Best Bank: Ghana Commercial Bank |
Ghana attracted the attention of the global capital markets when it issued a $750 million international bond in 2007. Investors are now worried about a growing fiscal and trade deficit, and that the government is betting too much on oil revenues from new fields expected to come on stream in 2010.
Barclays, which won the Euromoney award for best bank in 2006, made a net loss of a local-currency equivalent of $4.5 million in 2008, down from a 2007 profit of $20 million, thanks to rapidly rising expenses and provisions. Ghana Commercial Bank, another of the biggest banks in Ghana, repeats its success of last year, growing net profit by 14% to an equivalent of $24 million. It remains the national champion.