High Commission of India

Accra, Ghana

Economic & Commercial Brief

The Joint Trade Committee (JTC) between India and Ghana was established in 1981. The first JTC meeting was held in 1992. The second JTC meeting took place on 20-21 January 2011 in New Delhi. The third JTC meeting was held on 21 July 2022 in New Delhi and co-chaired by the Joint Secretary (FT), MoC and the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry of Ghana. The JTC acknowledged the need to explore avenues for strengthening and diversifying the trade basket. Agenda discussed include recognition of India Pharmacopoeia by Ghana, cooperation in SMEs, S&T, accounting & finance, and trade promotion.

Bilateral Trade

Bilateral trade between India and Ghana crossed the US$ 1 billion mark in 2011-12 and more than tripled in five years, recording US$ 3.6 billion in 2015-16. The following year, it dropped by a billion dollar to US$ 2.6 billion which increased to US$ 3.3 billion and peaked at US$ 4.4 billion in 2018-19, mainly due to jump in India’s import from Ghana (gold alone constituted over 80% of total imports). Bilateral trade then dropped 46.6% to US$ 2.39 billion in 2019-20 and further decreased to US$ 2.31 billion in 2020-21. As world economies emerged from the pandemic, bilateral trade also improved and recorded US$ 2.6 billion in 2021-22 and US$ 2.8 billion in 2022-23. The table below shows the bilateral trade since 2011.  

India’s export to Ghana has not seen much growth in since 2011-12 when it was US$ 800 million. Even after ten years, export value stood at US$ 862 million in 2020-21 which crossed one billion in 2021-22 but then decline below. On the other hand, India’s import (Ghana’s export to India) has increased significantly from US$ 341 million in 2011-12 to US$ 1.3 billion in 2020-21. Bilateral trade is in favour of Ghana. Major items of India’s export to Ghana are engineering goods, agricultural machinery, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, vehicles, electrical and electronic goods, plastics products, iron and steel and articles, beverages and spirits, cereals, and textiles. India’s major import items from Ghana are gold, cocoa, cashew nuts, wood products, timber.

In line with India’s vision to become a US$ 5 trillion economy by 2025, export targets were set for the first time in 2021-22. For Ghana, the export target was US$ 1079 million against which US$ 1109.46 million was recorded. For 2022-23, the target was increased to US$ 1230 million against which the export revenue received was US$ 964.17 million. As against the target for 2023-24 of US$ 1078 million, export to Ghana in April-June is US$ 302.96 million. 

India’s Investment in Ghana

India is among the top investors in Ghana. Indian investments spread across diverse sectors such as pharmaceuticals, construction, manufacturing, trading, agro-processing, etc. In 2021, India was the 2nd largest investors by number of projects with 25 projects [after China] and the 3rd by value of FDIs aggregating to US$ 98.84 million [after Singapore, Australia]. India’s FDIs constituted 7.61% of Ghana’s total FDIs of US$ 1,298.66 million in 271 projects in 2021. Historically between 1994 and 2021, Indian wholly-owned companies and JVs invested FDIs of US$ 2.2 billion in 870 projects as recorded by the GIPC (see table).

In 2022, India was the 2nd largest investor by number of projects with 21 projects and the 5th by value with FDI of US$ 66.34 million. This represents 4.17% of Ghana total FDIs of US$ 1,588.96 million in 211 projects. From January to June 2023, India’s FDI recorded US$ 10.08 million in 5 projects against Ghana’s total FDIs of US$ 274.74 million in 72 projects.

Business Exchanges

The trade chambers/associations in Ghana and India have over the years maintain good relations and mount business delegations from time to time. India’s premier trade bodies such as CII, FICCI, PHDCCI have MoUs for cooperation with the Association of Indian Industries (AGI) and the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI). After the Covid-19 pandemic subsided and travel restrictions & lockdowns were withdrawn, a number of Indian business delegations have visited Ghana. Mission organised business events to provide a platform for Indian and Ghanaian businesses in the country to interact with one another. Mission collaborates with various export promotion councils of India and organise BSM/B2B for promotion of Indian exports to Ghana, besides giving wide publicity to the trade fairs/expo and business conference, reverse BSM held in India. Some of these are listed below. 

1. CII-Exim Bank Conclave: 
   
   CII-Exim Bank Conclave on India Africa Growth Partnership (18th Session from
   14-16 July 2023; 17th Session from 19-20 July 2022) 
   
   
2. Business Promotion Events:

3. Indian Business Delegations to Ghana:

4. Virtual Events:

Development Cooperation

Ghana was included as one of the nine West African countries under the Government of India (GoI)’s TEAM 9 Initiative launched in 2004. India has been supporting Ghana’s development by providing assistance for projects through concessional Lines of Credit (LoCs) and grants. Since 2003, GoI extended 10 LoCs, with aggregate value of US$ 390.27 million, to Government of Ghana. Most of the LoC-funded projects have been completed while some are yet to be executed or at various stages of implementation. The most outstanding projects are the Flagstaff House/Presidential Complex in the heart of Accra (under LoC) and the India-Ghana Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence for ICT (under Grant). For project exports from India, especially in the infrastructure sector, Exim Bank of India extended three loans to the Government of Ghana, viz. US$ 447.17 million for Tema-Akosombo-Mkpakadan railway project, US$ 158.62 million for Tamale to Walewale road project phase-1, and US$ 24.98 million for the assembly plant for agricultural machinery.

October 2023