“Ghana is Investable and Gateway to Africa”

Describing Ghana is a “reliable gateway” to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and Africa “investable,” Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday urged deeper South–South partnerships amid a more fragmented global economy.

Addressing the eighth Singapore Africa Busines Forum at Singapore, Mahama, who is on a three-day state visit to the city-state, said that he was in Singapore “to learn, to partner, and to deliver.

Framing Africa and Asia as the world’s “two youngest, fastest‑urbanising regions,” Mahama said the pair are complementary in resources, markets and know‑how, and should be champions of open markets, trusted rules and practical partnerships that deliver jobs, technology transfer and shared prosperity.”

President Mahama also warned that the death knell of multilateralism was sounding as tariffs proliferated and supply chains remain fragile, arguing that tighter global financial conditions demand new alliances.

He, however, insisted the fundamentals in Africa were compelling and they included a 1.4 billion population in the Continent which is young and digitally connected, a $3.4 trillion single market under the AfCFTA, and leadership in mobile money and fintech adoption.

Mahama said that trade ties btween Africa and Singapore have already taken roots and grew 50%, to nearly $14 billion between 2020 and 2024, with West Africa accounting for more than half. Ghana–Singapore trade reached more than $215 million in 2024, while 69 Singaporean companies are registered in Ghana with cumulative investments exceeding $2 billion.

Positioning Ghana as a continental launchpad, Mahama pointed to Accra’s role as host of the AfCFTA Secretariat and to the country’s access to more than 400 million consumers through ECOWAS. “Ghana is, therefore, a trusted entry point to scale across the continent,” he said.

He also outlined a slate of domestic reforms and flagship projects intended to sharpen Ghana’s competitiveness and absorb more capital.

“Ghana is OPEN FOR BUSINESS 24 hours a day,” Mahama said and described his national strategy to align infrastructure, incentives and skills so factories, farms, ports and service centres can run round‑the‑clock shifts safely and competitively.

Four Integrated Pillars

He also touted his four integrated pillars — Grow24 (irrigating more than 2 million hectares for year-round farming), Make24 (agro-industrial parks for textiles, pharmaceuticals, and food processing), Show24 (tourism along Lake Volta), and Connect24 (turning Lake Volta into an inland transport spine to cut logistics costs).

Mahama said that inflation was easing, the domestic currency cedi has stabilised, and ratings outlooks have improved. The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre now offers sector‑specific, region‑by‑region opportunity maps to guide decisions with credible data, he said.

He cast Singapore as a catalytic partner for Africa across finance, logistics and technology.

“Your excellence in project preparation, blended finance, risk management, standards and dispute resolution are precisely what African projects need to move from pipeline to bankable to build,” he told the delegates, which included Singapore’s Ministers, trade officials and corporate leaders.

The president also used the platform to press for reforms to the global financial architecture and to highlight Africa’s homegrown integration efforts. As the African Union Champion on Financial Institutions, he cited an annual African financing gap of roughly $1.3 trillion, with infrastructure needs of $181–$221 billion per year through 2030 and a climate‑finance shortfall of about $213 billion annually.

Singapore now has seven such treaties in Africa, a continent of 54 countries. It is in the process of negotiating an agreement with Ghana, with which it had bilateral trade of more than US$215 million in 2024.