Jurisdiction & corridor analysis

Offshore investment routes into Africa.

Choose an African market to compare the inward direct investment reported by the receiving country with the positions reported by offshore jurisdictions.

Country summary: Ghana

Ghana remains an important West African investment destination, with established opportunities in gold, oil and gas, cocoa, telecommunications, financial services and consumer markets. The investment case is gradually broadening into mining services, agroprocessing, power infrastructure, logistics, digital services and import substitution. Ghana’s economy expanded by 6.0% in 2025, while the World Bank projects growth of 5.1% in 2026, supported by reforms in the energy and cocoa sectors, an improving investment environment and new petroleum production. The scale of the opportunity is illustrated by Ghana’s AgriConnect programme, which identifies approximately USD 3.5 billion of financing requirements across major agricultural value chains between 2026 and 2030.

The macroeconomic position has improved materially while maintaining a non-negligible investment risk. The IMF reports lower inflation, stronger reserves, improved confidence in the cedi and continued progress with debt restructuring. At the same time, it identifies delayed structural reforms and continuing financial pressure in the energy sector, cocoa sector and state owned enterprises. The Bank of Ghana reported gross international reserves of USD 14.4 billion in May 2026, equivalent to 5.7 months of import cover, although the cedi had depreciated by 8.4% against the US dollar during the year. For corporate investors, this supports a disciplined financing approach. Exporters and commodity producers are better positioned to carry foreign currency debt, while businesses earning mainly in cedi should use conservative leverage and stress test exchange rates, utility costs, refinancing requirements and delays in customer payments.

For investors entering Ghana today, the regulatory direction is also becoming more supportive. The Ghana Investment Promotion Authority Act, 2026 removed the previous general minimum capital requirements for foreign investment, except for foreign trading businesses, and strengthened investor facilitation and grievance procedures. Registered investors retain the right to remit dividends, service foreign loans, pay approved technology fees and repatriate disposal or liquidation proceeds through licensed financial institutions. The practical issue is therefore not simply whether funds can legally be transferred. Investors must ensure that the original capital is properly registered, tax obligations are satisfied and sufficient foreign currency is available when dividends, debt service or exit proceeds become payable.

Receiving-country record (USD million)

What Ghana reports

2022-2024
Ranked OFC202220232024
1United KingdomGBR · immediate counterpart
2United StatesUSA · immediate counterpart
3Netherlands, TheNLD · immediate counterpart
02.9k02.9k02.9k

Source: IMF, Direct Investment Positions by Counterpart Economy (formerly CDIS). Data view: Reported official data — receiving country. Dataset 12.0.1; observation period 2022-2024; retrieved 21 July 2026.

Offshore-jurisdiction records (USD million)

What the offshore jurisdictions report

2022-2024
Ranked OFC202220232024
1MauritiusMUS · immediate counterpart
2LuxembourgLUX · immediate counterpart
3IrelandIRL · immediate counterpart
02.1k02.1k02.1k

Source: IMF, Direct Investment Positions by Counterpart Economy (formerly CDIS). Data view: Derived using counterparty information — offshore jurisdictions. Dataset 12.0.1; observation period 2022-2024; retrieved 21 July 2026.

Method and comparability notes

Why the charts may differ: Countries can report the same investment differently because of timing, valuation methods, reporting thresholds, confidentiality and missing submissions. Neither chart identifies the ultimate investor.

Method: Corpfin total IDI equals the IMF net equity position plus IMF gross debt liabilities. The receiving country figures and the figures derived from reports by the selected offshore jurisdictions are ranked separately and are never merged. Blank annual value cells in returned IMF series are treated as zero; absent series and explicit IMF missing or suppressed markers remain unavailable. Differences between the two views can result from reporting asymmetry, and neither view identifies the ultimate investor or establishes that a structure is tax-driven.

Professional assessment

Discuss an investment into Ghana

Request transaction-specific advice on structure, funding, repatriation and exit.

IDI corridor interpretation

IDI to Ghana from OFCs

Interpretation based on the receiving-country record; differences shown by the offshore-jurisdiction record are addressed in the comparative observations.

OFC1

United Kingdom

2024 position · USD 2,889.94 million

The United Kingdom remained Ghana’s largest reported investment corridor. The position declined modestly from USD 2.02 billion in 2022 to USD 1.92 billion in 2023, before increasing by 50.4% to USD 2.89 billion in 2024. It represented approximately 75% of the three receiving country positions shown in 2024. The scale of the increase indicates that UK linked equity and related company financing expanded substantially, although the chart cannot establish how much represented new cash entering Ghana.

The commercial explanation begins with the presence of UK headquartered groups in Ghana’s petroleum, consumer, financial and infrastructure sectors. Tullow Oil, for example, treats Ghana as a cornerstone operating business and holds significant interests in the Jubilee and TEN fields. The company reported approximately USD 160 million of Ghana capital expenditure in 2024. This confirms continuing UK sponsor exposure to productive Ghanaian assets, although it does not explain the full USD 968 million increase in the IMF position. The UK route also benefits from a long established tax treaty and an investment treaty with Ghana. These arrangements improve legal and tax certainty, but the underlying reason for using the route remains the commercial ownership and financing structure of the investor.

Comparative observation

When compared to Mauritius which reported USD 1.59 billion of investment in Ghana in 2022, Mauritius appears to be a substantive Ghana investment corridor with real corporate structures.

A US Development Finance Corporation disclosure identifies A. Energy Development Limited in Mauritius as the vehicle through which approximately USD 129 million of sponsor equity was invested in the USD 542 million Amandi Energy project in Ghana. The structure allowed several infrastructure investors to pool their capital, agree common governance arrangements and hold their interest in a ring fenced Ghanaian power project through one company. An IFC disclosure similarly identifies DTRT Apparel Mauritius Ltd in connection with financing the expansion of apparel manufacturing operations in Ghana. These examples show Mauritius being used for project finance and private equity backed manufacturing, with the underlying factories, power assets and commercial risk located in Ghana.

The 2023 increase also coincided with Telecel Group’s acquisition of a 70% interest in Vodafone Ghana. Telecel has a documented corporate presence in Mauritius, but the public transaction announcements do not disclose the precise acquiring subsidiary or purchase price. The transaction is therefore relevant evidence of the route, but it cannot be used to explain the entire USD 519 million increase. Investors select Mauritius because it combines experience in administering African investment structures, professional fund and corporate services, a recognised Global Business framework and a tax treaty with Ghana. The Ghana-Mauritius investment treaty, however, is not in force, so treaty based investment protection should not be presented as a reason for the position. The 2024 reduction should also not be called an investor withdrawal without supporting transaction data. It could reflect dividends, loan repayments, restructuring or valuation movements while the Ghanaian businesses continued operating.

OFC2

United States

2024 position · USD 476.02 million

The US corridor was considerably more volatile. It fell from USD 740.05 million in 2022 to USD 306.68 million in 2023, before recovering to USD 476.02 million in 2024. Despite the 55.2% recovery during 2024, the position remained 35.7% below its 2022 level. This volatility is consistent with a corridor concentrated in a relatively small number of large mining and petroleum investments, where project expenditure, distributions, asset sales and related company financing can materially change the total.

US investors use this route principally because the sponsors, technical capabilities and funding decisions originate in the United States. Newmont’s Ahafo mining operations provide a clear example. The group reported approximately USD 241 million of Ahafo North development expenditure in 2024, against an estimated total project cost of between USD 950 million and USD 1.05 billion. Kosmos Energy provides a similar example in offshore petroleum. Unlike the UK, Netherlands and Mauritius, the United States does not have a comprehensive income tax treaty with Ghana. The corridor is therefore better explained by direct sponsor ownership, specialist mining and petroleum expertise and access to US capital than by treaty structuring.

OFC3

Netherlands, The

2024 position · USD 471.08 million

The Netherlands position increased from USD 255.10 million in 2022 to USD 445.47 million in 2023 and USD 471.08 million in 2024. This represents an increase of 84.7% across the period. The large movement occurred in 2023, followed by a much smaller increase in 2024, suggesting that the expansion in Dutch linked ownership or financing was largely established during 2023 and then maintained.

The Netherlands is used differently from the United States. It frequently acts as the immediate holding or treasury jurisdiction for a broader multinational group. Guinness Ghana Breweries illustrates this structure clearly. Its accounts identify Diageo Holdings Netherlands B.V. as its immediate parent, while Diageo plc in the United Kingdom is the ultimate parent. The same Ghanaian company has received related company financing from Diageo Finance plc in the UK. Equity in one Ghanaian business can therefore be recorded against the Netherlands while part of its debt financing is recorded against the United Kingdom. Dutch holding companies are used because they already sit within multinational ownership structures and provide established corporate governance, treasury administration and treaty certainty. This does not necessarily mean that the ultimate capital is Dutch.