. In a similar vein, the country’s real estate sector has also experienced robust growth since 2018, thanks to higher transaction volumes. While sector growth has been facilitated by initiatives to address serious social issues ¬¬such as a lack of accessible housing finance options, the Covid-19 pandemic underscored the need for more reactive government interventions. This chapter contains interviews with Joseph Aidoo, Executive Director, Devtraco Group; and Kiran Daswani, CEO, The Greens.
Explore chapterTransport & Infrastructure
Ghana’s transport infrastructure has undergone significant upgrades over the course of recent years, boosting the country’s logistics, tourism and industrial capacity. Continued expansion of the industrial sector is a cornerstone of the government’s plans to revamp the economy to make it less dependent on commodities and tax revenue. Inadequate rural-urban connectivity and insufficient urban transport remain major hindrances to broader economic growth, but the government’s concerted efforts to remedy the underlying issues could see the transport sector become a key component in attracting greater inflows of foreign direct investment. Looking ahead, improved connectivity for rural areas is also high on the government’s transport agenda, as the authorities have identified the need for more bridges to connect rural villages and towns with the main arteries. This chapter contains an interview with Miishe Addy, Co-founder and CEO, Jetstream Africa.
Explore chapterTourism
As the third-largest contributor to GDP and a recipient of increasing levels of foreign investment each year, tourism is an important driver of economic growth in Ghana. International arrivals reached 411,000 in the first nine months of 2021, outpacing the 355,000 arrivals seen in 2020 – hinting at a recovery from the pandemic. The country also has the potential to boost its domestic tourism – as well as to develop niche tourism segments such as surfing and other water sports – by leveraging interest in its more well-known historical sites, national parks and wildlife reserves. Taken together, these efforts are expected to help the West African county attract a diverse demographic of visitors in the coming years. This chapter contains an interview with Akwasi Agyeman, CEO, Ghana Tourism Authority.
Explore chapterHealth & Education
Ghana’s health sector has made significant progress over the last two decades, with access and insurance coverage growing since the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed some long-standing weaknesses in the system, most notably the lack of hospitals and larger medical centres outside big cities. But the pandemic also pushed Ghana to forge ahead with digitalisation efforts, improving online access to medical services and digitalising records. Digitalisation is also on the rise in the education sector, notably with the government’s Education Strategic Plan 2018-30, supported by high public spending on education. Greater oversight and reporting by new government institutions and accreditation boards are expected to improve the quality of schooling at all levels, as well as support crucial areas such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This chapter contains an interview with Delese Mimi Darko, CEO, Food and Drugs Authority.
Explore chapterTax
In conjunction with PwC, this chapter explores the taxation system and Ghana’s efforts to build an investor-friendly environment. It also contains an interview with Vish Ashiagbor, Country Senior Partner, PwC Ghana.
Explore chapterLegal Framework
This chapter introduces the reader to the different aspects of the legal system in Ghana in partnership with B&P Associates. It also contains a viewpoint with Adelaide Benneh Prempeh, Founder, B&P Associates.
Explore chapterThe Guide
This chapter contains selected listings of some of the country’s top hotels, contact details for embassies, ministries and organisations, helpful tips for business and leisure travellers and other useful suggestions for travel to Ghana.
Explore chapterTable of contents
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Siri Walt, Head of Sub-Saharan Division, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland
Yofi Grant, CEO, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre
Humphrey Ayim-Darke, President, Association of Ghana Industries (AGI)
Michael Oquaye Jr, CEO, Ghana Free Zones Authority
Ernest Addison, Governor, Bank of Ghana (BoG)
Justice Yaw Ofori, Commissioner, National Insurance Commission
How can Ghana create a more business-friendly environment?
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