Doing business in Ghana Doing business in Ghana 2023

Ghana is the third largest U.S. export market for goods in Sub Saharan Africa. Beyond its traditional industries of agriculture, mining - and more recently, oil and gas production, Ghana’s digital, financial services, education, and franchising sectors are growing fast.

Provisional 2021 end-year national accounts statistics released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in April 2022 showed that, overall Real GDP for 2021 expanded by 5.4 percent year-on-year compared to 0.5 percent recorded in 2020 and a revised annual target of 5.1 percent. Non-oil GDP growth also increased to 6.9 percent year-on-year compared to a growth of 1.0 percent recorded in 2020, and a revised target of 7.0 percent.

According to the 2021 Annual Budget performance, Annual growth in private sector credit increased to 11.1 percent in December 2021 from 10.6 percent in the same period in 2020, reflecting gradual rebound in economic activities and the impact of regulatory measures implemented by the Bank of Ghana. In real terms, private sector credit, however, contracted by 1.3 percent in December 2021 compared to a marginal growth of 0.2 percent over the same comparative period in 2020. Despite the economic slowdown brought on by the pandemic, Ghana still managed to sustain a growth rate of 0.5 percent in 2020 and it bounced back with a growth of 5.4 percent in 2021. 

The government of Ghana is committed to implementing policies that reduce the general cost of doing business in Ghana and to promote investor confidence in the country. With a stable multi-party government that is committed to market liberalisation, Ghana has been ranked as one of the most attractive locations for doing business in Africa. Other factors that make Ghana a competitive investment destination include:

• A sound macroeconomic environment 
• Immediate access to all markets of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
•  100% foreign ownership is permitted 
• On-going privatisation in key economic sectors • On-going infrastructure development 
• Expanding stock market
•  Competitive labour force
•  Availability of skilled and trainable labour
•  Quota-Free access to USA & European Union markets
•  Export-free zones where goods traded with other countries are exempt from customs duties and some laws 
• Fast developing financial infrastructure 
• High degree of personal safety and 
• Warm and friendly people