In Ghana, electrification rates have gradually increased over the past 20 years, with power now reaching over 85% of the population. The country relies on a diversified energy mix and hosts the largest hydropower project in West Africa. Ghana continues to upgrade its electricity transmission and distribution systems with assistance from a range of international development partners, with the goal of becoming a regional exporter of power. Ghana previously had excess power capacity, but that excess is diminishing.
Oil and gas production creates opportunities for auxiliary services.
The mining sector, including gold, bauxite, manganese, diamonds, and salt is a major contributor to the Ghanaian economy. Goods and services exports in this sector represent a significant opportunity for U.S. companies. The Ghanaian government is strongly pursuing the expansion of local value-added processing.
The Ghanaian construction industry has proven to be resilient, especially commercial real estate, given Ghana’s strong population growth. Major construction activities include roads, highways and bridges, coastal works, and residential buildings. Developers’ ability to find appropriate financing is a key factor to success. Construction equipment, including re-conditioned equipment, is likely to continue to be a promising sub-sector.
ICT services and digital trade, fintech, healthcare, and education are also high growth sectors. Please see the dedicated sections below. Ghana has an important role to play in global supply chain resilience as a source of bauxite, manganese, and lithium. It also hosts a massive e-waste site with some private recycling that offers potential for e-waste recycling to obtain metals and critical minerals such as copper, nickel, indium, palladium, gallium, and tantalum.
African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)
Ghana is a member country of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement. The 54 countries participating in the AfCFTA – all countries on the African continent except for Eritrea – represent 1.3 billion people with an estimated combined GDP of $3.4 trillion. Traditionally, diverse geography and languages and the lack of interlinking transportation networks fractionalized these markets. By reducing barriers to trade and investment, the AfCFTA aims to integrate the signatories into a larger, more profitable regional market with greater economies of scale.
The United States is not a party to the AfCFTA agreement. However, many of the reforms envisioned in this landmark regional integration effort will improve overall conditions for trade and investment in Africa. Specifically, improved customs processes and procedures, the reduction of non-tariff barriers, more harmonized standards and certification procedures, and common rules for digital trade can ease the movement of goods, services, and digital trade in Africa. The AfCFTA Agreement phases out a web of 170 different intra-African Bilateral Investment Treaties by 2028 and creates a more harmonized framework for inward investment in AfCFTA member countries.
Member countries will revamp aspects of their current inward investment legislation as a result. Further, the anticipated growth in intra-African trade activity itself is expected to create commercial opportunities. This is the case in areas such as transport logistics, express shipping, international payments, fintech solutions, and eCommerce marketplaces. International companies are already developing AfCFTA strategies to take advantage of reduced barriers and market integration. They are monitoring changes to laws and regulations, especially those affecting investment and digital trade.
Scope of Coverage: The AfCFTA Agreement covers the following trade policy areas: trade in manufactured and agricultural goods, trade in services, dispute settlement, export taxes, competition policy, antidumping and countervailing measures, state trading enterprises, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, movement of capital, intellectual property rights, investment, digital trade, and women and youth. So far, the agreement does not cover government procurement, labor, environment, state aid, or free movement of people.
Tariffs: U.S. exporters to Africa will still face Most Favored Nation tariff rates for their exports to individual African countries. AfCFTA member countries started reducing tariffs on their trade with one another in 2021 on a progressive basis. Some of these tariff cuts are well advanced, and in other cases, member countries’ commitments allow them to stage tariff cuts to zero by 2033 (each country is allowed to exclude 3% of lines). Actual trading under the AfCFTA started in 2022 by select countries that had finalized their tariff schedules. The specific tariff staging and associated rules of origin for individual goods can be found in the AfCFTA eTariff Book.
Investors and economic operators that grow, mine, or produce goods in member countries of the AfCFTA and that meet the product-specific rules of origin under the Goods Protocol should be able to take advantage of tariff preferences when exporting those goods to other AfCFTA markets. Companies can submit specific questions to the AfCFTA Secretariat in Accra at customs@au-afcfta.org for help with interpreting the rules of origin and determining tariff treatment.
Services: Member countries of the AfCFTA are still finalizing the negotiations and schedules of commitments for trade in services. These negotiations are focused initially on five areas: financial services, transport, communication (which covers many ICT services), business, and tourism. The AfCFTA Services Protocol will also address regulatory frameworks for the market access and national treatment provisions, further defining the outcomes. In 2025, international companies established in member countries should start to gain a better sense of how these outcomes could impact their business.
Conclusion: The AfCFTA Secretariat coordinates and facilitates the implementation of the AfCFTA Agreement among African states. It also engages stakeholders to promote the AfCFTA and undertakes trade and investment promotion activities to enhance intra-African trade, among other duties. It can be challenging for individual companies to track the specific status of AfCFTA negotiations and the implementation by AfCFTA member countries of the trade obligations in individual protocols. Member countries are ratifying specific protocols on individual timelines, and they may have different entry into force timelines for different protocols. Companies can follow business actionable developments at the Commercial Service’s AfCFTA Resources Page.