Ghanaian manufacturers that transition to three-shift, round-the-clock production will qualify for a 50 percent corporate tax rebate under an incentive framework President John Dramani Mahama unveiled at the Presidential Dialogue with the Private Sector in Accra on Tuesday, February 24, 2026, the most detailed disclosure yet of how the government intends to make its newly signed 24-Hour Economy law commercially attractive to investors.
President Mahama assented to the 24-Hour Economy Authority Bill on Thursday, February 19, ahead of the 13th Cabinet meeting, giving legal effect to one of the flagship economic commitments of his administration. At the signing, he said the process had required careful legislative handling but signalled urgency about moving from policy to action. “From now, we must move from strategy to implementation. The business sector is waiting, Ghanaian investors are waiting, foreign investors are waiting,” he stated.
The incentive architecture is tiered. Companies operating two shifts receive a 25 percent corporate tax rebate, while firms running three shifts qualify for 50 percent. Import duty waivers apply to machinery and equipment used in targeted agricultural and industrial activities. Export-oriented firms may access concessional loans, rebates, value-added bonuses, and logistics credits. Investors deploying green technologies may also qualify for carbon credits and priority permitting.
At the private sector dialogue, President Mahama explained that Ghana cannot achieve rapid industrial growth if expensive machinery and factory plants remain idle for long hours. Moving toward a 24-hour production model, he said, would increase output, reduce unit production costs and enhance the competitiveness of Ghanaian goods both locally and internationally. He also outlined off-peak electricity tariffs to reduce overnight energy costs, improved industrial security arrangements, and direct coordination between the new Authority, the Bank of Ghana and investment agencies to remove bureaucratic bottlenecks.
The programme carries a projected total investment target of $4 billion, with the government committing between $300 million and $400 million as seed capital to catalyse private sector participation. That public funding, the President said, would be catalytic rather than dominant, focused on enabling bulk infrastructure and strategic rollout mechanisms. The programme targets the creation of 1.7 million quality jobs over four years, a reduction in import dependency, and the repositioning of Ghana as a competitive exporter within the region and globally.
The law is built on three core pillars: Production Systems Development and Transformation, Development of Supply Chain and Market Systems, and Labour Development. It is further anchored on eight linked subprogrammes covering agriculture, industry, logistics, skills development and public sector reforms. The agricultural subprogramme, named Grow24, includes the Eden Volta project, Agbleduwo agroecological parks, and Shikpon smart urban farming clusters, blending irrigation, renewable energy and modern processing. A final pillar, named Go24, focuses on helping ministries and local authorities extend public service hours and adjust regulations to support safe and predictable overnight economic activity. The Volta Economic Corridor, a logistics and production hub, is currently under construction as part of the rollout.
The Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL) Secretary-General Abraham Koomson welcomed the law, describing the creation of a dedicated oversight body as particularly important because it gives businesses a direct platform to raise operational concerns and seek timely resolution without having to route all concerns through the Ministry of Trade. “If properly implemented,” he said, “the initiative would stimulate industrial growth, boost productivity, and make a meaningful contribution to Ghana’s long-term economic transformation.”
President Mahama framed the ambition in explicitly competitive terms, linking the 24-hour model to Ghana’s strategic position as host of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat. He said that by expanding round-the-clock production, Ghanaian manufacturers would be better placed to supply regional markets, scale up exports and compete effectively within West Africa and beyond. “The Ghana we seek will not be built by rhetoric,” he said. “It will be built by factories operating at scale, day and night, producing for Ghana, Africa and the world.”
