Ghana’s business environment is under renewed scrutiny following the release of the World Bank’s Business Ready Report, which highlights significant inefficiencies in property transfer and construction permitting processes.
According to the report, obtaining a building permit in Ghana takes an average of 253 days with costs reaching 731 percent of gross national income (GNI) per capita – one of the region’s highest.
The findings have raised concerns among business leaders and policymakers, that bureaucratic inefficiencies and excessive costs are discouraging investment, slowing urban development and restricting business expansion.
In fact, Robert Taliercio O’Brien, World Bank Division Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, described the situation as one of lost opportunities, constrained growth and untapped potential.
The report outlines significant barriers in the property and construction sector, including outdated regulations, manual approval processes and weak digital infrastructure.
Ghana’s approval times and costs far exceed those in peer economies, making it one of the most challenging places in the region to obtain property-related permits.
Real estate developers and businesses have long expressed frustration over the multiple layers of approvals required from local authorities, urban planning departments and environmental agencies.
Many of these institutions still rely on paper-based processes, creating inefficiencies and increasing the risk of delays and informal payments.
Beyond construction permits, the World Bank’s report also highlighted delays in property transfers… which take an average of 180 days to complete.
The cost of transferring property stands at 596 percent of GNI per capita, significantly higher than in countries such as Rwanda and Kenya where reforms have significantly reduced both time and cost.
These challenges have broader implications for Ghana’s real estate sector, infrastructure development and business competitiveness. Lengthy property transfer processes increase the cost of doing business, create barriers to collateral-based lending and discourage both local and foreign investment.
The government has acknowledged the need for reform and is implementing the Business Regulatory Reform Programme (BRR) to modernise property registration and permitting systems.
However, analysts caution that while policies exist, implementation remains weak. The World Bank’s report underscored that the gap between policy and execution is a critical factor preventing Ghana from improving its global business rankings.
A key recommendation from the report is full digitalisation of the domestic, administrative and permitting systems, a move that could significantly cut processing times and improve transparency.