Africa-Press – Ghana. President John Dramani Mahama has disclosed that Ghana-Singapore trade has grown, reaching over $215 million in 2024.
The President made the disclosure in his remarks at the Africa Singapore Business Forum in Singapore City.
The Forum, which is on the theme: “Bridging Capabilities, Charting Sustainable Growth”, is the premier platform for business exchange and fostering trade between Africa and Asia.
“Our message is simple: Africa is investable, and Ghana is your reliable gateway to the continent,” he said.
“The continent is the world’s most dynamic emerging market. We are 1.4 billion people today—young, fast-urbanising, digitally connected—and by 2030, Africa’s cities will host more than 700 million consumers.”
“We live in a rapidly changing world. The post-Cold War world ushered in the era of globalisation. It sparked much excitement about the endless possibilities open to mankind to create prosperity for most of the world’s population,” he said.
The President said the cheers and backslapping that celebrated the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which pulled one billion of the world’s people out of poverty, were becoming just a pleasant memory of the past.
“The death knell of multilateralism is sounding. Global relations are becoming more transactional. Tariffs and retaliatory tariffs are flying fast and furious. The effects on the global economy are still to be well understood,” he said.
He said in these unpredictable times, world leaders must forge new alliances and open new opportunities and possibilities; saying “we must explore new markets and new investment spaces”.
The President said in a world of tightened financial conditions, fragile supply chains and rising protectionism, South–South collaboration was not optional; adding “it is essential”.
He said Africa and Singapore must be champions of open markets, trusted rules and practical partnerships that deliver jobs, technology transfer and shared prosperity.
President Mahama said Africa and Asia were the two youngest, fastest-urbanising regions in the world.
He said the Africa-Singapore trade rose by about 50 per cent between 2020 and 2024 to nearly $14 billion, with West Africa accounting for more than half of that.
President Mahama said the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was the largest new free trade area in the world by number of countries, and this had created a $3.4 trillion market and lowered barriers across supply chains.
He said Africa held vast renewable energy potential and was already a global leader in mobile money and fintech adoption.
“This is a market ready for scaled solutions. Yet this opportunity must be matched with capital at the right price and with the right instruments,” President Mahama said.
“As the African Union Champion on Financial Institutions, I must be candid: the current global financial architecture remains inequitable for low- and middle-income countries. Africa faces an annual financing gap estimated at $1.3 trillion.”
He added that infrastructure needs alone ran between $181 and $221 billion per year through 2030, and the climate finance gap was about $213 billion annually.
He said Africa was taking steps to build a financial system that works for the continent; accelerate the African Monetary Institute as a precursor to the African Central Bank, and link 10 major stock exchanges through the African Exchanges Linkage Project to enhance liquidity.
The President said Africa was also scaling the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System to enable businesses to settle cross-border trade in local currencies.
This, he said was where Singapore’s strengths could be catalytic, adding that Singapore stood at the nexus of global finance, fintech, logistics and green innovation.
He said in project preparation, blended finance, risk management, standards and dispute resolution was precisely what African projects needed to move from pipeline to bankable to build.
He said as host of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Ghana sits at the heart of the $3.4 trillion single market.
He said through ECOWAS, Ghana could connect businesses and investors to more than 400 million consumers in West Africa.
He said Ghana offered political stability, rules-based environment, a double taxation agreement with Singapore in force since 2019, and a growing base of Singaporean investors—69 companies registered with cumulative investments exceeding $2 billion.
The President emphasised that Ghana was a trusted entry point to scale across the continent.
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