GHANA · INVESTMENT

Ghana foreign direct investment came to US$2.62 billion in 2025, but the more revealing number sits in the central bank’s accounts. There, net inflow was US$1.91 billion and 95.4% of it was profit that companies already in Ghana chose to leave there.

A foreign-owned telecoms office in Tamale, one visible form of investment in Ghana. (Photo: Internet reproduction)

Two numbers, two different things

The 2025 Annual Investment Report was compiled by Ghana’s investment promotion authority with the Bank of Ghana, the Petroleum Commission and the Ghana Free Zones Authority. Its headline figure is a registration number: US$2.62 billion across 254 approved projects, which the agency projects will create 18,748 jobs, plus US$816.05 million of wholly Ghanaian-owned investment.

The balance-of-payments figure is different, and it is the one comparable with international data. On that basis net foreign direct investment was US$1.91 billion.

The two measures diverge by about US$710 million, and the report does not reconcile them. Registration counts what was approved; the balance of payments counts what actually crossed the border.

What 95.4% reinvested earnings really means

Reinvested earnings are profits generated inside Ghana by foreign-owned firms and retained there rather than repatriated. They are legitimately counted as foreign direct investment, and they are a genuine vote of confidence.

They are not, however, new capital arriving from abroad. If 95.4% of a US$1.91 billion inflow is recycled profit, the fresh money entering Ghana in 2025 was on the order of US$88 million.

For a country rebuilding its credibility after a sovereign default, that distinction carries the whole report. Existing investors are staying and compounding; new ones are still watching.

Who is behind Ghana foreign direct investment

By project count China led with 70, well ahead of India on 22 and Nigeria on 10. That is a familiar pattern across West Africa, where Chinese firms arrive in volume at the smaller end of the ticket range.

By value the ranking inverts. The Cayman Islands came first at US$500.56 million, with China second at US$486.06 million.

The Cayman number should be read as a conduit rather than a source. It tells you where the holding company is registered, not who ultimately owns the money.

Manufacturing was the most active sector with 99 projects worth US$368.71 million, while mining services topped the value table with US$506.61 million from only three projects. Greater Accra absorbed 143 projects worth US$619.37 million.

Why the distinction is not academic

Ghana defaulted on its external debt in December 2022 and has spent the years since negotiating its way back. Every restructuring signature, and there was another with Belgium this week, is aimed at the same audience: capital that has not yet come back.

A country in that position needs new entrants, not just loyal incumbents. Reinvested earnings keep existing plants running and existing payrolls paid, but they do not add factories, ports or wells.

The macro backdrop the report cites is genuinely better, with growth of 6.0% in 2025 and inflation at 5.4% in December. That is the sort of picture that should be pulling in first-time investors.

It has not yet. The gap between a good macro story and about US$88 million of fresh capital is the single most useful thing in this report, and the report itself does not draw attention to it.

The pipeline, and what to discount

The agency tracks US$11.48 billion of announced but unbuilt projects. Three of them account for US$8 billion: a US$5 billion fertiliser plant, a US$2 billion Jubilee and TEN oilfield agreement and a US$1 billion artificial-intelligence hub with the United Arab Emirates.

Its own forecasts are US$2.80 billion for 2026, US$3.11 billion for 2027 and US$2.38 billion for 2028, which the report notes is an election year. No methodology is published.

None of the three has a published financial close, and the remaining US$3.48 billion of the pipeline has no named counterparty at all. The report is also the promotion agency assessing its own performance.

Frequently Asked Questions

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error

LatAm Markets: Live Signals → — real-time movers, turnover leaders and FX across Latin America.