Economy

Since assuming power in January 2017, the administration of President Nana Akufo-Addo has sought to move swiftly to restart the Ghanaian economy after a period of sluggish growth. As with many West African countries, local industry is strongly correlated with global commodities. Oil, gold and cocoa provide the three main sources of foreign...

According to Article 40 of its 1992 constitution, Ghana’s foreign policy is underpinned by a commitment not only to protecting the country’s interests, but also to establishing a just and equitable economic, political and social order more widely. This includes promoting the settlement of international disputes through peaceful norms and...

Generally, 2017 was a challenging year for Ghana’s accountants. In February Ken Ofori-Atta, the minister of finance, announced that over three years of off-the-books spending by the previous government had opened a GHS7bn ($1.7bn) hole in the budget, revealing the next day that the figures could be even higher.

When Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman laid out Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 in April 2016, he proposed reducing the country’s dependence on oil revenues by modernising the economy and creating a more moderate society. While the full economic impact of the plan will take a few years to be felt in the country, a series of bold moves to loosen...

The number of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) operating in the GCC has grown significantly in the last decade. The value of these SWFs – created to invest and manage the huge sums flowing into the region from hydrocarbons sales – stood at $2.9trn in March 2017, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute (SWFI), reflecting 38.5% of the...

Home to an estimated 15.7% of the world’s proven oil reserves and the single largest economy in MENA, Saudi Arabia is a key player not only in the region, but also globally. Since its establishment in September 1932, the Kingdom has poured its considerable resources into a series of large-scale economic development, diversification and...