Mahama Seeks Singapore Investment as He Positions Ghana as Entry Point to $3.4 Trillion AfCFTA Market

President John Dramani Mahama has positioned Ghana as a “reliable gateway” to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), urging investors to view Africa as “investable” and calling for stronger South–South partnerships to navigate a fragmented global economy.

“We are here to learn, to partner, and to deliver,” Mahama said at the opening of the 8th Africa–Singapore Business Forum in Singapore, his first engagement on a three-day state visit. “Africa is investable, and Ghana is your reliable gateway to the continent.”

The president framed Africa and Asia as “the world’s two youngest, fastest-urbanising regions,” stressing complementarities in resources, markets and know-how. He argued both regions should be “champions of open markets, trusted rules and practical partnerships that deliver jobs, technology transfer and shared prosperity.”

Mahama warned that “the death knell of multilateralism is sounding” as tariffs proliferate and supply chains remain fragile, adding that tighter global financial conditions demand new alliances. Still, he insisted Africa’s fundamentals are compelling: a 1.4 billion-strong young and digitally connected population, a $3.4 trillion AfCFTA market, and global leadership in mobile money and fintech adoption.

Trade flows already reflect this momentum. Africa–Singapore trade rose nearly 50% between 2020 and 2024 to almost $14 billion, with West Africa driving more than half. Ghana–Singapore trade exceeded $215 million last year, while 69 Singaporean firms are registered in Ghana with cumulative investments above $2 billion, Mahama said.

Highlighting Accra’s role as host of the AfCFTA Secretariat and access to over 400 million consumers through ECOWAS, he stressed: “Ghana is, therefore, a trusted entry point to scale across the continent.”

Mahama also outlined domestic reforms to sharpen competitiveness and anchor more capital inflows. “Ghana is OPEN FOR BUSINESS 24 hours a day,” he declared, detailing his 24-hour economy strategy to align infrastructure, incentives, and skills so factories, farms, ports, and service centres can operate around the clock.

The plan rests on four integrated pillars: Grow24 (irrigating 2 million hectares for year-round farming), Make24 (agro-industrial parks for textiles, pharmaceuticals and food processing), Show24 (tourism along Lake Volta), and Connect24 (using Lake Volta as an inland transport corridor to lower logistics costs).

He added that inflation is easing, the cedi has stabilised and ratings outlooks are improving, while the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre now provides sector-specific and region-by-region opportunity maps to guide investors with “credible data.”

Turning to Singapore, Mahama cast the city-state as a catalytic partner in finance, logistics and technology. “Your excellence in project preparation, blended finance, risk management, standards and dispute resolution is precisely what African projects need to move from pipeline to bankable to build,” he told Singaporean ministers, trade officials and corporate leaders.

He also pressed for reforms to the global financial architecture, citing Africa’s annual financing gap of $1.3 trillion, infrastructure needs of up to $221 billion per year through 2030, and a climate-finance shortfall of about $213 billion annually.

Summing up Ghana’s offer, Mahama described the country as “a stable, reform-minded country, connected to the AfCFTA, designed for scale,” with “a pipeline of investable projects in agribusiness, logistics, manufacturing, energy, digital and tourism” and “a partner that values integrity, predictability and long-term relationships.”

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