According to analysts, the previous grey listing of Africa’s largest economies, Nigeria and South Africa, introduces a perceived risk to the Ghanaian market.
Recent surge in Ghana’s economic and financial crimes threatens the integrity of its economic stability and risks the country’s return to the grey list. Fraud and money laundering have become an existential threat that has made Ghana’s financial system progressively vulnerable to manipulation by criminals.
Analysts warn that this threat is persistent, and the financial regulatory bodies in Ghana should take a keen interest in curbing the tenacious economic and financial crimes in the country’s financial sector.
The Grey List
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recently delisted Nigeria, South Africa, Burkina Faso, and Mozambique from the grey list.
Though not as penal as the blacklisting, the grey list has economic costs and implications. When a country is grey listed, there is increased monitoring from international financial bodies as it signals weaknesses in its anti-money-laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist-financing (CTF) framework.
Being on the list is not just an administrative act but reflects how international markets view the African market, especially when the continent’s biggest economies are on the list.
Ghana’s Case
Due to an increase in money laundering and fraud, Ghana was grey listed (on the FATF’s increased monitoring list) in 2018. The government has since enacted reforms and implemented action plans to mitigate Ghana’s shortcomings in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime, identified in 2018.
A typical example of reform made was the enactment of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2020 (Act 1044). The Act poses stricter sanctions and has redefined financial unlawful activities.
In June 2021, Ghana was officially removed from the grey list by the Financial Action Task Force. This implies that the action plans and reforms fulfilled their intended purposes. The country requires continuous, consistent, and persistent effort in addressing the fraud and money laundering menace to remain off the grey list or the blacklist.
The 2025 Anti-Money Laundering (AML) report revealed that Ghana’s attractiveness to illicit financial activities is caused by the country’s strategic location as a West African nation and increasing complexities in the financial sector.
To many of the landlocked countries in West Africa, Ghana serves as a huge business hub where a lot of trade takes place. Since they lack seaports, most of their imports and exports go through Ghana. This creates a fertile ground for illicit criminal and financial trade activities.
Despite being off the grey list for the past 4 years, Ghana remains challenged with various economic and financial crimes.
Fraud and money laundering sit at the top of the financial crime list in Ghana and underlie most financial crimes. Fraud escalates to money laundering, which in turn opens many schemes and activities to expand the illicit industry. Cases of online Ponzi schemes, banking frauds, and tax evasions are common means of fraud.
Ghana has been prone to corruption allegations, especially within the political class, government agencies, and the security service. These groups hold the economic fortunes of the country. The growth and decline in economic stability and development begin with them. Currently, high-profile individuals who led public administration sectors are alleged to have been involved in corruption and misuse of public funds.
As seen in recent times, Ghana is trending in drug trafficking. Again, due to the country’s position in trade, especially for landlocked countries, many goods and commodities pass through the country’s ports. A lot of items such as heroin, cocaine, opioids, transit through the country. Organized criminal groups run these illicit drug markets in the sub-region, aided by corrupt border officials.
Cybercrimes, including romance scams, data breaches, and botnet attacks, are also significant ways the country loses. These schemes exploit vulnerabilities in the country’s digital systems.
Ghana is also faced with environmental crimes, which have and still cause devastating effects on the country’s economic and financial gains. Unlawful logging of certain species of trees, like the rosewood, illegal mining of the country’s minerals, especially gold, popularly known as ‘galamsey’, and illegal fishing by some local and foreign vessels destroy the country’s economic and financial integrity.
Economic Outcomes
According to experts, not being on the grey list or removal from the list comes with many positive economic outcomes. The country becomes free from constant international monitoring, which gives room for the country to transact with international financial institutions.
The confidence of investors in the economy is boosted when Ghana is not on the grey list. The Ghanaian financial environment attains some form of integrity as far as financial and economic investment is concerned.
The flow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country is also affected by the status of the country. Investment in Ghana declined between 2018 and 2021 while on the list. Today, being off the list, Ghana enjoys more FDIs.
Trade efficiency is also enhanced, and doing business with Ghana now does not require extensive scrutiny, which is cost, resource, and time intensive. Being off the list, cross-border trade with Ghana becomes easier and faster.
When delisted by the FATF, the European Union (EU) also delisted Ghana from the list of high-risk third countries. Ghana was delisted by the EU in January 2022, which increased Ghana’s trade with the rest of the world.
Experts, therefore, encourage the development of a robust economic and financial framework to reduce illicit financial and economic activities and keep Ghana away from being listed on the grey list.
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