Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said on 10 October that Ghana’s bid to join the BRICS bloc of emerging economies would widen its economic choices without breaking ties with Western partners and lenders.
Speaking on TV3’s KeyPoints programme, Ablakwa said the decision rested on national interest and the need to spread Ghana’s economic relationships beyond its existing development partners. “It’s freedom of choice,” he said.
The case he is making will be tested on two fronts. Ghana is four months into a 36-month Policy Coordination Instrument (PCI) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), whose Executive Board approved the programme on 27 July 2026. And Washington has already warned off countries drifting towards the bloc: in July 2025, United States President Donald Trump threatened an extra 10 percent tariff on any country aligning with what he called the anti-American policies of BRICS.
Ablakwa said Ghana would keep its traditional alliances while giving itself more options, describing the approach as consistent with the country’s non-aligned foreign policy. He said the government wanted to maximise opportunities, not commit to any one geopolitical camp.
He also pointed to trade settled in local currencies as one benefit, citing arrangements with China as proof that Ghana had already begun reducing its reliance on the dollar.
That shift is under way at the banking level. At the Bank of Ghana’s 132nd Monetary Policy Committee briefing, Governor Johnson Pandit Asiama said Stanbic Bank Ghana was piloting a service that lets importers pay Chinese suppliers from cedi accounts, with Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) preparing a similar product. The Stanbic service runs on China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System, and the supplier receives yuan. Dollar payments remain available, and the yuan route covers only eligible transactions.
Ablakwa first disclosed the Cabinet decision on 6 October at a joint press briefing in Accra with India’s External Affairs Minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. Ghana had already asked India for help with the application. Jaishankar said India supported Ghana’s aspirations but stressed that membership would need the collective agreement of BRICS members.
Brazil, Russia, India and China founded the bloc in 2009, and South Africa joined the following year. It has since expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates. India hosted this year’s summit in New Delhi.
The government has said it will submit the formal application and canvass existing members for support. No date has been announced.
