Ghana is a reliable gateway for international investment into the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), President John Dramani Mahama has stated, and expressed the need for stronger South-South cooperation with Singapore in a fragmented world.
Addressing a gathering of ministers, trade officials and corporate leaders at the 8th Africa-Singapore Business Forum yesterday, President Mahama declared Africa as fundamentally "investable" and called for deeper partnerships to harness the potential of the world's two youngest and fastest-urbanising regions.
The forum was President Mahama’s first official engagement at the start of his three-day state visit to the Southeast Asian nation.
With the global economy facing fragmentation, President Mahama argued that Africa and Asia complemented each other by their respective resources, markets and expertise, and must become "champions of open markets, trusted rules and practical partnerships that deliver jobs, technology transfer and shared prosperity."
He, however, cautioned that the "death knell of multilateralism is sounding," necessitating new alliances, especially amid tight global financial conditions.
Fundamentals
Citing compelling fundamentals, the President outlined Africa's immense potential, anchored by a young, digitally connected population of 1.4 billion people, and a single market worth $3.4 trillion under the AfCFTA, for which Ghana hosts the Secretariat.
"Africa is investable, and Ghana is your reliable gateway to the continent," President Mahama said in a presentation which was met with keen interest from the business forum, setting the stage for deeper economic engagements between the two countries.
The President stated that trade between Africa and Singapore had grown significantly, climbing nearly 50 per cent between 2020 and 2024, to approximately $14 billion.
Specifically, trade between Ghana and Singapore reached over $215 million in 2024, with 69 Singaporean companies registered in Ghana, representing cumulative investments exceeding $2 billion.
"Ghana is, therefore, a trusted entry point to scale across the continent," President Mahama said, highlighting the country's access to over 400 million consumers through the ECOWAS bloc.
Open for business
To sharpen the country's competitiveness, President Mahama detailed a raft of domestic reforms and flagship initiatives designed to absorb more capital under a national strategy he termed "Ghana is open for business, 24 hours a day."
The strategy aims to align infrastructure, incentives, and skills to enable round-the-clock operations in factories, farms, ports and service centres.
The President also outlined his administration's four integrated pillars for economic transformation: Grow24 (large-scale irrigation for year-round farming), Make24 (agro-industrial parks for manufacturing), Show24 (tourism development), and Connect24 (leveraging Lake Volta for inland transport to cut logistics costs).
President Mahama assured the investor community of an improving macroeconomic landscape, indicating that inflation was easing, the cedi had stabilised, and credit ratings were improving.
He further pointed to the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre's (GIPC) new sector-specific opportunity maps as a tool to guide investment decisions with credible data.
Financial architecture reform
As the African Union Champion on Financial Institutions, President Mahama used the platform to press for reforms to the global financial architecture.
He highlighted an annual African financing gap of about $1.3 trillion, encompassing critical infrastructure needs and a significant climate-finance shortfall.
He cast Singapore as an essential catalytic partner for Africa, particularly in finance, logistics and technology, praising its excellence in project preparation, blended finance and risk management.
President Mahama summed up Ghana's value proposition as "a stable, reform-minded country, connected to the AfCFTA, designed for scale," and a partner that values "integrity, predictability and long-term relationships."
Background
With the President are the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa; the Advisor and Special Aide to the President, Joyce Bawah Mogtari; the Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, and the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu.
Other members of the delegation are the Presidential Spokesperson and Minister of State for Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu; the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, Simon Madjie; and the CEO of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority, Francis Kwarteng Arthur.
