Ghana has liquidity, institutions seeking returns and businesses seeking capital. The missing link is an effective system for converting savings into appropriately structured finance for investment-ready enterprises.

Ghana’s financial system presents an important economic paradox.

There is substantial liquidity in the system. Commercial banks are actively looking for credible opportunities to grow their loan portfolios, while pension funds, insurance companies, asset managers and collective investment schemes continue to mobilise savings.

Yet many businesses still struggle to obtain the patient, affordable and appropriately structured capital required to expand production, acquire equipment, enter new markets and create employment.

Meanwhile, significant amounts of money are held in deposits, invested in government securities or absorbed by the Bank of Ghana through its open-market operations. In September 2026, the central bank reportedly absorbed more than GH¢21 billion from the financial system in one week through 14-day Bank of Ghana bills at an annualised rate of approximately 10.5 percent.

This is occurring at a time when year-on-year inflation stood at 5 percent in August 2026 and government Treasury-bill rates declined significantly. At its September 2026 meeting, the Bank of Ghana’s Monetary Policy Committee maintained the policy rate at 14 percent. Although the Ghana Reference Rate declined to 10.18 percent in September, the Bank of Ghana reported an average lending rate of 15.94 percent for August. The rate offered to an individual business may be higher or lower, depending on its risk profile and the terms of the facility.

The situation raises an important question: If Ghana has liquidity, banks want to lend and investors are looking for attractive returns, why is the private sector not expanding in line with the capital available?

Figure 1. Selected rates as at August-September 2026. The instruments have different maturities and policy purposes. Actual lending rates may exceed the GRR after risk premiums and charges.

From my observation across banking, treasury and financial markets, the problem is not simply an absence of money. It is the absence of sufficient structures for moving available capital into businesses capable of using it productively.

Ghana does not merely have a lending gap. It has a capital-allocation, business-readiness and financial-intermediation gap.

Liquidity is not the same as productive capital

Liquidity refers to the availability of funds within the financial system. Productive capital is funding that reaches a viable business in the right form, at an appropriate cost and for a period consistent with the purpose for which it is required.

A business seeking short-term working capital may need an overdraft or revolving credit facility. A company purchasing machinery may require medium-term debt or leasing. A growing enterprise with irregular cash flows may need equity rather than a loan. A large, established company may be able to issue commercial paper or a corporate bond.

The challenge is therefore not merely to make money available. It is to connect each credible business opportunity with the appropriate source and structure of capital.

Banks want to lend but businesses must absorb the credit

Commercial banks are an important part of this discussion. Many are actively searching for credible borrowers to grow their loan portfolios. However, banks cannot lend solely because they have liquidity or ambitious growth targets. Every loan must satisfy credit, profitability, capital and regulatory requirements.

A bank must establish that the borrower can repay, that the proposed investment is commercially viable and that the associated risks can be managed. This explains why banks can be aggressively looking for lending opportunities while businesses simultaneously complain about inadequate access to credit.

In practice, financial institutions may be competing for the same relatively small group of established corporates, multinational companies and well-structured local businesses. Many other enterprises remain outside the acceptable credit space because of inadequate financial information, uncertain cash flows, weak governance, insufficient collateral or high exposure to economic shocks.

The real constraint is therefore not always the availability of credit. It is the availability of businesses capable of absorbing credit without becoming financially distressed.

Why businesses struggle to absorb capital

The cost of doing business remains high. A decline in inflation or Treasury-bill rates does not automatically make every expansion profitable. Companies continue to face costs associated with electricity, transport, imported inputs, taxation, regulatory compliance, technology and skilled labour.

A manufacturer will not borrow merely because a bank has money available. It will borrow when management is confident that the company can produce competitively, sell the additional output and generate sufficient cash flow to service the facility. Where operating costs are high and demand is uncertain, businesses may rationally postpone expansion.

Many businesses are also not investment-ready. Ghana has enterprises with viable products and committed founders, but many do not maintain reliable financial records, separate the owners’ finances from those of the company, or have audited accounts and effective governance structures. An entrepreneur may know that the business is profitable; unless that profitability can be independently demonstrated, a lender or investor may be unable to rely on it.

The enabling environment remains another constraint. Businesses require reliable electricity, efficient logistics, predictable taxation, stable regulation, prompt payment for government contracts and an effective system for resolving commercial disputes. If the operating environment does not allow companies to produce competitively, increasing the supply of credit alone could result in excessive indebtedness rather than sustainable expansion.

Not every business needs another loan

One weakness in Ghana’s financing system is the tendency to treat bank credit as the primary solution to every business-financing problem. Some companies are already highly leveraged. Others have seasonal cash flows or require several years to complete an expansion before earning sufficient income. Such companies may require equity, quasi-equity or another form of patient capital.

Consider an agro-processing company that has secured demand for its products but needs a new processing plant, additional working capital, storage facilities and distribution capacity. A bank could finance part of the working-capital requirement. Equipment could be acquired through leasing. A private-equity investor could finance part of the plant and strengthen the company’s governance. A development-finance institution could provide a guarantee, while export-finance facilities could support regional sales.

Attempting to finance the entire expansion through a short-term bank loan would place unnecessary pressure on the company’s cash flow. Businesses need financing structures, not isolated financial products.

The problem goes beyond commercial banks

Responsibility for converting Ghana’s savings into productive investment cannot be placed entirely on banks. The country also has pension funds, insurance companies, asset managers, collective investment schemes, the Ghana Stock Exchange, venture-capital firms, private-equity funds, private-credit providers and development-finance institutions.

Together, these institutions should provide a spectrum of capital suited to different stages of business development and different levels of risk. The broader question is therefore not simply why banks are not lending more. It is why Ghana’s entire financial system is not allocating more capital to productive private-sector opportunities.

Pension funds and insurance companies control long-term pools of money that could support infrastructure, housing, agriculture, manufacturing and export-oriented businesses. These investments, however, require properly regulated and professionally managed vehicles that protect contributors while offering competitive risk-adjusted returns.

Asset managers and collective investment schemes can aggregate savings and channel them into corporate securities. Yet Ghana’s corporate-bond and commercial-paper markets remain relatively shallow, limiting the number of private-sector instruments available to institutional investors. This creates a circular problem: investors see too few well-structured businesses, while businesses see too little patient capital to help them grow.

The stock market and private capital must play a greater role

The Ghana Stock Exchange should become a more important channel for mobilising long-term capital. Listing allows a business to raise equity without assuming fixed repayment obligations. It can also improve governance, transparency, visibility and access to future capital.

Many Ghanaian businesses are reluctant to list because owners fear losing control, disclosing financial information or becoming accountable to external shareholders. Others may not yet meet the required governance and reporting standards. The solution is not merely to encourage businesses to list; it is to prepare them.

The Ghana Stock Exchange, investment banks, accounting firms, business associations and government agencies could jointly identify promising enterprises and prepare them for private placements, corporate-bond issuance or eventual listing.

Venture capital and private equity must also help fill the risk-capital gap. These investors can share commercial risk and support businesses in strengthening strategy, governance, reporting and operations. Private-credit funds can complement both banks and equity investors by providing flexible financing to viable businesses that may not satisfy standard bank-lending requirements.

Connecting capital to the 24 Hour Economy

The 24-Hour Economy and Accelerated Export Development Programme seeks to increase production, deepen industrialisation, expand exports and create employment through more efficient use of Ghana’s productive capacity.

A company moving from one shift to two or three shifts may require additional machinery, inventory, working capital, transport, storage facilities, technology and employees. These are precisely the productive activities that Ghana’s available liquidity should finance.

However, operating additional shifts will be commercially beneficial only if the company has reliable electricity, adequate inputs, productive labour, efficient logistics and a market for its increased output. The programme should therefore be deliberately connected to the entire financial system.

A qualifying company may require an overdraft for working capital, leasing for machinery, private equity for a factory expansion and trade-finance facilities to support exports. A larger project may require a corporate bond or infrastructure fund. No single financial institution can provide every component.

AfCFTA provides the market but businesses must compete

The African Continental Free Trade Area gives Ghanaian businesses potential access to a continental market of approximately 1.4 billion people with a combined gross domestic product of about US$3.4 trillion. This should fundamentally change how Ghanaian businesses assess market size and expansion opportunities.

A company with a credible export contract or regional distribution agreement presents a stronger financing proposition than one seeking to expand without an identified market. However, market access on paper does not automatically translate into sales.

Ghanaian companies must compete on price, quality, volume, standards and delivery time. They require certification, reliable transport, efficient customs procedures, market intelligence, cross-border payment systems and trade finance.

The fact that the AfCFTA Secretariat is headquartered in Accra gives Ghana strategic visibility. But location alone will not create continental champions. Ghana must deliberately build businesses capable of producing at scale and serving regional markets.

Three actions to close the gap

First, Ghana should establish a coordinated national investment-readiness pipeline linked to the 24-Hour Economy and AfCFTA. Promising businesses should receive support to improve governance, financial reporting, operational systems and investment proposals before being connected to the most appropriate capital provider.

Second, Ghana should develop more credit-enhancement and co-investment structures. Government and development-finance institutions can provide targeted guarantees, first-loss protection and risk-sharing facilities to crowd private capital into priority sectors. These arrangements must support commercially viable projects rather than replace proper investment appraisal.

Third, the country should deepen its corporate capital markets and private-fund industry. Pension funds, insurers, asset managers, family offices and qualified investors should have access to properly regulated vehicles through which they can invest in diversified portfolios of corporate bonds, private credit, infrastructure, private equity and venture capital.

From liquidity to productive transformation

Ghana’s challenge is not simply that banks are failing to lend. Many banks want to grow their loan portfolios. Investors are searching for competitive returns, and businesses are looking for capital.

What is missing is a sufficiently strong bridge connecting these pools of capital to enterprises capable of deploying them productively.

The 24-Hour Economy can create opportunities for businesses to expand production and employment. AfCFTA can provide access to a much larger market. But these opportunities will generate economic transformation only when businesses are competitive, properly structured and supported by suitable forms of finance.

The next stage of Ghana’s financial-sector development must move beyond asking whether money is available. We must ask whether businesses are prepared to absorb it, whether the operating environment allows them to invest it profitably and whether the financial instruments available are aligned with their actual needs.

Ghana has capital. Banks have an appetite to lend. Institutional investors are mobilising long-term savings. Entrepreneurs have ideas, while government has introduced policies intended to stimulate production and exports.

The task now is to connect these elements deliberately and convert financial liquidity into factories, technology, competitive businesses, exports and sustainable jobs.

The writer, Ernestina Mensah, is a treasury, financial markets and risk-management professional with experience in banking, asset and liability management, market risk, business development and financial-sector strategy. The views expressed are personal.

Sources for data and policy references

Ghana Statistical Service – inflation and economic indicators | Bank of Ghana – Treasury bill rates | Ghana Association of Banks – September 2026 Ghana Reference Rate | Bank of Ghana – monetary policy framework | 24H+ Programme – vision, objectives and private-sector incentives | AfCFTA Desk – market size and trade objectives