Manufacturing Leads Charge
By Prince Ahenkorah
Ghana’s investment landscape is showing signs of revival, with foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows leaping to $378 million in the third quarter of 2025, according to fresh figures from the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) a vote of confidence in Accra’s post-crisis stabilization efforts under the Mahama administration.
The data underscores manufacturing’s dominance as the FDI magnet, capturing $332.74 million across 34 of the 53 registered projects and dwarfing all other sectors. This surge highlights the sector’s pivotal role in job generation, export diversification, and industrial deepening, even as Ghana navigates commodity volatility and fiscal tightening.
Foreign players drove the bulk of commitments, injecting $377.63 million into wholly owned ventures (41 projects valued at $371.18 million), while domestic investors lagged with just $2.62 million across 12 joint ventures worth $6.45 million. Initial capital transfers of $13.06 million signal tangible project launches, though the lopsided reliance on external funds exposes ongoing challenges in mobilising local capital for scale.
Services trailed with 11 projects, agriculture notched three, and niche areas like general trade ($21 million), export trade ($12 million), construction, and tourism each claimed one reflecting a concentrated bet on urban-industrial hubs over rural diversification.
Geographically, Greater Accra hoovered up 41 projects, reinforcing its status as the economic nerve centre with superior infrastructure and market proximity.
Scattered registrations in Western, Ashanti, Bono East, Eastern, and Savannah regions hint at nascent decentralisation, but GIPC’s equity-spreading ambitions remain embryonic amid infrastructure gaps.
This Q3 uptick amid cedi stabilisation and gold-driven reserves bolsters investor sentiment, yet sustaining it will demand policy continuity, regulatory streamlining, and incentives to broaden sectoral and regional appeal in a competitive West African arena.