The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has agreed to provide $200 million in financing to help open the logistics corridor linking the Volta Lake to northern Ghana, then to Burkina Faso and other Sahelian states.
Speaking on Monday (September 21, 2026) at the closing of the Accra Reset high-level event held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President John Dramani Mahama said the Managing Director of the IFC, Makhtar Diop, had informed him about the agreed financing shortly before he addressed the closing ceremony.
“He [Managing Director of the IFC, Makhtar Diop] broke the good news to me just when he sat next to me: $200 million of financing to open the logistics corridor to the Sahelian states,” President Mahama disclosed to the audience.
IFC to provide $200 million financing to open logistics corridor by linking Volta Lake to northern Ghana, Burkina Faso and other Sahelian states https://t.co/dTGFbR1ZAK pic.twitter.com/TKCwEp6c4D
— DailyGraphic GraphicOnline (@Graphicgh) September 22, 2026
The IFC Managing Director had earlier, in his submission during a panel discussion at the event, indicated that during an earlier meeting with President Mahama in Ghana last week on improving logistics in Ghana to be able to have more intra-Africa trade, it came up that the railway towards the Volta River was left with about 7 kilometres to get to the shore to be able to transport goods on the river.
He indicated that President Mahama had explained that some private investors were interested and ready to take up that project.
Mr Diop added that in his discussion with the said private investor, who happens to be a client of the IFC, it was explained that with $200 million financing, it will help extend the railway on the 7 remaining kilometres, connect electricity to the shore and also dredge the river, and then put three boats on the line and move goods up north.
IFC to provide $200 million financing to open logistics corridor by linking Volta Lake to northern Ghana, Burkina Faso and other Sahelian states https://t.co/dTGFbR1rLc pic.twitter.com/DTxaoefMtv
— DailyGraphic GraphicOnline (@Graphicgh) September 22, 2026
The Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Mr Wamkele Mene, told the same session that intra-African trade stood at between 15 and 20 per cent of the continent’s total trade.
He said the figure understated the level of trade because large volumes of informal cross-border trade went unrecorded.
Mr Mene cited $220 billion in recorded intra-African trade in 2024, adding that a sizeable share of the trade came from manufactured and value-added goods.
