Ghana stands to lose $3.8 billion over anti-LGBTQ+ law as president delays signing

Ghana's draconian LGBTQ+ criminalization bill will have immense consequences for both the queer community and the country's overall stability if President Nana Akufo-Addo signs it into law, officials in the country and abroad are warning.

Ghana’s parliament passed a bill last week — with the support of both of the country's main political parties — imposing prison sentences of up to three years in prison for people who identify as LGBTQ+, and up to five years for individuals forming or funding LGBTQ+ groups.

Documents from the country's finance ministry, reported by Reuters, reveal that the bill could lead to a loss of $3.8 billion in World Bank financing within the next five to six years, derailing a $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan package that "will have dire consequence on the debt restructuring exercise and Ghana's long-term debt sustainability." The country would lose an estimated $850 million this year alone, in the midst of an ongoing major economic crisis that last year required an IMF bailout.

In response to the bill's passage, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Thursday that the law "would potentially have ramifications on U.S. assistance" to Ghana, and that it “would certainly have a chilling effect on foreign investment and tourism" in the country.

Acknowledging the international backlash to the bill, Akufo-Addo said in a statement Monday that he is aware the law has "raised considerable anxieties in certain quarters of the diplomatic community and amongst some friends of Ghana that she may be turning her back on her, hitherto, enviable, longstanding record on human rights observance and attachment to the rule of law."

"I want to assure you that no such back-sliding will be contemplated or occasioned," he said, via BBC.

Akufo-Addo then cited the recent case brought to the Supreme Court by human rights groups, stating that he will "await" the court's decision before taking further action.

"I have learnt that, today, a challenge has been mounted at the Supreme Court," he continued. "In the circumstances, it would be as well for all of us to hold our hands and await the decision of the Court before any action is taken."

Ghana's next presidential election will be held in December, in which Akufo-Addo's two terms will be up. The Supreme Court is unlikely to reach a decision before a new president is elected.