Parliament has passed the Ghana Investment Promotion Authority Bill, 2025, to enhance Ghana’s competitiveness as a preferred investment destination in the sub-region and Africa as a whole.
The object of the bill is to establish the Ghana Investment Promotion Authority as the principal statutory body responsible for the promotion, coordination, regulation and facilitation of investments into and within Ghana.
The bill seeks to provide a one-stop shop for promotion, facilitation and regulation of investment in Ghana.
It also seeks the establishment of an investor grievance resolution and an effective monitoring system, and create a transparent, predictable and investor-friendly legal framework to enhance Ghana’s investment attractiveness.
The bill was presented in Parliament and read the first time by the Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, on December 18, 2025.
The Speaker subsequently referred it to a joint committee, comprising the Committee on Public Administration and State Interests, the Budget Committee and the Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism.
Per the report of the Committee on Public Administration and State Interest, chaired by Kwaku Asante-Boateng, the bill further aims at providing a structured incentive regime, strengthening institutional coordination among relevant state agencies.
It will also ensure effective oversight of investment activities across all sectors of the economy.
“Additionally, the bill is seeking to balance investor protection and guarantee with clear obligations to ensure compliance with the laws of Ghana, while safeguarding strategic national and local economic interests,” the report said.
Justification for the bill
The report said the committee was informed that in a highly competitive global environment for both local and foreign investment, it had become necessary to strengthen Ghana’s investment promotion framework.
It said officials of the GIPC and its stakeholders had identified the urgent need for new legislation to enable the centre to effectively discharge its mandate and ensure that Ghana remained a preferred investment destination within the region and across the African continent.
The report said the committee was of the view that since Ghana had ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area (APCFTA) Agreement, which came into force in 2019, there was an urgent need for the harmonisation of the investment framework and legislation to conform with the required standard across the continent.
“This development has placed an obligation on Ghana to align its domestic investment framework with evolving global trade and investment standards,” it said.
In addition, the committee observed that significant developments in the domestic legal framework governing business and public financial management had altered the regulatory environment for investments.
Those, it said, included the enactment of the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992), the Exemptions Act, 2022 (Act 1083), and the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921).
Rationale
The report said the committee noted that since the enactment of Act 865, significant changes had occurred in both the domestic economy and the global investment environment, thereby making the existing Ghana Investment Promotion Centre Act, 2013 (Act 865) obsolete.
“The GIPA Bill is, therefore, necessary to modernise the legal and institutional framework governing investment promotion in Ghana, and to as well establish a more comprehensive and robust regulatory framework to effectively promote, coordinate and facilitate investment in the country.
“The bill further seeks to balance the protection and encouragement of local investment with the promotion of foreign direct investment while safeguarding the participation of Ghanaian enterprises in key sectors of the economy, thereby positioning Ghana as a competitive regional investment hub by strengthening investment facilitation mechanisms and aligning national investment policies with evolving economic priorities.
“The committee’s view is that if the new law is passed, it will address the existing challenges to reflect recent domestic legislative developments and Ghana's international legal commitments, while promoting sustainable investment through responsible investment practices and the transfer of technology, knowledge and skills to support long-term economic growth and national development,” it said.
