By Dode Seidu, Chief Executive, Africa Trade Academy
a) Introduction
On April 4th 2026, Ghana’s Parliament approved the Ghana Investment Promotion Act (GIPA) Bill 2025 into law, replacing the over a decade old investment code and ushering a new era in Ghana’s quest to be a destination of choice for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) including intra-Africa investment. This article discusses the challenges with the previous investment code, key changes in the new law, implications for the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA), and recommendations for positioning Ghana to maximize intra-Africa investment under this new regime.
b) Challenges of Ghana’s Previous Investment Code-Act 865
The GIPC Act 865, while groundbreaking at its passage in 2013, faced implementation challenges as Ghana’s investment landscape evolved over the years. There were three principal challenges:
- The generic minimum capital requirements served as a barrier to investments into Ghana. The minimum capital requirements under Act 865 were US$200,000 for joint ventures with Ghanaian partners, US$500,000 for wholly foreign-owned enterprises, and US$1 million for trading enterprises. These minimum requirements deterred investments especially from the diaspora and investments of African origin that fell below the threshold. Some investors, who did not meet the requirements, resorted to using Ghanaian business counterparts as fronts to operate in the country.[1]
- Inconsistencies among Ghana’s laws and the investment code and also with regional and continental commitments. This challenge manifested in three ways:
- First there were inconsistencies between sections of Act 865 relating to activities reserved for Ghanaians and Ghanaian enterprises and the legislations of sectoral agencies responsible for regulating these sectors;\
- Second, sections of Act 865 were inconsistent with new legislations, enacted post 2013 such as the Companies Act 2019 2019 (Act 992), Exemptions Act 2022 (Act 1023) and Public Financial Management Act 2016 (Act 921); and
- Third, there were legal conflicts emerged between Act 865 and Ghana’s commitments under regional integration frameworks like the ECOWAS Protocols and the emerging AfCFTA because of the reserved sectors.
- Mandate of GIPC to promote, attract, facilitate and protect investments: this challenge was manifested in outdated legislation that affects its ability to enforce and apply penalties as well as its governance structure and ability to regulate the investment space and address investor disputes.[3]
c) Key Changes Introduced in the New GIPA Act 1123
In this new Act, the general minimum capital requirements for joint ventures and wholly foreign-owned enterprises has been removed except for trading enterprises which as been reduced from US$1 million to US$500,000. The rigid employment obligation of twenty skilled Ghanaians is replaced with a proportional approach: trading enterprises must now ensure at least 75% of their employees are skilled Ghanaians.
The list of activities reserved exclusively for has been maintained except for printing recharge scratch cards and pool betting/lotteries. The Act incorporates principles of sustainable development, requiring adherence to human rights, labour practices, corporate social responsibility, climate action, and environmental protection which are consistent with provisions of the AfCFTA Protocol on Investment. Enterprises must now renew registration annually (previously every two years) to enhance regulatory oversight.
The new Act transforms the GIPC into the Ghana Investment Promotion Authority (GIPA), with broader mandate including promoting and facilitating outward investment by Ghanaian businesses as well as opening of branch offices where necessary, enhanced enforcement powers including introduction of administrative penalties and increasing the applicable penalty units. GIPA, by the new law becomes the one-stop-shop for promotion and facilitation of investments through access to information, transparency and improved ease of doing business.
d) Implications of the New Investment Act for the AfCFTA Implementation
The new act has five key implications for Ghana’s AfCFTA implementation in Ghana:
- The Act explicitly mandates GIPA to promote outward investment by Ghanaian enterprises into foreign markets, particularly within Africa, transforming Ghana from a capital‑importing nation into a potential capital exporter and fostering regional industrial development.
- It also incorporates AfCFTA aligned provisions, including Most Favoured Nation Treatment and Fair and Equitable Treatment standards, creating a predictable, transparent, and legally secure environment with clear grievance mechanisms. The emphasis on sustainable development and local enterprise support aligns with the AfCFTA’s goal of inclusive investment, ensuring that while foreign investment is welcomed, local capacity building remains a priority.
- The Act’s expressly designates the GIPA as the national focal point for the AfCFTA Protocol on Investment, creating a single, clear entry point for investors using Ghana as a base to serve the broader African market.
- The elimination of minimum capital requirements will boost intra-African investment that will enable investors and investments from Nigeria, Kenya, or South Africa to establish a presence with much lower capital, fostering continental integration.
- The Act explicitly recognizes the important role of Ghanaian investors and supports the registration and scaling up of wholly Ghanaian-owned enterprises through improved access to incentives and facilitation services. This balanced approach ensures that while foreign investment is welcomed, local capacity building remains a priority.
e) Recommendations for Effective Implementation of the New Investment Act in the Context of AfCFTA
The enactment of the new investment law concretizes the governments new mantra of ‘Ghana is Open for Business.’ It further affirms the government’s commitment to not only attract investment, but to prepare and develop concrete investment opportunities through the Investment Opportunity Mapping initiative. To effectively utilize the new investment code for broader investment attraction and investment from Africa based on the AfCFTA provisions; it is proposed that:
- Ghana develops a coordinated Africa investment attraction and promotion strategy that spells out clearly how Ghana intends to attract and maintain investments from other Africa countries. At the center of this strategy will be how the country intends to support investors and investments from Ghana to reach other African countries.
- The new Act also calls for leveraging and coordinating economic diplomacy for Ghana’s benefit. Foreign embassies of Ghana in key investment originating countries in Africa such as Mauritius, South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria etc. should be front facing and be able to deploy effective skills in country marketing and investment promotion to attract investments to Ghana. Resource permitting, GIPA should be able to deploy regional offices in parts of Africa and or deploy staff to these regions to facilitate and coordinate effective investment promotion and facilitation activities.
- The GIPA becoming a one-stop-shop under the new investment framework must be backed by a whole of government approach. First the GIPA must be the entry point for all investors into Ghana. The approach where other sector regulators and promoters embark on investment promotion without recourse and not in concert with GIPA must be a thing of the past. Investment promotion that is not accompanied by coordinated facilitation processes and services becomes burdensome and cumbersome for investors. GIPA on the other hand, utilizing the renewed mandate and membership of the technical committee, must equally coordinate effectively with all sectoral regulatory agencies. The digitalized system for processing investment requirements and coordinating effective responses must be deployed with clear response time frames. Competent staff from both within GIPA and respective agencies must be deployed towards issues where investors have pain points such as land acquisition, business registration, obtaining regulatory permits etc.
- Ghana needs to balance the liberalization of the investment environment with enforcement monitoring and penalties to ensure the full benefit of the agreement is utilized. This again calls for effective coordination. For example, GIPA working with the Office of the Registrar of Companies and National Identification Authority can obtain information about every business with foreign ownership, based on which it can require such business to mandatorily register with the authority for effective monitoring of their compliance. Such coordination should also be sought with sector regulators such as Bank of Ghana, Petroleum Commission, Minerals Commission etc. Additionally, effective monitoring of the investment space implies GIPA must deploy offices in all regions of the country and enhance promotion and facilitation of investment in each region as well as post establishment support for investors.
- It will be great for Ghana to link its FDI strategy with it export strategy to drive industrialization and the development of regional and continental value chains. FDI attraction should focus on bringing investments into export-oriented sectors as well as those that are heavy on value addition and value chain development. Key priority sectors such as pharmaceuticals, textiles and garments as well as automotives have received policy priority and could therefore be further bolstered through concrete FDI attraction from intra-Africa investors and benefit from AfCFTA preferences as well.
[1] GIPC, Invest Ghana Newletter, April 2025, https://gipc.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/GIPC-Bi-Weekly-Newsletter_Vol-3.pdf, page 4-5
[2] Memorandum to the Ghana Investment Promotion Authority Bill 2025, https://www.brr.gov.gh/acc/consultation/docs/The%20New%20GIPC%20Bill-2025.pdf
[3] Memorandum to the Ghana Investment Promotion Authority Bill 2025, https://www.brr.gov.gh/acc/consultation/docs/The%20New%20GIPC%20Bill-2025.pdf
