The agribusiness sector holds significant importance in Ghana, particularly in the value chains of cocoa, rice, palm, maize, sorghum, and soya beans. By prioritizing key value chains like rice, palm oil, poultry, wheat, and muslin, and reducing imports by 50%, Ghana could significantly decrease its import bill by nearly USD 500 million.                                                                                   

We finance projects with a focus on increasing production and productivity of agriculture at farm level for both small-holder and large-scale farmers. The funding through partnering financial institutions (PFIs) is intended to enable farmers access needed inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, and others. The Bank also supports acquisition of appropriate technologies that aid production, post-harvest handling, processing, and storage facilities. 

The manufacturing sector in Ghana encompasses industries such as pharmaceuticals, textiles, automobiles, heavy machinery, polymer products, and articles of iron and steel. It has consistently received significant attention and emphasis particularly in the areas of pharmaceuticals, textiles, and aluminium products.

The Bank supports viable projects in the industrial sectors on competitive terms with an aim of catalyzing industrialization process in the country, with the view to transform the economy to a modern and industrialized status that can sustainably generate enough industrial outputs to satisfy domestic, regional and foreign markets; and rapidly increase per capita incomes to improve the living standards of Ghanaians.

The focus in this area is to support import substitution and local content value-addition by financing construction of factory warehouses, purchase/acquisition of equipment & machinery in various industries, including paper-making & printing, manufacture of packaging and wrapping materials, manufacture of chemical & industrial products, manufacture of construction materials, manufacture of pharmaceutical products for human & animal drugs, manufacture of electricals among others.

Ghana possesses significant untapped potential in the ICT sector. While the mention of technology and IT-enabled services may not explicitly encompass ICT, it remains one of the focal areas for development. The ICT sector does not carry a heavy debt burden, but in the case of Communication Technology firms (Telecom and broadband services), debt financing becomes crucial. Furthermore, the establishment of industrial clusters or parks for ICT would require debt support from the banking sector, enabling Ghana to emerge as the IT and BPO hub of Western Africa.

Globally, the private sector has driven the ICT industry, which has exhibited a remarkable multiplier effect in several cities. ICT also holds substantial influence on various sectors such as banking, insurance, retail, and transport, yielding a high impact. It exerts a moderate impact on sectors like manufacturing, agriculture, hospitality, mining, technical services jobs, and FDI in Ghana, with the services sector being a significant recipient. Unfortunately, specific data for ICT’s impact on individual sectors is not readily available.

In summary, Ghana’s ICT sector presents a vast opportunity for growth and development. By prioritizing ICT infrastructure, encouraging private sector participation, and providing necessary debt financing, Ghana can harness the transformative potential of ICT, benefiting not only the ICT industry itself but also driving advancements in other sectors and positioning Ghana as a regional ICT leader.

DBG also considers lending to high value services sectors such as professional, scientific and technical activities, tourism, private healthcare and education. These sectors have high economic multipliers as evidenced in the IFC Report on Creating Markets in Ghana (2017). While both education and health are social sectors, there is significant scope for private sector involvement wherever government is not able to bridge the service and finance.