Ghana wants to turn its diaspora into a major investment source after remittances reached about $7.8 billion in 2025 and helped steady the cedi, the central bank governor said.
Speaking alongside Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson at the Ghana-UK Investment Summit in London, Bank of Ghana (BoG) Governor Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama said reforms introduced since the Mahama administration took office had lifted foreign exchange inflows, calmed currency swings and set the stage for investment focused initiatives.
The central bank is now working with commercial banks on schemes to push more remittances into investment rather than household spending, and is exploring the tokenisation of gold backed products to draw in retail and diaspora investors.
The 2025 remittance total, which Asiama put at nearly $8 billion, marked a sharp rise from about $4.6 billion in 2024 and, at roughly 6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), overtook foreign direct investment (FDI) for the first time. FDI stood at about $2.5 billion, leaving remittances roughly three times larger.
Asiama said the central bank had moved to close loopholes after finding that some money transfer operators arranged cedi payouts locally while keeping the foreign currency abroad, starving domestic banks of dollars and pounds for trade finance. Routing those inflows through the formal banking system, he said, boosted the supply of foreign exchange and helped stabilise the cedi.
Much of the bank’s first year focused on tightening policy and draining excess liquidity, which Asiama framed as a necessary reset to restore stability. With inflation and exchange rate pressures easing, he said, policymakers are now turning to mobilising investment and supporting productive sectors.
One idea under study is tokenising gold linked products, letting investors buy fractional stakes in assets that once required owning physical gold coins. The bank casts it as part of a push to place Ghana in the emerging digital finance space and attract new pools of capital.
Forson said the government had worked closely with technical staff across the Finance Ministry to keep policy design and delivery aligned as it pursues fiscal consolidation and recovery. Ghana, he indicated, is courting international investors to sustain its gains while easing reliance on external borrowing, with domestic resource mobilisation, diaspora investment and digital finance central to its medium term growth plan.
