Africa-China 2.0 with Paul Frimpong: Beyond Digital Adoption

The BRICS Business Forum 2026 in New Delhi underscored the bloc’s growing influence, with BRICS economies now accounting for 40 percent of global GDP and 25 percent of international trade. For West Africa, and Ghana in particular, the outcomes intersect directly with the Reset Agenda, the Big Push projects and the 24 Hour Economy initiative. A sector by sector econometric analysis reveals how BRICS aligned reforms could reshape Ghana’s growth trajectory, employment creation and trade balance over the next decade.

The relationship between Africa and the United States may be entering a new phase, one in which diplomatic commitments are increasingly expected to translate into investment, infrastructure, trade, economic opportunity and measurable security outcomes.

Ghana's Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) account for over 90% of all businesses in the country, contribute about 70% of GDP, and absorb 80% of the workforce, making them the backbone of the national economy. Yet a sobering reality persists: more than 90% of these enterprises are micro-sized, the overall MSME failure rate stands at 50%, and only 20% of start-ups survive. Behind these figures lies a long-overlooked bottleneck: severe underinvestment in human capital.

The 2025 numbers challenge one of Africa’s most persistent economic misconceptions. Global public debt stood at almost 94% of GDP: Japan’s exceeded 200%, the United Kingdom’s was above 100%, Singapore carried exceptionally high gross debt while remaining a major creditor with vast public assets, and South Africa remained close to 78%. Yet debt distress is profoundly unequal. The difference is not simply how much a country borrows, but the currency, cost, maturity and credibility of that debt, and whether borrowing expands tomorrow’s ability to repay.

Governments occasionally have to clarify themselves. Ministers misspeak. Journalists misunderstand technical explanations. Social media strips statements of context. None of this is unusual. But when clarification starts becoming a recurring feature of government, we should ask a different question: is the problem still communication, or has it become one of coordination?

Governments occasionally have to clarify themselves. Ministers misspeak.

In recent times, the question of whether Gold Fields Ghana Limited’s mining leases and operating licence should be renewed when they expire in 2027 has become one of the far-reaching national policy debates in Ghana’s extractive sector.

Ghana’s housing deficit is now routinely quoted at around 1.8 million units. Less discussed is what is quietly driving a large part of that number: not the cost of cement or artisan labour, but the price of the bare ground a house must sit on before anyone lays a single block.