Business in Ghana vs. Nigeria: 2019 Economic Comparison

Business in Ghana vs. Nigeria

To support business development and sales managers in assessing which African country to prioritize in their organization’s expansion plan, we developed a tool (kpakpakpa’s Africa Market Potential Index- AMPI) that provides a quick way for managers asses market potential across the African continent.

 

Our Africa market potential index (AMPI) measures key metrics in critical areas of each country’s economy, social-political landscape, technological adoption, infrastructural developments, and the efficiency of doing business.

 

kpakpakpa’s AMPI measures the market attractiveness of 48 African countries, across seven pillars. These seven pillars act as key determinants to the short and long-term market potential of each country.


 

The seven pillars, and their respective weighting factor, that make our market potential Index

 

Factors

Description

Weighting

Market Size & Appeal

This evaluates the size and appeal of the domestic market.

20%

Macroeconomic Resilience

Measures the stability of the macroeconomic environment.

20%

Political Landscape & Governance

Measures the quality of governance.

10%

Social & Human Development

Measures social development of the country.

10%

Investment in Technology, Infrastructure & Logistics

Measures the efficiency of technology, logistics, and infrastructure as a supporting base for the business environment.

15%

Economic Diversification

Measures the degree of dependence of the economy on the sectors and resources in the country.

10%

Business Ease

Measures the ease of doing business in the country.

15%

Market Potential Index

The weighted average of the seven factors above to determine the market potential of each economy.

100%

 

Within each pillar, a set of key indicators have been included with specific weightings to arrive at the overall pillar rank and score. The first two pillars – market size & appeal and macroeconomic resilience – are short-term factors, and account for 40% of the total weighting.

 

The other five pillars are long-term factors and this account for the remaining 60% of the total weighting.

 

There are definitely no absolutes in the search for the best market to prioritize in Africa. There will be different answers for different organizations and industries.

 

You would know best what is necessary to asses opportunity and risk for your organization’s growth plans. Use this tools as a starting point to find the countries that fit properly with your company’s expansion strategy.

We use this tool to perform country comparisons.


Business in Ghana vs. Nigeria

In this article, we do a country-by-country comparison to understand the market potential of doing business in Ghana vs. Nigeria. The market potential across the seven pillars for both countries are:

 


Nigeria

Ghana

Market Size & Appeal

88

21

Macroeconomic Resilience

29

31

Political Landscape & Governance

58

88

Social & Human Development

52

71

Investment in Technology, Infrastructure & Logistics

36

43

Economic Diversification

6

11

Business Ease

55

72

Africa Market Potential Index (AMPI)

48.53

44.65

 

The market potential for business in Nigeria slightly edges out Ghana’s market potential.

 

This is mainly dues to Nigeria’s larger market size.

 

What it does not have in market size, Ghana makes up for in long-term indicators. Better governance, higher social development, and business ease are segments in which Ghana significantly outperforms Nigeria.


Country Information

Here is some basic information about both countries.


Nigeria

Ghana

Full Name

Federal Republic of Nigeria

Republic of Ghana

Flag

Currency

Nigerian Naira

Ghana Cedi

Time Zone

(UTC + 1)

(UTC+ 0)

Capital city

Abuja FCT

Accra

Climate

Temperate

Tropical

Area

West Africa

West Africa

Telephone code

(+234)

(+233)


Market Size, Appeal & Resilience

The pillar that gave Nigeria the edge is it’s Market size & appeal.  At 8.5 % growth in 2018, Ghana’s economy is among the fastest growing economies in the world.

 

Regardless, the sheer size of the market is significantly smaller than Nigeria’s economy.

 

Ghana and Nigeria have similar macroeconomic landscapes. Although Ghana has a lower unemployment rate than Nigeria does, the country has more exposure to external debt that increases its vulnerability to global market dynamics.

 


Nigeria

Ghana

GDP ppp (nominal)

$1,325.81 Billion

$147.84 Billion

GDP (nominal)

$376.28 Billion

$47.33 Billion

GDP growth

+2.1%

+8.5%

GDP per capita

$2,758

$1,766

Exports

$33.3 Billion

$13.5 Billion

Imports

$35.53 Billion

$13.61 Billion

Balance of current payments

$7.32 Billion

$(-2.83) Billion

External debt (% of GDP)

23.4%

71.8%

Foreign exchange reserves

$ 47.25 Billion

$7.29 Billion

Interest rate

14%

4%

Inflation

11.14 %

9.6 %

Unemployment

18.8%

2.4%

Market Size & Appeal

88

21

Macroeconomic Resilience

29

31


Political Landscape & Governance

Good governance takes factors such as national security, safety, rule of law, political participation, and human rights. The Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) was used to determine the score and rank for this pillar.

Ghana performs significantly better than Nigeria in terms of good governance.

 


Nigeria

Ghana

Political Regime

1999 Constitution of Nigeria

Constitutional Republic

President

Muhammadu Buhari

Nana Akufo-Addo

Next Election

2019

2020

Good Governance Score (out of 100)

58

88


Social & Human Development

An economy is only as productive as its people, so the level of social and human development is indicative of progress and future productivity. This pillar looks at the general welfare of the society – access to education, basic amenities, and healthcare.

 

To get the score, we used a normalized score derived from the IIAG score for Human development and cross-referenced that with the Human Development Index (HDI) by the United Nations Development Programme.

 

Ghana also outperforms Nigeria in this indicator.

 


Nigeria

Ghana

Total population

194 Million

28 Million

Growth

+ 2.6 %

+ 2.2%

Population density

210 per sq. km

101.5 per sq. km

Median age

17.9 years

21.1 years

Index of human development (0 – 1)

0.527

0.579

Literacy rate

51.08 %

71.5 %

Life expectancy at birth

53

63

Child mortality rate

104 per 1,000 births

59 per 1,000 births

Urban Population (%)

50.3%

55.3%

Main cities

Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kaduna

Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi, Sunyani

Religion

Christianity, Islam, Indigenous

Christianity, Islam, Traditional

Languages

English, >520 languages spoken – Main languages Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa.

English, Twi, Bono, Dagaare, Ewe, Ga, Fante, Talensi, Frafra, Hausa.

Social & Human Development Score (0 – 100)

52

71


Investment in Technology, Infrastructure & Logistics

The measure of growth in any economy is how its constituents allocate its resources more efficiently. Adopting new technology is a way of boosting productivity. The level of investment, development, and adoption of new technology is indicative of the productivity level of an economy.

 

Also, the infrastructure that enables businesses to produce goods and the ease of moving these goods around through efficient logistics channels is a major determinant of success for businesses in any economy.

 

A weighted average of the IIAG’s Infrastructure score and World Bank’s Logistics Performace Index gives the score for this pillar.

 

Although Ghana and Nigeria have a similar economic complexity index (which is an indicator of the complexity of products developed in the country), Ghana gets the slight edge over Nigeria when graded over the entire infrastructural development in each country – particularly in regards to electricity access.

 


Nigeria

Ghana

Logistics Performance Index (World Rank)

2.53 (110 of 160)

2.57 (106 of 160))

Infrastructure Score (Mo Ibrahim Index)

33.2/100

40.1/100

Economic Complexity Index (ECI)

-1.54

-1.41

Access to electricity (% population)

59.3%

79.3%

Investment in Technology, Infrastructure & Logistics Score

36

43


Resources & Economic Diversification

Economic diversification is generally taken as the process in which a growing range of economic outputs is produced.

 

Although Ghana’s economy is slightly more diverse than Nigeria’s, both countries are not so different from each other in terms of their lack of economic diversity.

 


Nigeria

Ghana

Share of industry (% of GDP)

22%

24%

Share of services (% of GDP)

55.8%

52.20%

Share of agriculture (% of GDP)

21%

17%

Main Resources

Oil, Cocoa, Cashews, Ginger

Gold, manganese, bauxite, industrial diamonds, timber, rubber, hydropower, petroleum, silver, salt, limestone

Export Concentration Index (0 – 1)

0.7344281297

0.4277341689

Economic Diversification Score ( 0 – 100)

6

11


Business Ease

The business ease pillar is a measure of how easy it is to partake in business activities in each country. Using a weighted average of the World Bank’s ease of doing business score and IIAG’s business environment score as a determinant of this pillar, Ghana is easier to do business in than Nigeria.

 


Nigeria

Ghana

Ease of doing business (World rank)

145 out of 194

120 out of 194

Points of Entry

Lagos Port Complex and Tin Can Island Port in Lagos; Calabar Port, Delta Port, Rivers Port in Port Harcourt, and Onne Port.

Tema (GHTEM) and Takoradi (GHTKD)

Rule of Law

Financial markets

Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE)

Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE)

Business Ease Score (out of 100)

55

72


Winner

Nigeria

Using the kpakpakpa AMPI tool as a starting point for your analysis, the market potential for business in Nigeria is higher than that in Ghana.

 

Nigeria does better because of short-term advantages such as its current market size and appeal. Ghana fares better in long-term pillars such as business ease, social development, and most especially in good governance.

 

Use this framework and customize it to your business priorities to choose between which of the two countries you want to prioritize.

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