The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) will each contribute $5 million to a joint facility designed to prepare projects under Ghana’s 24-Hour Economy and Accelerated Export Development Programme (24H+), targeting a wider investment pipeline valued at about $11.5 billion.
The institutions signed a Joint Project Preparation Facility (JPPF) Framework Agreement with Ghana’s 24-Hour Economy programme to finance technical, financial, legal and advisory work required to address bankability constraints and structure eligible projects for financing.
The initial $10 million commitment will support selected priority projects, subject to joint screening and approval, according to the agreement.
The facility is intended to move projects from concept to investment readiness, helping attract private capital to infrastructure, manufacturing and export-oriented initiatives under the government’s production-led economic agenda.
Project preparation targets bankability gaps
Under the tripartite arrangement, the 24-Hour Economy programme will bring forward strategic projects and coordinate government stakeholders, while GIIF will provide local project origination and infrastructure investment expertise.
Afreximbank will contribute project preparation and capital mobilisation capabilities, with all three parties jointly screening and prioritising projects.
The JPPF will focus on energy and infrastructure, logistics and digital connectivity, industrial parks, manufacturing and agro-processing, minerals beneficiation, tourism, creative industries and healthcare.
The initiative supports the 24H+ programme’s eight interconnected pillars, which span agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure, creative industries and tourism, logistics, finance, skills and national mobilisation.
Afreximbank seeks replicable financing model
Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President of Intra-African Trade and Export Development at Afreximbank, said the facility would help translate Ghana’s 24H+ vision into projects capable of attracting capital, expanding exports and creating jobs.
“This JPPF will play a catalytic role in translating Ghana’s 24H+ vision into projects that attract capital, expand exports and create jobs. By combining Afreximbank’s project-development and capital-mobilisation expertise, GIIF’s local investment capability and the 24-Hour Economy Authority’s coordinating mandate, we will accelerate priority projects, strengthen Ghanaian project preparation capacity and build a sustained pipeline of investment-ready transactions,” Awani said.
She added that the agreement’s demonstration effect and replication potential could make the tripartite model a blueprint for other African countries.
Awani said the partnership would address Ghana’s trade-enabling infrastructure and industrialisation gaps through project origination, technical advisory services and co-financing of preparation costs.
GIIF to strengthen project development capacity
The framework includes an institutional-development component for GIIF, comprising training, knowledge transfer, capacity building and staff secondments.
The arrangement is intended to strengthen GIIF’s in-house capacity to identify, structure and prepare bankable projects, supporting the development of future investment pipelines.
Nana Dwemoh Benneh, Chief Executive Officer of GIIF, said the partnership would reinforce the fund’s role as an infrastructure finance partner to the 24-Hour Economy programme.
“The partnership reinforces GIIF’s role as an infrastructure finance partner to the 24-Hour Economy and strengthens our ability to advance priority projects from concept to investment readiness. Beyond the US$10 million commitment to project preparation, a key value of the JPPF is its capacity-building component, which will provide GIIF with access to Afreximbank’s extensive project preparation expertise through training, knowledge transfer, and staff secondments. This will deepen our in-house capabilities to identify, structure, and prepare bankable projects and enhance institutional capacity and self-reliance, enabling the development of a strong pipeline of investment-ready projects capable of attracting private capital and supporting Ghana’s long-term infrastructure and economic transformation,” Benneh said.
24H+ prioritises production and exports
Augustus Obuadum Tanoh, Presidential Adviser on the 24-Hour Economy and Accelerated Export Development, said the programme depends on transformational projects that are properly prepared to attract financing.
“The 24H+ Programme is delivered through transformational projects, and a project attracts capital only when it is properly prepared. This Facility will help translate Ghana’s development priorities into well-structured, bankable projects that expand productive capacity, improve workforce productivity, increase exports and create sustainable jobs. We will bring our priority projects in energy, agro-industry, manufacturing and logistics to the Facility, and we are confident that, working with Afreximbank and GIIF, we will take them from concept to construction and deliver tangible opportunities for Ghanaians,” Tanoh said.
The framework is designed to convert selected 24H+ priorities into investment-ready transactions and support Ghana’s ambition to become a competitive production and export hub while deepening integration into the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
