Ghana’s push to join BRICS: An analysis through the energy lens
There is an old saying that you should not put all your eggs in one basket, especially if you are not the one carrying the basket. For Ghana, this is increasingly relevant when it comes to financing its development and energy ambitions.
Ghana’s push to join BRICS should be viewed not simply as a foreign policy decision, but as an opportunity to broaden the country’s economic and energy financing options. Its real value will depend on whether Ghana can translate diplomatic relationships into capital, technology, investment and markets.
A particularly important institution is the New Development Bank (NDB), the BRICS-led multilateral development bank, which could provide another source of long-term finance alongside Ghana’s existing financing mix.
What the NDB brings to Ghana’s energy capital stack
Ghana’s energy sector has a material financing gap. Capital is needed across generation, transmission and distribution, gas infrastructure, petroleum storage and logistics, and renewables.
Fiscal headroom is constrained, which limits the government’s capacity to fund large-scale infrastructure directly. The opportunity is less about finding more public money and more about mobilising private and institutional capital around a credible, investable pipeline of projects.
The IMF estimates that Ghana needs about US$4.4 billion of energy sector investment between 2025 and 2030, with roughly US$2.6 billion expected to come from private sources.
The NDB could be an additional financing channel, not a replacement for existing partners. Its funding could sit alongside the World Bank, African Development Bank, IFC, bilateral agencies, commercial banks and institutional investors.
A broader base strengthens Ghana’s ability to structure projects around the most competitive combination of cost, tenor, risk sharing and technical expertise.
From money on the table to projects that can close
NDB access, on its own, does not close the gap. The real constraint is whether Ghana can originate a deep pipeline of bankable, investment-ready projects, with credible sponsors, robust cash flows, clear risk allocation and the institutional framework to get capital across the line.
The NDB approved approximately US$3.17 billion across 19 projects in 2025, which shows the scale of capital available. But capital follows readiness.
In my view, Ghana should use its engagement with BRICS to build a pipeline of projects that meet international investment standards, from renewable generation and storage to transmission, gas processing, petroleum storage and pipelines.
The objective is simple: move from a list of projects to a pipeline that can actually attract and deploy capital.
Energy security and strategic options
Ghana’s energy challenge is not only a financing problem. The bigger equation is reliability, affordability and security of supply, while positioning the system for a lower-carbon future.
BRICS economies bring substantial experience across oil and gas, power generation, renewables, biofuels, battery storage and electric mobility. The opportunity is to leverage these relationships for technology and expertise, not just capital.
The strategic benefit is choice. Ghana should select financing partners, technology providers and project solutions on cost, suitability and long-term value, not because the alternatives are limited.
In capital markets terms, the aim is to widen the opportunity set and improve Ghana’s negotiating leverage.
The downstream and regional opportunity
Ghana’s coastal location, petroleum infrastructure and access to the wider West African market provide a foundation for a stronger regional petroleum trading, storage and distribution platform.
Investment in storage terminals, pipelines, marine infrastructure, refining and product logistics could help Ghana capture value from regional demand.
Development finance is particularly valuable where the economic and strategic returns are clear but standalone commercial returns may not satisfy a conventional financing committee. It can help bridge that gap for infrastructure with regional or system-wide benefits.
This opportunity should be viewed alongside the African Continental Free Trade Area: the goal is not only to meet domestic petroleum demand, but to position Ghana’s infrastructure to serve a wider market.
Natural gas follows the same logic. It will remain important to energy security and industrial development during the transition. The challenge is to ensure gas serves as a bridge to a more diversified energy system rather than an obstacle to it.
Local value creation
The objective should not be to simply import technology. The greater opportunity is to use investment partnerships to develop Ghanaian capabilities.
BRICS engagement should be measured not only by how much foreign capital comes in, but by how much economic capacity stays behind. That means structuring investments to deepen local supply chains, build technical skills, develop Ghanaian businesses and move progressively from recipient of technology to participant in its development and deployment.
Policy recommendations
1. Build a dedicated BRICS energy strategy focused on Ghana’s key capital and technology needs.
2. Build an NDB-ready project pipeline, moving from project identification to financial close.
3. Use the NDB to widen financing options alongside the World Bank, AfDB and IFC, for competitive pricing and structuring flexibility.
4. Make local value creation part of every investment proposition, including skills, local procurement, supplier development and technology transfer.
5. Position Ghana as a West African energy hub, with regional power trading, petroleum logistics and gas infrastructure.
6. Keep the strategy commercially driven and multi-partner. BRICS should expand Ghana’s options, not replace existing partners.
7. Measure the return: capital mobilised, projects reaching financial close, jobs created, technology transferred and local procurement generated.
Conclusion
Viewed through the energy lens, Ghana’s BRICS strategy is ultimately a question of capital, optionality and leverage. The NDB is interesting, but the bigger prize is the ecosystem around it: additional pools of capital, technology, industrial partners and markets.
The strategic point is not to replace Western capital with BRICS capital. That would simply replace one dependency with another. The smarter play is to widen the field, increase competition for Ghana’s projects and gain more leverage over the price, structure, technology and terms of investment.
Ultimately, BRICS should be judged like any other investment proposition: what does Ghana get for it?
If it helps finance projects that would otherwise struggle to close, strengthen energy security, attract private capital and build domestic capability, then it becomes more than a geopolitical alignment. It becomes a capital allocation strategy. And that is where its real value lies.
BY ROBERT CARL NUACOO NUNOO
The writer is General Manager, Green Transitions and Alternative Fuels, at BOST Energies.
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