Cost of capital for businesses coming down — Ato Forson

The Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, says the government’s deliberate efforts to reduce the cost of capital are beginning to ease financing conditions for Ghanaian businesses.

Speaking during a meeting with the IFC Managing Director, Makhtar Diop, Dr Forson cited the decline in treasury bill rates as evidence of the progress being made.

“We have worked to reduce the cost of capital for Ghanaian businesses and the cost of capital is coming down. A typical example is treasury bill rates, which we have purposefully driven down,” he said.

The Finance Minister said the government intended to build on the return of economic stability and Ghana’s improving credit rating to transform the economy and accelerate private-sector growth.

“We have seen economic stability return and we have also seen our credit rating improve from a very difficult past. Going forward, we want to use this stability to transform the economy,” he said.

Investment-grade credit rating

Dr Forson said Ghana was working towards attaining an investment-grade credit rating by 2030 to access financing at lower interest rates and reduce the country’s debt-servicing burden.

“If we have the opportunity to raise $1 billion at 10 per cent or $2 billion at five per cent, I would prefer $2 billion at five per cent. We spend too much servicing our debt,” he explained.

He called on the IFC to deepen its support for Ghanaian businesses in areas that could drive economic transformation and create jobs.

Economic progress

For his part, Mr Diop congratulated the Finance Minister on Ghana’s recent economic progress, particularly the reduction in inflation, noting that the gains had not been easy to achieve.

He added that the IFC would support the growth of the middle class and local investors and encouraged the government to expand private-sector participation in infrastructure financing.

Visit

Mr Diop, who arrived in the country last Tuesday, spent his three-day stay engaging the government and business leaders on ways to attract more private investment into the economy.

The managing director of the IFC met senior government officials, business leaders, entrepreneurs, civil society organisations, academic institutions and representatives of Ghana’s creative sector to discuss opportunities and constraints affecting private sector growth.

Increasing financing formed the basis of the discussions, particularly on how to bring more private capital into sectors where businesses faced financing and investment constraints.

The IFC has maintained that mobilising private investment is necessary to support business growth and create jobs, particularly in developing economies where public resources alone were insufficient to meet investment needs.

He also used his visit to push for improving access to finance, supporting priority sectors and creating more jobs through increased private sector participation.

Investment

The engagements covered agribusiness, education, youth employment and skills development, access to finance, industrial development, renewable energy and the creative economy.

The discussions examined how the World Bank Group could mobilise more private capital to support Ghana’s development priorities and improve the competitiveness of local businesses.

Business support

The IFC’s activities in Ghana include financing for businesses across the cocoa value chain, manufacturing, recycling, renewable energy and industrial infrastructure.

It also provides investment and advisory support to improve access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), farmers, women-owned businesses and other groups with limited access to capital.

The IFC said its commitments in Ghana had increased significantly, reaching $670 million in its 2025/2026 financial year through its own account and mobilisation, compared with $61 million in the 2020/21 financial year.