Business insolvency practitioners are engaging the Bank of Ghana on measures to enable distressed but viable companies undergoing restructuring to access fresh working capital, in a push to strengthen Ghana’s business rescue framework and prevent viable firms from collapsing into liquidation.
The engagement is being led by the Chartered Institute of Restructuring and Insolvency Practitioners (CIRIP), which says the lack of post-commencement financing remains one of the major obstacles to successfully rescuing distressed businesses in Ghana.
A Rescue Framework With a Financing Gap
Ghana’s Corporate Insolvency and Restructuring Act, 2020 (Act 1015) — commonly known as CIRA — was introduced to provide a pathway for distressed but viable companies to restructure their operations and avoid liquidation. The law gives post-commencement financing statutory priority, meaning lenders who advance funds after administration begins are placed ahead of other creditors in the event of a subsequent failure.
However, translating that legal priority into actual financing on the ground has proven difficult. CIRIP President Felix Addo tells Citi Business News that only about five companies have gone through administration since the law was introduced, with access to fresh financing emerging as a major challenge.
“The biggest challenge has been post-commencement financing. The company is already distressed, it needs fresh working capital. And if the company’s owners are not willing or able to put in new equity, it means that there’s no money to turn it around,” he said.
Without fresh capital, Mr Addo notes, businesses undergoing restructuring may have limited options to maintain operations, preserve jobs and ultimately recover. The Institute believes a well-structured post-commencement financing regime could strengthen Ghana’s business rescue framework by providing distressed but viable companies with a realistic opportunity to restructure and return to financial health.
Engaging the Central Bank
CIRIP is engaging the Bank of Ghana to explore how existing prudential rules can be structured to allow distressed companies — particularly those whose existing loans have been classified as non-performing — to access new working capital under controlled conditions.
The objective, Mr Addo explains, is to ensure that viable companies are not denied the liquidity they need simply because they are already experiencing financial distress. The challenge becomes even more acute when business owners are unable or unwilling to inject additional equity into a distressed company.
The engagement comes amid growing momentum at the central bank. In August 2026, Bank of Ghana Governor Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama proposed the establishment of a Business Rescue Fund to provide financing for distressed but viable businesses and support economic activity. The proposed fund would operate within a predictable financing framework that enables banks and other financial institutions to extend credit to eligible businesses without undermining their balance sheets or financial stability.
Dr Asiama made the proposal at a forum on restructuring distressed companies, non-performing loans (NPLs) and post-commencement financing, co-organised by the BoG and CIRIP. He said many firms encountered cash-flow constraints because of external shocks — including high interest rates, delayed payments, foreign exchange volatility and disruptions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic — rather than weaknesses in their core business models.
“A dedicated Fund can provide working capital so they can retain employees, buy inputs, and complete contracts. Without it, productive capacity is destroyed and creditors recover less,” the Governor said. Proposals under consideration for funding the facility included unclaimed depositor funds, government budgetary allocations and private sector contributions.
A Decade-Long Push for Reform
The engagement with the central bank is the latest chapter in CIRIP’s long-running campaign to strengthen Ghana’s insolvency ecosystem. Established as the Ghana Association of Restructuring and Insolvency Advisors (GARIA) on August 8, 2006, the body was reconstituted as CIRIP Ghana with presidential assent on July 26, 2025, becoming a statutory body under Act 1117.
CIRIP played a pivotal role in championing the passage of the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992) and the Corporate Insolvency and Restructuring Act, 2020 (Act 1015), both of which it vigorously advocated. The Institute’s current membership stands at 510, with the number of licensed insolvency practitioners rising from 280 in 2023 to 295 in good standing as of May 2026.
The Institute is marking its 20th anniversary under the theme, “Rescue! Reform! Renewal! Leading Business Restructuring and Future Economic Growth in Ghana,” with a series of activities focused on strengthening the country’s restructuring and insolvency framework.
Poor Corporate Governance Blamed for Distress
Beyond the financing gap, CIRIP is also calling on businesses to strengthen their financial management and planning to reduce the risk of financial distress. The Institute says early identification of financial problems and stronger corporate financial controls can improve the chances of restructuring businesses before their financial challenges become more difficult to resolve.
Speaking at the CIRIP@20 Editors Forum in Accra on Wednesday, on the theme “The Media: An Invaluable Partner in Ghana’s Restructuring and Insolvency Journey,” Mr Addo identified poor corporate governance as one of the major internal causes of corporate distress, citing conflicts of interest, weak oversight and decisions that were not always taken in the best interest of companies.
“Many a time, we have conflicts which we don’t disclose and decisions which are not independent, which are not made in the best interest of the company, but are made in the personal interest of members of the board,” he said. He also pointed to weak internal controls and inadequate auditing, saying some businesses were reluctant to engage external professionals because their owners believed they could manage their affairs without outside assistance.
“The environment is so dynamic and changing. You need modern ways of doing business. You may be very comfortable in your little corner, but the competition out there is way ahead of you,” he warned.
Mr Addo cautioned companies against relying solely on additional borrowing to deal with liquidity problems, saying that could deepen their difficulties if there was no clear plan to restore the business to financial health. He stressed that businesses should not wait until creditors began issuing demands or legal action was initiated before seeking help, citing delayed salary payments, difficulty meeting routine expenses and demand notices as early warning signs.
“When you start having the signals of distress, you don’t wait. Like a human being, when you are sick and you wait, you don’t go to hospital, the sickness becomes worse,” he said.
The Way Forward
The engagement between CIRIP and the Bank of Ghana is expected to continue in the coming months, with both parties seeking to develop a more predictable and risk-sensitive framework for post-commencement financing. The BoG Governor has urged banks to assess applications for rescue financing on the basis of credible financial information, competent management, transparent governance and sustainable cash flows.
Dr Ishmael Yamson, Chairman of the August forum and Board Chair of MTN Ghana, proposed excluding post-commencement financing from NPL calculations and loan growth restrictions during a defined rescue period, and called for additional financing through specialised distressed debt funds, syndicated facilities with development finance institutions, partial credit guarantee schemes and targeted tax incentives.
“Rescue must harmonise prudence with recovery: protect depositors, but also ensure a rescuable Ghanaian company gets a fair, supervised chance to survive and meet its obligations,” Dr Yamson emphasised.
As Ghana’s economic recovery continues amid lower inflation and easing monetary conditions, the ability to rescue viable but distressed businesses will be a critical test of the country’s institutional framework — and a key determinant of whether jobs, tax revenue and productive capacity are preserved or lost.
