Promising future for Islamic banking in Ghana

The opening of the Islamic financial services (IFS) sector in Ghana is expected to create new financing and lending opportunities in the coming years, with sharia-compliant banking offering particular potential in the retail and small and medium-sized enterprise segments. In Ghana there is currently just one sharia-compliant financial institution – Ghana Islamic Microfinance, which began as an NGO – though there is significant scope for growth. The Bank of Ghana (BoG) may be preparing to issue the country’s first licence for a sharia-compliant bank in late 2015 or early 2016, with an accompanying reform to the regulatory framework also expected to be implemented.