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Ghana’s wealth and potential of hydrocarbons resources have helped it leverage a spike in headline GDP growth and inbound investment. However, in recent years the economy has suffered alongside other oil-producing nations, as global prices have declined in tandem with reduced demand. With continued exploration and new projects coming on-line, the country has its eyes on increased oil production for local use and export to jump-start the economy. Accra remains an attractive base of operations for international oil and gas companies given its affordability, security and accessibility. Ghana’s energy consumption continues to expand, underlining the urgency of boosting generation capacity and access to power. This chapter includes interviews with Jonathan Amoako-Baah, CEO, Ghana Grid Company; and Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa, Acting CEO, Volta River Authority.

The Ghanaian insurance industry has experienced a decade of rapid growth, and the proliferation of private companies and brokers. Government efforts to strengthen the financial sector and new leadership at the National Insurance Commission, the industry regulator, contributed to rising optimism in late 2017. The regulator and the government are aiming to increase insurance penetration to 10% of GDP. The growth of new business lines such as bancassurance, micro-insurance and mobile insurance should help bring this target into reach, although there is still ample progress to be made. This chapter contains interviews with Justice Yaw Ofori, Commissioner, National Insurance Commission; and Aaron Issa Anafure, Former CEO, SIC Life Insurance.

The Ghanaian capital markets showed promising signs of a steady recovery over the course of 2017, as the country saw an improvement in key macroeconomic indicators. Moreover, a return to strong growth, along with the steady issuance of new government bonds, has provided a boost to the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE). The country’s capital markets are benefitting from a wide range of reforms, including to pensions, which swill help loosen domestic capital and improve liquidity, listings and trading. As the country begins a new cycle of growth and investment, the GSE is likely to play an increasingly important role in financing domestic development. The chapter contains an interview with Kofi Yamoah, Managing Director, Ghana Stock Exchange; and a viewpoint from Roger Adjovu, General Manager, Liberty Capital.

Since the late 1980s Ghanaian banks have increased in stature and number, and for much of the last decade they have enjoyed strong growth rates and large profit margins. The country’s lenders have maintained their stability, avoiding the domestic crises that have befallen some of their emerging and frontier market peers, and sidestepping much of the fallout from the global financial crisis. The tripling of minimum capital requirements by the central bank should help increase credit flow by encouraging small local banks to consolidate, resulting in bigger banks with the capital and capacity needed to clean up loan books, and steer more credit to the private sector. This will also enable institutions to finance larger and more capital-intensive projects. The chapter contains interviews with Ernest Addison, Governor, Bank of Ghana; and Archie Hesse, CEO, Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems.

As in many West African countries, Ghana’s economy is strongly correlated with global commodities. Oil, gold and cocoa are the three main sources of foreign currency and income; however, price swings over 2015 and 2016 for these three resources, a strengthening US dollar, as well as domestic issues such as fiscal slippage, growing debt and mounting inflation have combined to slow the pace of development, leading to a depreciating currency and a budget shortfall. Despite this, Ghana’s economic prospects for 2018 appear strong. Following a belt-tightening process, the government has both brought down the problematic fiscal deficit and channelled capital spending towards priority projects by capping budget transfers to statutory funds. The government also has plans to industrialise rural regions, improve the business environment, harness the financial sector and improve access to credit for private actors. This chapter contains interviews with Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of Finance; R Yofi Grant, CEO, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre; and Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank.