Purchase OBG Publications

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Moves prior to the Covid-19 pandemic to shore up the banking sector proved prescient, as it 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.