The Ultimate Guide to
The Ghanaian Financial Market
After almost two decades of planning and hard work, the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) finally opened it doors as a authorized Stock Exchange in October 1990. Based in Accra and a member of the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA), as of January 2019 the exchange has an approximate market capitalisation of 62,918 million Ghanaian cedi (9.9 billion GBP).
While the exchange remains fairly small overall with respect to assets traded and participants, the Ghana Stock Exchange acts as the primary secondary market for the stock of Ghanaian companies and has shown undulating real returns since the early 1990’s. The Ghana Stock Exchange Composite or GSE-CI is as the primary stock market index in Ghana and tracks the performance of all companies traded on the GSE.
In general, Ghanaian financial markets and the Ghanaian cedi benefit from Ghana’s economic strength, although they can come under pressure when geopolitical events create an uncertain investment or trade environment. Furthermore, Ghana remains a net importer when it comes to goods and services, with imports making up 25 percent of GDP as of 2005.
Other factors that influence the Ghanaian cedi and Ghanaian financial markets include the price of key strategic commodities like oil, of which Ghana is a net importer, as well as that of Ghana’s major exports like gold, timber, cocoa, tuna, bauxite, aluminium, diamonds, manganese ore and horticultural produce.
The financial markets in the Republic of Ghana include relatively small bond, equity, forex and derivative markets. Money markets can therefore tend to dominate as a result of their relative stability compared to the high volatility seen in the country’s capital markets.
Trading in Ghana
The Bank of Ghana acts as the primary financial regulator in Ghana responsible for overseeing forex and contract for difference (CFD) trading activities and financial institutions. When it comes to regulation, the Central Bank has the mandate to make sure that depositors’ funds are safe, banks’ solvency, assets, liquidity and profitability are maintained, enforce adherence to statutory and regulatory requirements, promote fair competition among banks, and maintain an efficient payment system.
With respect to stocks, traders will want to open an account with a licensed dealer or stockbroker that operates on the Ghana Stock Exchange. While no minimum deposit is usually required, an account needs to be funded to execute a transaction. Furthermore, fees and commissions will cost around 2.5 percent of the transaction value. A central securities depository account also needs to be set up for a trader to keep a record of their Ghanaian stock holdings.
Those looking to trade speculatively on the Ghanaian financial market have a number options available through online brokers that let clients operate using their trading platforms. In general, traders will want to choose well-regulated brokers that have a good reputation with customers and that seem trustworthy enough to place a margin deposit with.
- Forex Trading: Exchanging one currency for another forms the basis of forex trading. Exchange rates fluctuate as one currency rises or falls relative to another in particular currency pair. The popularity of forex trading has expanded greatly once online trading became possible. The forex market is the most liquid and largest financial market globally and had a daily turnover of $5.1 trillion/day in April 2016, according to data compiled by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
- CFD Trading: Making transactions in derivative financial instruments known as contracts for difference (CFDs) allows traders to speculate on the future of their underlying assets. Such assets can consist of a currency pair, commodity, stock, stock index or other financial instruments.
- Demo accounts: Funded with virtual money, these accounts can be used to practice trading, test a strategy or check out a broker’s services and platform. Find out more on opening demo accounts here.
- Islamic accounts: These are suitable for traders who wish to trade in an account that conforms to Sharia law. Find out more on trading with an Islamic account.
Opportunities of Trading in Ghana
In Ghana, The Banking Act of 2007 helped lay a solid foundation for favourable change in the country’s financial services industry. Also, the Ghanaian oil and gas sector has been growing strongly and telecom companies have expanded infrastructure construction projects to improve phone communication quality and service across the country. An expansion of road construction projects throughout the country was also notably funded in the Ghanaian government budget for 2019.
Challenges of Trading in Ghana
Ghana was only ranked 114th for the ease of doing business by the World Bank. Furthermore, the country came in 108th for starting a business, 73rd for getting credit and 99th for protecting minority investors, so this indicates a rather challenging environment for traders.
Interest and exchange rate fluctuations and high inflation rates have made it challenging for traders to predict the direction of financial markets in Ghana, thereby also making it difficult to participate or borrow money in this unstable environment. In addition, a lack of stringent regulation means higher investment and inflation risks. While off its peak slightly, Ghana’s government debt also remains very high at 70.5 percent of GDP in 2017.
Summary
While Ghana does not rank high among safe places to do business, some opportunities still exist. Traders also have some comfort in knowing that Ghana’s financial institutions and stockbrokers are regulated by its central bank, although high market volatility, inflation and interest rates remain concerns for traders and businesses alike.
When a trader needs an online broker to trade through, they should make sure a firm has a decent range of asset classes to trade, a fast and easy to use trading platform, is overseen by a reputable financial regulator, and will be secure enough for them to give a margin deposit to.
