Ghana is seeking to widen its trade and diplomatic options beyond the West by applying to join the Brics bloc of emerging economies. But a seat at the table is far from guaranteed: Ghana will have to convince all 11 existing members it is a valuable new partner.
Issued on: 10/10/2026 - 16:11
Joining Brics would open up Ghana’s economic options, Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said when he announced plans to formally apply for membership on Wednesday.
"It] will diversify our base and our partnerships and will also allow us to have more cooperation within the Global South framework," he said.
Seeking deeper engagement with other emerging powers, Accra says joining Brics would complement, rather than replace, its existing relationships with the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and other traditional partners.
Formally established in 2009 by Brazil, Russia, India and China, Brics was founded on the premise that international institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF were overly dominated by Western powers and had ceased to serve developing countries.
South Africa joined in 2010 by invitation of China. The bloc has since expanded to include six new members: Ethiopia, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
For Caleb Ziblim, a research analyst at JoyNews TV station in Ghana, it makes sense that the country would want to "sit at the same table" as its main trading partners.
"Almost all of Ghana's top five trading partners are in Brics," he told RFI. "Over 70 percent of our exports go to Brics countries, for example South Africa, China, India. And we import almost everything we have in this country from China."
President John Dramani Mahama said this week that Ghana’s exports to India have risen from about $3 billion to $7 billion.
According to a report published in March by the United Nations trade and development agency UNCTAD, trade between Brics members has grown rapidly over the past two decades, "driven by strong complementarities in natural resources, manufacturing and technology, as well as a changing global context".
Yet while Brics members collectively account for over two-thirds of the Global South’s total GDP, trade between members accounts for only about 20 percent of South-South trade, according to UNCTAD, which says "the enormous potential of the intra-bloc trade is yet to be fully tapped".
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Since 2012, Brics has also included its own financial arm, the New Development Bank, that finances infrastructure and development projects. Membership of the Brics bank is open to any United Nations member state, regardless of whether they belong to the bloc itself.
Bright Simons, an analyst at the Imani Centre for Policy and Education, an Accra-based think tank, points out that Ghana’s application does not automatically mean that it will be granted full membership of Brics.
"Acceptance is based on full consensus of the 11 leaders," he told RFI, with the timeline for a decision unclear.
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The last country accepted as a full member was Indonesia in January 2025. Ten other countries – Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam – are currently Brics partners, invited to take part in summits but without full voting rights.
"The key issue is that there's no guarantee that Ghana gets full membership, because some very big countries have not been given full membership,” said Simons.
Algeria applied to join Brics in 2023 but was turned down, and declined to reapply. Turkey also requested full membership in 2024 and was instead offered partner status, which it did not accept.
Application to Brics goes through the chair, this year held by India. Ghana took the opportunity of an official visit this week by the Indian foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, to seek India’s support for its application.
Ghana will have to make the case that it is a valuable partner for the Brics nations, said Simons, an argument complicated by the fact that Nigeria, West Africa's largest economy by far, has been a partner country since 2025. It has not applied for full membership.
"Brics extend membership to countries that have regional and strategic global influence. [They] want countries that have some power," he said.
"The question that anybody would ask is whether Ghana has the regional influence that qualifies it, given that Nigeria is already a partner member."
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Ghana is on the road to economic recovery after its 2022 debt crisis, Simons said. But, he added, the Brics leaders will look at what else Ghana brings to the table.
He suggested Ghana could highlight its democratic track record.
"If [Brics] already have Nigeria in West Africa, why would they want Ghana? Ghana will say Nigeria has economic status, but we have cultural influence.
"We are respected because we are seen as more stable and more democratic."
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